Dan McDonnell Louisville vs. Cal State Fullerton Game 1 Super Regional. Photo By Adam Creech 6-6-2015

Cardinal Notebook: 9/21

Mark BlankenbakerOctober 21, 2015

Women’s Basketball Earns Preseason Honors

In one of the first preseason national honors announcements, College Sports Madness has named Louisville guard Asia Durr as its freshman of the year, while selecting sophomores Mariya Moore (second team) and Myisha Hines-Allen (third team) to the all-Atlantic Coast Conference teams.

Durr is the highest-rated recruit to sign at Louisville in school history, earning the No. 1 ranking from Full Court and Prospects Nation. The Douglasville, Ga., native finished her prep career at St. Pius X Catholic with 2,764 points, shooting better than 50 percent from the field, 706 rebounds, 254 assists, 266 steals, and 75 blocks. Durr was named an All-American by four different publications during her senior season and also earned the title Miss Georgia Basketball for the second-consecutive season.

Moore is coming off a summer in which she earned her second-consecutive gold medal with USA Basketball.

The Hercules, Calif., native, who also earned All-America honors at the end of the 2014-15 campaign from the Associated Press and Full Court, started 33 of 34 games in her freshman season. She averaged 13.4 points, the 20th-best mark in the ACC, along with 4.5 rebounds. Moore, who dished out 3.6 assists per game, became just the fourth player in school history to record 100 assists in their freshman campaign.

Hines-Allen, who joined Moore on the Full Court Freshman All-America team last season, played in 34 games last season and averaged 11.8 points and 4.9 rebounds. The Montclair, N.J., native shot 55.8 percent from the field for the season, good enough for fourth in the ACC and 13th nationally, and led the Cardinals in the postseason, with 12.8 points per game.

Louisville opens the year on Nov. 15 at the KFC Yum! Center against 2013 Final Four foe California. Season ticket information is available on GoCards.com.

Baseball’s Recruiting Class Ranked #10 Nationally

The University of Louisville baseball program’s 2015 recruiting class was tabbed 10th-best in the nation by Baseball America on Tuesday afternoon.

The Cardinals received their second top 25 ranking with the 2015 recruiting class after landing at No. 21 in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper recruiting rankings. It also marked the sixth time in the last eight years Louisville has earned a top 25 national recruiting ranking. The Cardinals were ranked third among six ACC schools in the Baseball America Top 25 – No. 4 Georgia Tech, No. 6 Florida State, No. 10 Louisville, No. 11 Virginia, No. 16 North Carolina and No. 23 Clemson.

The recruiting class, assembled by head coach Dan McDonnell, associate head coach Roger Williams and recruiting coordinator Eric Snider, features four players in the Baseball America Top 500, which ranks all eligible players prior to the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft. The group, on campus now and participating in fall workouts, is highlighted by righthanded pitchers Sam Bordner (Baltimore, Ohio/No. 158), Bryan Hoeing (Batesville, Ind./No. 267) and Riley Thompson (Louisville, Ky./No. 323) and lefthander Noah Burkholder (Crown Point, Ind./No. 429).

Here are some of the highlights from what Baseball America had to say about Louisville’s 2015 recruiting class: “Hoeing runs his fastball up to 94 mph and offers projection and athleticism. Thompson’s fastball sits in the low 90s, occasionally pushing higher thanks to his loose, easy arm action. Burkholder is somewhat raw, but combines athleticism with a projectable frame. Bordner has a solid four-pitch arsenal. Like Hoeing, he was a standout basketball player in high school and has good athleticism and size. (Adam) Wolf (lefty) gives the class another tall pitcher with upside. Louisville also added righthander Ryan Smith, a graduate transfer from Baylor. Smith transferred after his father, Steve, was fired as Baylor’s coach, and he brings experience to the staff. Among position players, Louisville brings in a pair of exciting outfielders from Chicagoland. Chris Botsoe (outfielder) has natural athleticism and should see his tools improve as he gets stronger. Josh Stowers (outfielder) is a more physical player with an intriguing blend of power and speed. Both Devin Mann and Daniel Little, the grandson of former Red Sox manager Grady Little, can play the middle infield, but Little is a more polished defender at this stage.”

Louisville is in the final two weeks of its fall ball workouts with the annual Pizza Bowl series tentatively scheduled to begin this weekend. A full Pizza Bowl series schedule will be announced later this week.

Women’s Golf Captures Fourth Consecutive Cardinal Cup

Behind another solid third-round score for the second-consecutive year, the University of Louisville women’s golf team captured the Cardinal Cup team title on Tuesday afternoon at the UofL Golf Club.

The Cardinals posted a 6-over-par 294 on the final day to earn their fourth-consecutive team title, beating four top-50 programs: No. 26 East Carolina, No. 30 Notre Dame, No. 33 Florida State, and No. 41 Illinois. Louisville, which finished at 14-over-par 878 after three rounds, had three of its top scorers place inside the top 10 on the individual leaderboard.

Laura Restrepo fired another quality round, helping Louisville earn its first victory of the season, with an even-par 216. After opening the tournament with a 2-under-par 70, she compiled consecutive rounds of 1-over-par 73.

