Christmahanakwanzika Wishes -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

Christmahanakwanzika Wish Lists

It's that time again, when we write down our Christmahanakwanzika Wish List for various UofL Women's Sports teams.

Hey, last year I asked for a press box for Lacrosse and now we've got a spiffy new structure next to the railroad track beside Little Yum, so wishes do come true sometimes.

Volleyball

A sweet 16 (or beyond) appearance.  I've been to every UofL NCAA tournament volleyball in person since 2008, I believe, and I've never been to a volleyball sweet 16 (well, other than when it was hosted at the KFC Yum! Center, but I'm not counting that because UofL wasn't playing in it).  The program narrowly missed it this year, and I hope next year to see an even more improved team and further success in tournament play.

A 6-2 offense.  I've heard talk that this is being considered for next year.  6-2 offenses are, in my opinion, a lot of fun to watch.  We've got 3 good setters on the roster in Kali Eaken, Lindsey Palmer, and Morgan Miller.  When this was first mentioned to me, I was thinking Kali Eaken and Morgan Miller as the two setters, but a few days ago, I realized that Lindsey Palmer could have a major role as a setter in a 6-2.  We haven't seen Palmer running the offense as setter because, at 5'8", she's not a very effective blocker and with a traditional 5-1 offense, the setter needs to be able to block when they're in the front row.  With a 6-2, however, the setter is always playing out of the back row, so they don't need to be able to block.  We lose the setter dump that Katie George so loved, but that's a small price to pay for always having three attackers available in the front row.

Lacrosse

We've got a press box now, how about some concessions for the fans?  Or perhaps a permanent structure with a locker room for the visiting team.  Like Volleyball, a deeper run in the NCAA tournament beyond the second round would be great.

Tennis

For the both the men and women on this one.  More courts!  I've heard that this one might already be in the works as well.  It would likely take the form of adding more outdoor courts in front of the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center where the old soccer practice field is.  With the spiffy new Lynn Soccer Stadium, the practice field isn't really needed anymore, and the Tennis programs would benefit by being able to host full tournaments rather than just competitions against individual opponents.

Swimming and Diving

While it's not directly for the program, I wish for a successful Olympics in Rio for various current and former members of the Swimming and Diving squad.  This, also, is for both the men and the women.  We've talked a lot about Kelsi Worrell's success, but perhaps alumna Tanja Kyliannen could be representing her native Finland.  Joao de Lucca, for the men, will likely be representing Brazil and is a proud UofL alum.  On the current squad on the men's side, Sophomore Carlos Claverie could be making an appearance for Venezuela.

Basketball

I think our wish lists here probably all look a lot alike.

Let's call better rebounding a stocking stuffer as it has already improved considerably over the beginning of the season, but could still use some tightening up.

Lay-ups.

Lethargy-B-Gone for the defense.

Softball

Success in post-season play.  Ulmer recently got an upgrade, so there's not a whole lot to ask for from a facilities point of view.  Well, there are some things we could ask for, but that would be a bit greedy, so we'll skip those.

I'd like to see the UofL Softball team advance to a Super-Regional.  Softball hasn't had a great deal of NCAA tournament success in the past couple of years, not having won a game at all since the first game of the 2014 Regional against IPFW.  They have not advanced to a Super-Regional since I've been going to games at all.  Hopefully they'll do well enough that we would be hosting these events this spring, but if not, I'll certainly be looking to make an effort to road-trip for them.

I haven't put together lists for all of the women's sports teams, feel free to add some lists for other teams, or even add items for these teams in the comments.  I'd love to hear what you would like to see out of these programs. Our biggest wish of all, though...is that all our readers have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

-- JMcA

Monday Cardinal Couple

Big Monday Game in Basketball

In what is certainly one of the biggest games of the year for Women's Basketball, UofL plays one of the perennial powerhouses in Women's Basket in Notre Dame.  This one is in South Bend and is the ESPN2 Big Monday game with a seven o'clock tip.

