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Volleyball Returns to Cardinal Arena to Face Villanova, Seton Hall
Oct. 10, 2008
This Week in Volleyball U of L, 6-9 and 2-2 in the BIG EAST, returns to Cardinal Arena for a Oct. 11 matchup against Villanova at 2 p.m. and then a live televised match against Seton Hall the next afternoon at 2 p.m. Scouting Seton Hall The Pirates have won ofthree straight, win victories over Rutgers, Fordham and LIU. They hope to continue their success at Cincinnati and Louisville this weekend. Sophomore Sarah Osmun has been a key part of the Hall's recent success. In the last three matches, she has averaged 3.00 kills and 3.11 digs per set. Osmun came off the bench and came up with three crucial kills in the second set to spark a rally in the Pirate win against the LIU Blackbirds. Scouting the Wildcats Villanova picked up its second conference win of the season against Rutgers last Sunday. The Wildcats swept the Scarlet Knights, 3-0, to complete their second consecutive sweep, as they blanked Fordham, 3-0, the day before. "This is the toughest road trip in the conference because both programs are NCAA tournament caliber teams every year," said head coach Josh Steinbach. "Both are tough to play on their home courts and will have crowds that impact the match. I think it's a great challenge for our team. We will have to play our best match each day to be competitive." Against the Field The Cardinals have never lost to Villanova in four matches nor Seton Hall in the four matches since U of L joined the BIG EAST. Earlier this week
Justine Landi had 19 kills, an ace and 12 digs but it was not enough as the Cardinals fell 3-1 to Tennessee in collegiate volleyball action Wednesday night in Knoxville.U of L dropped to 6-9 with the 25-17, 25-18, 23-25, 25-23 loss in the non-conference tilt. U of L hit .147 but outblocked the Vols 13-12. Senior Tatyana Kolesnikova joined Landi in double digit kills with 11. Rui Liu came off the bench to add six kills and two blocks.
Five Set Matches The Cardinals have already had six five-set matches this year. U of L won the five-setter against Miami of Ohio but fell in five to Valparaiso, Indiana, Dayton, Illinois State and St. John's. U of L had just four five-set matches all last year which included the final two matches of the season. The Cardinals have had a combined nine five-setters in the two years previous to this. This year, in four of the five 5-set losses, U of L spotted their opponent two games before forcing a fifth game versus Valpo, Indiana and St. John's. Lecia Brown was named to the All-Flyer Classic Junior middle blocker Lecia Brown was named to the All-Flyer Classic last weekend after an outstanding weekend at the Dayton tournament. In the three matches, she had 30 kills, hit .410 with three aces, five solo blocks and eight block assists. Tatyana Kolesnikova Named All-Chicago Classic Senior Tatyana Kolesnikova was named to the All-Chicago Classic team. Over the weekend of Sept 12-13, she had 40 kills, hitting .368 with three aces and three blocks. Streak Interrupted U of L snapped its home match winning streak at 26 games with the loss to Notre Dame 10/4/08. The Cardinals last loss in Cardinal Arena came 9/2/06 to Arizona. Their Own Worst Enemy U of L has committed 146 service errors, 41 more than its opponents. The Cardinals have also been in the net 56 times to their opponent's 15. They have also been aced 64 times while acing their opponents 60 times. Landi Named to All-adidas Classic and BE Honor Roll Justine Landi earned All-Adidas Classic Honors at Indiana, and set and reset her career high in kills with 20 against both Wake Forest and Indiana, adding nine against Valparaiso. Without two senior starters in the line up due to injuries, Landi shouldered much of Louisville's offense. Taking 128 swings and digging 36 balls, she was the workhorse for the Cardinals over the weekend. Her efforts also earned her BIG EAST Honor Roll kudos for the week. Out of the Gates The last time U of L started out the season below .500 as its record was in 1999 when the Cardinals opened with a 3-8 mark . Career High Resets Lecia Brown's 30 attacks versus St. John's was a career-high in attacks. she set her new career high in kills with 15 vs. Dayton. Gwen Rucker's career high 12 klls came against Miami when she had 12 kills on 16 swings to hit .750. Renee Tomko's 47 assists versus both Dayton and UConn are career highs for her. Justine Landi's 7 block assists against Valparaiso are a career high watermark. Justine had 22 kills against DePaul. It is her third 20-kill or more match with the others coming against Wake Forest and Indiana. Rx for the Cardinals Anastasia Artemeva was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her foot. Her recovery time is unknown. The Cardinals had two senior starters out with injuries. Jana Matiasovska had stitches in her hand from a dishwashing incident and a foot injury as well. Rui Liu has a sprained ankle. Jana returned to the lineup in the Dayton Classic and Rui came back and played for the first time at UConn last weekend when she had threee blocks and two kills. Coach Yelin called upon her again at St. John's where she hit .556 with five kills and four blocks. Cardinal Block Party The Cardinals continue their dominance at the net, outblocking their opponents 173-90. The Cardinals were not outblocked for 39 straight matches until Purdue and Miami both edged the Cardinals by a total of three blocks. The biggest margin was against Wake Forest and Valpo (16-2) Against No. 1 ranked Penn State, the Cardinals tied the Nittany Lions 4-4 in blocks. U of L has two Cards who average one or more blocks per set, led Lecia Brown's 1.38. Freshman Gwen Rucker stands at 1.04. The University of Louisville was the top blocking team in the NCAA Division I statistics last year, averaging 3.94 per game. U of L was not out-blocked last season. The Cardinals also return the NCAA statistical blocking champion in Lecia Brown. The junior averaged 2.07 blocks per game and averaged almost 2.45 against BIG EAST opponents. She tied a school record with 12 block assists against Duke. She was a member of the All-BIG EAST First Team and set a single season record with 198 block assists. Her 221 total blocks, was the second most all-time in a single season. Looking Ahead to the Tournament The BIG EAST's 15 volleyball teams play every league school once for a 14-game schedule. The top eight finishers in the BIG EAST standings based on winning percentage advance to the BIG EAST Volleyball Championship in Pittsburgh's Fitzgerald Field House. First-round action of the BIG EAST Volleyball Championship will begin on Nov. 21. The event spans three days and is single elimination. ESPNU will televise the championship game on Nov. 23 at 3:00 p.m. ET. The tournament champion will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA's 28th Annual Division I Women's Volleyball Championship. BIG EAST Rankings The Cardinals lead the BIG EAST only stats in team blocks (2.76/s) and Lecia Brown is first individually at 1.35. Justine Landi is 7th in kills at 3.28. Season Highs: Kills: 24 by Tatyana Kolesnikova vs. Illinois-Chicago Total Attacks: 51 by Justine Landi vs. Illinois State Hitting Percentage: .750 (12-0-16)by Gwen Rucker vs. Miami Assists: 47 by Renee Tomko vs. Dayton, UConn Aces: 3 by Justine Landi vs. Illinois State Digs: 21 by Lindsey Mango vs. Valparaiso Block Solos: 4 by Lecia Brown vs. Wake Forest Block Assists: 9 by Lecia Brown, versus DePaul |
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