Volleyball Debuts 2016 Squad at Red and Black Scrimmage

University of Louisville Volleyball fans can get a peek at their 2016 Cardinals, all 17 of them, at the Red and Black Scrimmage Saturday at 6 p.m. in Cardinal Arena.

The University of Louisville volleyball team put three on the ACC's Preseason team with Molly Sauer, Tess Clark and Janelle Jenkins being selected for the Cardinals. For the third year in a row, North Carolina has been chosen as the Atlantic Coast Conference volleyball preseason favorite in a vote by the league's 15 head coaches.

Coming in at the number two spot was Florida State with 182 votes and creating the rest of the top five were Miami (159), Louisville (146) and Pitt (142). Duke (127) placed sixth ahead of Georgia Tech (117), while Virginia's 101 votes edged Virginia Tech (100) for eighth. Syracuse (95) was picked ninth, followed by Notre Dame (72), NC State (53), Boston College and Clemson (T30), and Wake Forest (27).

The defending ACC Champion University of Louisville volleyball team will play 15 regular season home matches in 2016 as the Cardinals unveil their schedule.

The Cardinals will face eight opponents who played in last year's NCAA Championships tournament, including Final Four participant and No. 2 seed Minnesota, and regional semifinalist Wisconsin. There will be 10 ACC home matches and a Red and Black scrimmage that will kick off the season.

"This is a good, good schedule for us," said Anne Kordes, UofL head coach and 2015 ACC Coach of the Year. "Our non-conference is coupled nicely with ACC matches as we prepare to defend our title and put ourselves in a great position to fight for a strong RPI."

The Cardinals start the season on the road at the Bowling Green Tournament, where they will face Horizon league power Oakland and A-10 contender VCU before facing host BGSU Aug. 26-27.

UofL will host the Active Ankle Challenge Sept. 2-3 when the Cardinals will face Auburn, coached by former UofL assistant Rick Nold. His Tigers knocked off No. 11-ranked Florida a year ago. Also in the field will be Santa Clara, which is coming off its 16^th straight NCAA appearance and America East member Stony Brook.

Another stringent test of the 2016 Cards will be at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge when the ACC champion Cards and ACC runner-up Tar Heels will face Minnesota and Wisconsin in Chapel Hill. The Gophers made the Final Four a year ago as the overall No. 2 seed and posted a 30-5 record. The Badgers made the regional semifinals before falling to Florida in Austin, Texas.

The last pair of opponents on the non-conference slate will be rival Kentucky on Sept. 15 and Lipscomb on Sept. 16. The Wildcats finished second in the SEC and made their 11^th trip to the NCAAs last year. Lipscomb was the A-Sun Conference Champion and made its sixth NCAA appearance before falling to UCLA.

The ACC slate opens on the road Sept. 23 at Notre Dame before heading to Tallahassee to face ACC runner-up Florida State Sept. 25. The Cardinals open the conference home season by hosting Wake Forest Sept. 30 and then Duke on Oct. 2.

Louisville hits the road, heading for Boston College (Oct. 7) and Syracuse (Oct. 9). The Orange, led by long-time UofL skipper Leonid Yelin, finished tied for third in the ACC last year and handed the Cards one of their two league losses. The Cardinals return to the Yum! Center to take on NC State and UNC on Oct. 13 and 16 respectively. The Tar Heels were the league runners-up and were the other club that handed the Cards an ACC loss.

The Cardinals are back on the road Oct. 21 and 23, when they square off against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg before heading to Pittsburgh.

The next homestand will be the most grueling of the year when the Cardinals face Florida State (Oct. 28) and then Miami on Oct. 30. FSU tied for second last year and Miami was third, with both teams looking to avenge home losses from a year ago and both were NCAA participants as well.

Louisville heads to Durham on Nov. 4 for Duke, followed by Wake Forest on Nov. 6, before hosting Notre Dame Nov. 9 and Virginia on Nov. 11, which will be held in Cardinal Arena.

Next up will be a trip to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech (Nov. 18) before heading to Clemson (Nov. 20). The final home matches of the regular season will feature Syracuse (Nov. 23) and Boston College (Nov. 25).

"What is so exciting about the ACC is that the improvement across the board puts us in contention to be the best volleyball conference in the nation with regards to RPI," said Kordes. "There is not a team that could not advance to the NCAA, which makes for a tough grind-it-out kind of season where you have to go into battle every night."

Current season tickets holders may renew their seats by logging in to their My Cardinal Account or by calling 502-GOCARDS (502-462-2737).

New season tickets can be purchased by visiting GoCards.com or by calling 502-GOCARDS.

To order tickets online for the KFC Yum! Center, click here. For Cardinal Arena tickets, click here.

Fans can follow Louisville volleyball on Twitter at www.twitter.com/uoflvolleyball or Facebook at www.facebook.com/uoflvolleyball
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Volleyball Debuts 2016 Squad at Red and Black Scrimmage

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