I doubt we have to do too much scouting for Notre Dame as their lineup is pretty well known to the Louisville faithful.  The biggest threat is likely 5'10" Junior sensation Jewell Loyd, but Notre Dame isn't a one-hit wonder in the guard position, with Loyd being joined with Senior Madison Cable (5'11").

You never want to play a powerhouse team after they come off an upset loss, and we narrowly avoided that with Notre Dame squeaking out a win over Georgia Tech.  The final score was 10 points, but the game was much closer overall.  Notre Dame trailed 34-33 at the half and with as little as 11 minutes left in the game, the scored was knotted up at 51.  Jewell Loyd scored 31, with no other Irish achieving double-digits.  Cable was the next highest scorer with 9.

I'll be in attendance, and hope to get some post-game comments from Coach Walz.

Tennis Loses a Heartbreaker

Tennis matched up against North Texas Sunday in a match that turned out to be quite a nail-biter.  The serve and volley youngsters were tied at three points apiece with Ellie Stokes playing a third set in the last running match.  Unfortunately the Birmingham England Sophomore was unable to pull out the match and the Cards dropped the overall match 4-3.

The Cards got the doubles point to start out with two of the three wins with Ellie Stokes and Freshman Ariana Rodriguez getting a win, and Freshman Jessie Lynn Paul teaming up with the lone Senior on the squad, Manuela Velasquez to clench the doubles point.

In the singles matches, Jessie Lynn Paul and Sophomore Olivia Boesing picked up points.

Tennis takes to the Southeast roadways next with trips to NC State, Duke (this time, it counts in conference), Georgia Tech, and Clemson.  They return to the Bass-Rudd for a 4pm Friday start on March 13th against Wake Forest, and a 11am Sunday start versus North Carolina.

A Correction

Yesterday I mentioned the large contingent of Volleyball Cards invading Colorado Springs for the USA Volleyball tryouts, but the invasion was larger than even I realized as Maya McClendon also made the trip.

- JMcA

Monday Cardinal Couple -- Sandy's Laundry Day

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


(Staff Columnist Sandy Walker appears a daily earlier than normal this week, due to some creative scheduling to fit Cardinal Women's Basketball and her column today focuses on several of the team's schedules as well.)

Today’s Focus Is On Many Small But Important Laundry Loads.

Now that I am back from my travels to New Orleans and back I find that I had so much laundry that it has taken awhile to sort through it all which includes a picture of the Cardinal Faithful at the top of the column. LIC4!

                                                         BASKETBALL

Formula for a Louisville Win at Providence  

On a night when Sara Hammond was not having her best game others stepped up to create such a balanced attack that Providence could not shut Louisville down by focusing on only one.  Note: Shoni Schimmel with 17 Bria Smith scored 17 Nita Slaughter 12 and Monique Reid 11.

                               University of Connecticut ahead

Be sure to check the site tomorrow for Quentin and Paul’s planned in depth pre-game report regarding Tuesday’s away game at Hartford against UConn.   It is reported to be available on the CBS Sports Network at 9 PM.

                                               Bearcats to visit the KFC YUM! Center

We have to wait until this Friday to again see the basketball women in person.  They will be playing Cincinnati at the home beginning at 7:00.   The fans have been great with almost 10,000 at last mid-week week’s game against Rutgers but it is time for us to step it up.  This week the holidays are behind us and the game is not on a weekday night so this is the time for Louisville to challenge Tennessee for the #1 school for fan attendance.

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GOLF

UCF CHALLENGE

Women’s Golf is gearing up for a February 10-12 winter challenge located in Sorrento, FL. while later  in the month they will strain themselves to spent time in Miami Lakes, FL so they can participate in the Sir Pizza Challenge.  A trip to Hawaii follows in March.   Congratulations to the team’s scheduler!  I am sure their future recruits are taking note and just in case they are I found a woman’s golf recruiting form at http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-golf/spec-rel/lou-w-golf-recruit-form.html.

