Volleyball Plans Spooktacular Weekend
October 29, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 29, 2008
This Week in Volleyball U of L, 10-10 and 6-3 in the BIG EAST, returns to town to face Georgetown on Friday in a spooktacular Halloween event at Hoops in the Cardinals off-site visit to the state-of-the-art facility off Blankenbaker Road in Louisville. There will be Halloween games, a volleyball clinic for kids, a costume parade and contest and lots of candy and prizes. Doors open at 5:45 for the Clinic. On Sunday, longtime rival South Florida will try to bull its way past the Cardinals in a match (back in Cardinal Arena) that will be televised by ESPNU.
Scouting the Opponents The revitalized Hoyas split last weekend, with a loss to South Florida and a win over Rutgers. Freshman Sara Manley led the way with 13 kills and freshman Ashley Malone had 33 assists, as the Georgetown University volleyball team (12-9, 5-3 BIG EAST) defeated Rutgers University (1-16, 0-7 BIG EAST) in three sets, 25-21, 25-12, 25-18 last Sunday. The USF Bulls just closed out a five-match home stand, last weekend when they recorded their third straight sweep and fifth win in six matches after defeating Rutgers 25-17, 25-13, 25-19. Alli Arbogast led the way and was been named to this week's BIG EAST Honor Roll for her standout play over the past week. The Bulls recorded wins over Florida A&M and Rutgers, and Arbogast played a key role in those wins in several aspects of the game. Arbogast hit .429 over the two matches, which were both sweeps on the Bulls' home floor at the Corral. The native of St. Louis registered 11 blocks on the week, including nine alone in the Rutgers match that pushed USF's conference record to 5-3 and 15-8 overall.
Against the Field The Cardinals lead the rivalry with the Hoyas 3-0 and beat the Hoyas last year 3-0 in Washington. The Cardinals are 19-4 against longtime rival USF and last faced them 9/21/07 with a 30-18, 30-19, 30-20 win.
Last Week The Cardinals changed their system and it paid off big with two wins last weekend. The Cardinals blitzed Marquette 25-8, 25-19, 24-21 for the first conference sweep of the year. MU is the only BIG EAST School to knock off St. John's this year. The debut of Justine Landi at setter and the new 6-2 offense with Gosia Lech/Renee Tomko coming in to set when Landi rotates to front row. Gwen Rucker moves to left side and Rui Liu and Lecia Brown cover the middle for the Cardinals. Syracuse fell to the Cardinals 25-22, 16-25, 25-11, 25-18.
Justine Landi Named to BE Honor Roll after 1st Triple Double of Season Justine Landi was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll after an outstanding weekend when she moved to setter and scored the rare triple double with 10 ks, 18 assists and 11 digs against Marquette as well as two aces. She had a co-team high 11 kills and 17 assists against Syracuse as the Cardinals won both BIG EAST matches last weekend including their first 3-set conference sweep against Marquette.
Kolesnikova Named to BE Honor Roll Cardinal senior, Tatyana Kolesnikova was named to the BE's Honor Roll for her performance during the week ending Oct. 12. She hit .415 against SHU and .344 against Villanova.
Cards Rank 5th in Nation in Block U of L is ranked fifth in the Nation in team blocking trailing only Penn State, Utah, and Colorado State .. in that order.
Broomless Cards The Cardinals have swept just two opponent this year in their eight victories. Indiana State, the first match of the season, fell in three to the Cardinals. Marquette was the first BIG EAST opponent to be swept. In 2007, U of L swept 14 opponents.
Slow Starters The Cardinals have won the first set in 10 of the 20 matches. They are 8-1 when they win the first set. Only St. John's came back from a 1-0 deficit to beat the Cardinals.
Six 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 six 5-set losses, U of L spotted their opponent two games before forcing a fifth game versus Valpo, Indiana, Dayton 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. The current streak is three.