Lexie Long, who played on the Louisville Red Team that finished sixth and ahead of Notre Dame, East Carolina and Illinois, was in the running to earn her first career victory. After shooting a 2-over-par through the first two rounds, she carded a 1-under-par 71 to finish the tournament at 1-under-par 215 and tied for third in the 81-player field.

The tournament’s par leader, Katie Mitchell tied for sixth with a 4-over-par 220. The senior, who earned her second top-10 finish of the season, tapped in for par 43 times. Her teammate, Olivia Cason logged 34 pars and tied for ninth after shooting a 5-over-par 221.

Jacqueline Twitty, Shannon Gramley, and Molly Skapik each recorded top-25 finishes. Twitty’s 4-under-par 68 in the second round was tied for the second-best score in the tournament, helping her to a tie for 17th. Gramley was consistent each day, tying for 21st, and Skapik tied for 23rd.

Louisville returns to action this weekend, competing at the Palmetto Intercollegiate from Sunday through Tuesday in Kiawah Island, S.C., at the Turtle Point Golf Club.

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Louisville Black – 287-297-294; 2. Florida State – 296-289-304; 3. Chattanooga – 303-298-294; 4. Wisconsin – 302-295-299; 5. Virginia Tech – 301-298-298

INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS

t-3. Lexie Long – 70-74-71; 5. Laura Restrepo – 70-73-73; t-6. Katie Mitchell – 73-73-74; t-9. Olivia Cason – 71-74-76; t-17. Jacqueline Twitty – 79-68-76; t-21. Shannon Gramley – 73-77-75; t-23. Molly Skapik – 76-78-72; t-37. Louise Oxner – 76-75-79; t-57. Ellen Kehoe – 77-82-75; t-74. Meredith Moir – 82-78-85

Louisville Volleyball Sweeps Duke

Senior Erin Fairs had 12 kills while freshman Aniah Philo posted her third career double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs to lead the No. 25 University of Louisville volleyball team to a 25-23, 25-21, 25-22 victory over Duke in the annual Dig Pink match on Sunday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center.

The Cardinals stayed unbeaten in the ACC with an 8-0 record and moved to 14-4 overall. Louisville hit .349 with six blocks and had six service aces.

“It was a great win for us against a good Duke team,” said UofL head coach Anne Kordes. “They are a strong, physical team. They are a gritty opponent who knows how to come back and win. I’m happy to see our resilience especially in game one.”

Senior Katie George had 39 assists while freshman Molly Sauer added a match-high 18 digs for the Cards. Janelle Jenkins came close to a double-double with nine kills and nine digs while Tess Clark added eight kills. Gabbie Wiley came off the bench and served three aces for the Cardinals in the match.

“I have to talk about Gabbie Wiley’s serves,” said Kordes, “she is coming in and punching people in the mouth with her serve. She makes such an impact for us.”

Duke was led by Leah Meyer who had a match-high 13 kills and Maggie Deichmeister who had a match-high 40 assists.

Louisville jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead before Duke responded with four points of their own. Both teams traded points before Duke took a three-point advantage 15-12 at the media timeout halfway through the first set. Coming out of the timeout, the Cards strung together a 7-2 run to take a 19-17 lead and force Duke to call their first timeout of the set. The Blue Devils used back-to-back kills from Emily Sklar and Cadie Bates to knot the score at 19 and force Kordes to burn her first timeout of the set. The teams continued to trade points before back-to-back kills from Erin Fairs and Tess Clark to put the Cards at set point. A service error from Duke gave the Cards a first set victory 25-23. The Cards hit .268 to Duke’s .222 and out-dug the Blue Devils 23-19 with Molly Sauer notching eight digs in the set.

In the second set, the teams continued to go back and forth until the Cards put together a quick 4-1 run to take their biggest lead of the set at 15-11 into the media timeout. Duke came within two but four monster kills from Fairs, a kill from Janelle Jenkins, and a service ace by Gabbie Wiley put the Cards up 21-15 and forced Duke to call a timeout. An attack error by the Blue Devils put the Cards at set point up 24-17 but the Blue Devils responded with a 4-0 run to come within three. A kill by Maggie DeJong out of a timeout gave the Cardinals a 25-21 second set victory and went into the break ahead 2-0. UofL hit .382 to Duke’s .239 and were led by Fairs’ five kills in the set.

Out of the break, neither team took a lead more than a point until Louisville went on 3-0 run with kills by Jenkins and Maggie DeJong to take a 15-12 lead at the media timeout. Louisville kept the pressure on as they continued the run to take a 20-15 lead after back-to-back kills by Tess Clark forced a Duke timeout. Duke responded with a 5-2 run of their own to pull within two, 22-20, and force Kordes to burn a timeout. UofL recovered with kills by Jenkins and Philo putting the Cards at set point before a Fairs kill gave the Cards a 25-22 third set victory. Louisville hit .412 in the set with 17 kills and only having three attack errors.

The Cardinals conclude their three-game home stand with a mid-week matchup against Notre Dame on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the KFC Yum! Center.