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LACROSSE

The Lacrosse team’s scheduler should confer with the golf team’s person  for instead of suffering through Florida and Hawaii  like their fellow Louisville athletes, instead, in less than a month, they begin their schedule here at the U of L LaCrosse Stadium on Feb. 10^th, 16^th and 23 against Canisius, Ohio State then Old Dominion.  Coach Kellie Young enters her 6^th season as head coach.

(Editor's note)

Lacrosse is a sport that several of us here at CARDINAL COUPLE haved vowed to learn more about this season. Our current plans are to send Sandy to a lacrosse boot camp and have her go through the day-to-day practices and activities that the players in training participate in. We'll probably have Timmy the Intern and a EMS staffer or two accompany her. In our never-ending quest to provide you the best in Louisville womens' athletics, we feel this is a novel idea and ground breaking.

We just haven't told her about it yet...


http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-lacros/mtt/young_kellie00.htmlCoach.

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TRACK

Fortunately for the track team, indoor arenas not only exist but are scheduled for their January 25-26 participation in the IU Relays being held at Bloomington, Indiana and in the Rod McCravy Memorial being held at Lexington, KY.  Without the indoor arenas, imagine the hurdlers in full snow bunny outfits where all of the hurdles are knocked over by their bunny feet shoes.  Instead, they have posted three wins and hit 18 Big East qualifying marks on the final day of the Kentucky Invitational, which was last Saturday.   Details of the meet are available at http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-track/recaps/011213aaa.html.

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TENNIS

Xavier and Morehead State arrive in Louisville for a match at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center this Sunday, January 20 with Southern Illinois and Miami of Ohio following on Saturday the 26^th.  They keep a pretty busy schedule through February with the Big East Championships set for Mid-April.   You can check out their complete schedule at http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-tennis/sched/lou-w-tennis-sched.html.  They go into this season for “the first time in program history”, with two players ranked in the top 100 going into the dual match season.   Those players are Junior Rebecca Shine and junior teammate Julia Fellerhoff ranked No. 84 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).

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SWIMMING AND DIVING

Our swim and diving team has only 4 events left before the Feb 27 Big East Championships at Indianapolis.  They swept visiting BIG EAST rival Cincinnati Saturday afternoon at the Ralph Wright Natatorium. The Cardinal men won 184-100 and the Cardinal women won 188-104.  All but 1 of the upcoming matches are away starting in Dallas but on the January 26^th they will be in Lexington Kentucky before a final match against Indiana is held at the Ralph Wright Natatorium on February 1.

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SOFTBALL

The softball team scheduler seems to have split allegiances with that of the golf and Lacrosse teams folks.   They open the season Feb 8th. in Las Vegas and will then spend time in Jacksonville, Florida for games on the 15^th, 16 and 17^th.   The women will play Stony Brook, Bethune Cookman, Ohio State, Jacksonville, and again against Stony Brook.  They next show a split decision of scheduling with games at Ulmer Stadium on February 22, 23 and 24 in the Cardinal Classic.

Feburary in Las Vegas, Jacksonville or Louisville can be hit or miss on the weather. Here's hoping for blue skies and sunny days for Sandy Pearsall's squad. 

didyouknowthatPearsallistheonlyheadsoftballcoachinthehistoryoflouisvillesoftball?thecalifonianativeplayedcollegeballatoregonstaeandstillthrowsbattingpractice

Tuesday Cardinal Couple -- It's Raining Women's Sport Activites

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

We have a special treat for you this Tuesday with a "two-fer" on articles. We begin with Sandy's laundry day...and she takes us on a merry ride through the spin cycle with her always informative and comprehensive look at Cardinal Womens' sports and beyond. Following her article is Jeff McAdams article on Volleyball.

It's like being in the same room with Cletus and Co-Co at the same time...OK, maybe not that dramatic...but a good thing..nevertheless!





