Orange Clashes with No. 21 Louisville in BIG EAST Opening Round

Read Match Notes
Tournament Bracket
BIG EAST Tournament Central

Syracuse, N.Y - The Syracuse volleyball team clinched the eighth seed in the BIG EAST volleyball championship and will meet top seed No. 21 Louisville today at 1:30 p.m. (ET). The Orange kept its postseason hopes alive by defeating Villanova Friday evening, 3-1, and solidified its tournament berth Sunday afternoon with a 3-1 win against Seton Hall.

Orange Rewind
The Orange honored seniors Cheryl Cobbina and Joscie Kaup before the match against Seton Hall Sunday afternoon. Both seniors have had record-breaking careers – Cobbina is Syracuse’s all-time leader in kills per game while Kaup has recorded the most digs in Syracuse history. Cobbina and Kaup both put up team-leading performances during their final weekend of regular season play. Cobbina earned 26 kills in two matches while Kaup tallied a total of 23 digs.

BIG EAST Tournament Coverage
The BIG EAST Conference, in conjunction with its Web site provider JumpTV Sports, will stream the quarterfinals and semifinals live online at www.bigeast.tv. The six championship contests, which will contain live audio and be produced with three cameras, can be seen for a one-time price of $9.95. Fans are encouraged to access all premium BIGEAST.tv video for the next 30 days by buying a monthly subscription for the same $9.95 price.

Orange fans can also follow Syracuse through the BIG EAST Tournament Central page via live stats.

The BIG EAST Volleyball Championship match will air live on ESPNU on Sunday, November 18 at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Senior Leadership
On Thursday night at the annual BIG EAST Tournament banquet, seniors Cheryl Cobbina and Joscie Kaup were awarded BIG EAST Second Team honors. Cobbina finished the regular season ranked sixth with 4.00 kills per game while Kaup, who became the program's all-time leader in digs in 2007, stands third in the conference with 4.66 digs per game.

Louisville (20-5, 13-1)
The Cardinals earned the number one seed in the BIG EAST tournament. Louisville’s only conference lost came this past weekend against Notre Dame. The Cardinals share the BIG EAST regular season title with St. John’s (28-3, 13-1).

The 17^th-ranked Cardinals have been led by Jana Matiasovska’s team-best 314 kills and a 3.74 kills per game average. Samantha Dabbs contributes to the Cardinal offense with 896 assists on the season, an average of 11.20 per game. Defensively, Lindsey Mango has led the Cardinals with 368 digs. Lecia Brown has contributed a team-high 188 total blocks.

In their most recent match, the Cardinals fell to Notre Dame, 3-1. A career-high 16 kills from Matiasovska and a double-double with, 11 kills and team-high 14 digs from Justine Landi was not enough to keep the Cardinals perfect in BIG EAST play.

All-Time Against Louisville
In a seven-match series dating back to 1982, the Orange has been unable to defeat the Cardinals. The Orange looks to overcome their 0-7 record against Louisville this Friday at the BIG EAST Tournament in Milwaukee, WI.

Last Time Out Against the Cardinals
During their 2006 meeting, a 3-1 Louisville win, the Orange was led by career-high performances from April Quigley and Shanetha McLaurin. Quigley posted 37 assists and McLaurin recorded 10 digs. Cobbina led the Orange attack with 15 kills while Kaup led the defense with 18 digs.

Next in Line
A win against Louisville will position the Orange for a match against the winner of the four seed Notre Dame and five seed Cincinnati on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. (ET).

Syracuse University Athletics

Orange Clashes with No. 21 Louisville in BIG EAST Opening Round

Related News

Related Videos