Volleyball Set to Face Notre Dame and DePaul

Sept. 30, 2008

The road warrior Cardinals finally return to the friendly confines of Cardinal Arena after 11 straight road matches. U of L will face Notre Dame Oct. 4 at 2 p.m. and DePaul Oct. 5 at 2 p.m. both in Cardinal Arena. The Notre Dame match is sold out.

Notre Dame is 7-7 with a 2-0 mark in the BIG EAST after coming off a weekend sweep of USF (3-1) and Georgetown (3-0). In the match against the Hoyas, Louisville native Christina Kaelin led the Irish with 12 kills. U of L and UND share one common opponent thus far, with both squads falling to scrappy upcomer, Valparaiso University. DePaul is off to a sluggish start, posting a 1-13 mark. The Blue Demons had an 0-3 week, losing to non-conference foe Northern Illinois 3-1 on Sept. 23 before dropping BIG EAST matches to Georgetown 3-1 on Sept. 26 and USF 3-1 on Sept. 28. Against the Hoyas senior Caitlin Boland had a double-doublewith 35 assists and 11 digs.

Against the Field Louisville trails Notre Dame 6-14 in the series record. The two teams met last year in the semi-finals of the BIG EAST Championship in Milwaukee when the Cards swept the Irish 30-25, 30-20, 30-27 just six days after falling 3-1 to UND in South Bend during the regular season. U of L owns an 18-2 mark against the Blue Demons. Last year, U of L swept DePaul in Chicago.

The Streak Continues U of L extended its home match winning streak to 26 games with the win over Indiana State. The Cardinals last loss in Cardinal Arena came 9/2/06 to Arizona. 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.

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. In three 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.

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.

Rx for the Cardinals 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 137-69.5. 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 three Cards who average one or more blocks per set, led by Rui Liu's 1.33 and Lecia Brown's 1.24. 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.

Cardinals Top BIG EAST Poll The Louisville Cardinals are the top choice in the 2008 BIG EAST Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll. Eight of the BIG EAST's 15 head coaches gave Louisville first-place votes, edging out defending conference champion St. John's, which had four first-place tallies. The coaches were not permitted to vote for their own teams.

Louisville collected 189 points in the voting, placing them one spot above the Red Storm, who ended its championship run last year. The Cardinals advanced to the final game of the 2007 BIG EAST Championship, falling in three sets to St. John's (30-24, 30-14, 30-26). Louisville received an at-large bid to the NCAA Volleyball Championship, losing in the first round to Middle Tennessee.

All-BIG EAST Preseason Team senior Lecia Brown will lead the way for the top-picked Cardinals. Brown took over the net last year, leading the NCAA in blocks, averaging 2.07 blocks per game. Fellow senior Tatyana Kolesnikova joins Brown as a preseason team selection. This is the second time Louisville has been pegged as preseason favorites in the conference, with the other coming in 2005, which was the school's first year competing in the BIG EAST. 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 (3.56/s) and Lecia Brown is second individually at 1.56. Freshman Gwen Rucker is ninth in the league in blocking, averaging 1.17 per set. Rui Liu is 5th at 1.40. The Cardinals are third in opponent hitting percentage at .154 in league play.

The Lineup The U of L lineup has new faces. Look for freshman setter Renee Tomko to call the shots for the Cardinals. Gosia Lech also saw considerable time at the helm for the Cardinals. Freshman Gwen Rucker has been filling in for the injured Rui Liu at middle. Watch for Anastasia Artemeva at outside hitter. Back are veterans Lecia Brown, Justine Landi, Tatyana Kolesnikova, Lindsey Mango and Kristie Wetterer.

Season Highs:Kills: 24 by Tatyana Kolesnikova vs. Illinois-ChicagoTotal Attacks: 51 by Justine Landi vs. Illinois StateHitting Percentage: .750 (12-0-16)by Gwen Rucker vs. MiamiAssists: 47 by Renee Tomko vs. Dayton, UConnAces: 3 by Justine Landi vs. Illinois StateDigs: 21 by Lindsey Mango vs. ValparaisoBlock Solos: 4 by Lecia Brown vs. Wake ForestBlock Assists: 7 by Lecia Brown, Gwen Rucker and Justine Landi versus Valparaiso

University of Louisville Athletics

Players Mentioned

Anastasia Artemeva

Lecia Brown

Lecia Brown

Tatyana Kolesnikova

Tatyana Kolesnikova

Justine Landi

Justine Landi

Gosia Lech

Rui Liu

Lindsey Mango

Lindsey Mango

Jana Matiasovska

Gwen Rucker

Gwen Rucker

Renee Tomko

Kristie Wetterer

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