Today’s Laundry Instructions and Tips from Sandy

	Machine Wash, Normal	Garment may be laundered through the use of hottest available water, detergent or soap, agitation, and a machine designed for this purpose.
	Machine Wash, Cold	Initial water temperature should not exceed 30C or 65 to 85F.
	Machine Wash, Warm	Initial water temperature should not exceed 40C or 105F.
	Machine Wash, Hot	Initial water temperature should not exceed 50C or 120F.
	Machine Wash, Hot	Initial water temperature should not exceed 60C or 140F.
	Machine Wash, Hot	Initial water temperature should not exceed 70C or 160F.
	Machine Wash, Hot	Initial water temperature should not exceed 95C or 200F.

VOLLEYBALL

Congratulations to the 14-2 and  12^th nationally ranked Volleycards whose win against Pitt at Pitt on Sunday was their 6^th sweep (25-18, 25-12, 25-22) of the season.  The win also avenges last year’s loss at home against the Panthers and their first sweep of Pitt since 2008. 

Emily Juhl (formerly of Louisville’s Sacred Heart High School)

 

Emily Juhl



http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/juhl_emily00.html contributed 9 kills and no errors which matched her season’s personal best.  Lola Arslanbekova continued her impressive season her 8^th straight match with 10 or more kills while Brooke Mattingly and former Card basketball player Gwen Rucker each had 7 kills and 7 blocks shared between them.   Caitlin Welch (formerly of Louisville’s Mercy High School) lead all players with 18 digs.

                                     

                                                                                    The win is particularly impressive as Saturday was spent traveling from Tampa after their Friday night 3-1 win over the  University of South Florida Bulls who had won 7 of their last 8 matches.



Caitlin Welch



Their next match is at home on October 6 against Seton Hall and is being played at Cardinal Arena. The match starts at 12:00.  This is followed by  KFC YUM! Center matches on the 7^th and 8^th against Rutgers then Texas.

Yesterday the NCAA released this season's first RPI standings and gave UL a 4^th seed.   The RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) is based on strength of both a team's winning percentage and strength of schedule.   To date Louisville  has 6 WINS over Top 50 RPI teams (6-2): Purdue (10), Kentucky (17), Miami (23), WesternKY (31), Duke (37), Illinois (43).   These rankings are used to determine post season seeding.  With the NCAA semi finals and finals being played in the Louisville YUM! Center we would love to see our team in those games.

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BASKETBALL

Finally!!!  The Season Begins

Monday was the first day of basketball practice.  Let the games begin.
 

Recruiting

The week of September 21 brought the women’s basketball coaching staffs from Tennessee and Louisville to the homes of Mercedes Russell and Emmonnie Henderson.  The seniors are set to make a return trip to both schools this month.  Sydney Brackemyre and others are still in the mix.   The more the merrier, we will happily take them all.

Cardinal Arena Graphics

New 2012-2013 team graphics are up in Cardinal Arena.  Check them out in person at the upcoming volleyball game held at 12:00 this Saturday at the arena but in the meantime take a sneak peak at Coach Sam’s tweet pic.twitter.com/GUAWXIdN .

Angel Update

Last Monday, the WNBA awarded Angel McCoughtry the 2012 WNBA Peak Performer Award for leading the league in scoring at 21.4 points per game. She also led the league in steals this season.

Extra Dirty Laundry Being Aired in the Courts

The associated press reports, as most following the story have expected, Former Tennessee Lady Vols media director (of 35 years) Debby Jennings has filed a lawsuit against the University of Tennessee and athletic director Dave Hart alleging that age and sex discrimination led to her forced retirement.  In May, Mr. Hart had released the statement “I concluded that she was insubordinate, disrespectful and fostered an atmosphere of negativity and division." 

At the moment we have a case of he said, she said which unfortunately will take more than a bottle of bleach to clean up. I don’t think it is possible to regularly cover and comment on any segment of women’s sports without at least acknowledging the ongoing internal battle between these parties as it represents many other such battles which have occurred throughout the history of women’s sports. 

A single hierarchy of administrators for both men’s and women’s college athletics is the norm throughout the nation and I personally believe that the consolidation of Tennessee’s departments would have occurred long ago without Pat Summitt’s undisputed strength and power base within the UT system.  With the combined tragic loss of Pat as the women’s head coach (and after this 1 year contract, the ending of her head coach emeritus position) and the financial difficulties being experienced by the schools athletic department, consolidation was inevitable. Ms. Jennings charges also state that 12 of the 15 employees laid off as part of the consolidation of the men’s and women’s athletic department’s were female and of the current athletic departments 23 executive staff and senior administrative staff level positions, only three of the positions are now staffed with women and none are African American. 

The associated press story can be found at:  http://m.espn.go.com/ncw/story?w=1c6l7&storyId=8432902&disableShare=true&adBlock=block&i=SC&hidePageFooter=true&hidePageHeader=true.  Regardless of the outcome of the litigation (historically these types of fights result in a bit of truth and a bit of exaggeration alleged from both parties with no one really winning), a reading of the 40+ page Complaint includes an interesting history of women’s sports at the University of Tennessee.  A link to the complete complaint can be found at http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/441938-complaint-filed-against-the-university-of.html  or http://www.wbir.com/pdf/jennings_ut_hart.pdf .

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SOCCER

The soccer team traveled to South Florida and came away with the equivalent of kissing your sister. Junior middle fielder Angelika Uremovich’s late penalty kick brought the teams into a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation.  The teams remained tied for the two 10-minute overtime periods and ended as a draw.  In goal for Louisville was senior Chloe Kiefer

(http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/kiefer_chloe00.html) 

(Divine Saviour HS of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin) who had four saves.




Chloe Kiefer

 

Next up is Villanova which will be in town this Friday for a 7:00 match. Georgetown is next with a 1:00 start on Sunday at Cardinal Park.

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TENNIS

The Tennis team has been extremely busy.  A review of the news links at http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/lou-w-tennis-spec-rel.html leads you to a history of their activities.  Most recently, Rebecca Shine rose through the singles tournament bracket of the Riviera ITA National Championship where she eventually lost in the semi-finals.  Earlier Gabrielle DiSimone of USC def.  Julia Fellerhoff of Louisville 6-7(4),6-3,6-4.

Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine combined for doubles play but were downed 9-7 by Florida State's Sargeant/Segarelli, who unfortunately were the tournament’s top-seeded doubles pair.

Julia Fellerhoff

Rebecca Shine

       

                                                     

Pre-qualifying singles and doubles matches were once again hosted by UCLA with the actual tournament held at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, CA.  Singles semifinalists, doubles finalists and consolation champions will receive automatic entry into the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships Nov. 8-11 in Flushing, N.Y.   Next the Cardinals will compete at Winston Salem, N.C. in the Wake Forest Invitational from Oct. 5-Oct. 7.

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TRAVEL

FIELD HOCKEY – VOLLEYBALL - SOCCER

The women’s teams are so busy that they are meeting themselves coming and going.  These teams met up with each other in Chicago on Sunday and pretty much took over the plane coming home.  Perhaps it should have been renamed as a charter flight.   The soccer team also managed a safe flight home from Tampa on Sunday evening.

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SOFTBALL

Last weekend our 2012 Big East Champion Softball Team participated in a Fall tournament with Bellarmine and EKU. The Cardinals defeated Bellarmine 10-0 and Eastern Kentucky 1-0 Friday evening at Ulmer Stadium.

                                                                            

On Sunday the team  defeated Murray State  7-1.   The full story can be read at http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/050812aaa.html. 

Louisville will finish their “Fall Ball” this Saturday against Bellarmine and Tennessee State at Ulmer Stadium.  Saturday’s schedule begins at 12:00 p.m. with Louisville vs. Bellarmine, continues with Louisville vs. Tennessee State at 2:30 and finishes with a final game beginning at 5:00 pm with Bellarmine vs. Tennessee State.

The Cards return seven starters and 12 letter winners from their 55-5 season.  If this fall is any indication of what is to come this spring, it is going to be a great season.

Sandy W.
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