Oct. 9, 2008

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Villanova volleyball team (11-7, 2-1 BIG EAST) hits the road this weekend to face two tough conference opponents. The Wildcats will be at Louisville on Saturday, Oct. 11 and at Cincinnati on Sunday, Oct. 12. Both matches will begin at 2:00 p.m.

"This is the toughest road trip in the conference because both programs are NCAA tournament caliber teams every year," said head coach Josh Steinbach. "Both are tough to play on their home courts and will have crowds that impact the match. I think it's a great challenge for our team. We will have to play our best match each day to be competitive."

Villanova picked up its second conference win of the season against Rutgers last Sunday. The Wildcats swept the Scarlet Knights, 3-0, to complete their second consecutive sweep, as they blanked Fordham, 3-0, the day before.

The Wildcats rank third in the conference in assists, as junior Chelsea Graman is dishing out 10.93 per set, which is second in the BIG EAST. Villanova's defense is among the best as the team is collecting 14.38 digs per set with freshman Kim Maroon fourth overall in the league with 4.07 per contest. Maroon also ranks third with 0.46 service aces per set. The Wildcats are first in the conference in aces with 2.06 per set and junior Amy Gulyas and senior Dana Tartazky are eighth and ninth in the league respectively. Tartazky is second in the BIG EAST with 3.77 kills per set, while VU combines to hit 13.33 as a team (5th BIG EAST). Freshman Morgan Petkovich comes in ninth in the league with 3.25 per contest.

Louisville enters Saturday's match most recently falling to Tennessee on Wednesday evening. The Cardinals are 6-9 overall and own a 2-2 conference mark. Last weekend in conference action, Louisville was swept by Notre Dame, but defeated DePaul, 3-1, in home matches. The Cardinals are the best blocking team in the conference averaging 2.76 per set. Lecia Brown is first in the league with 1.35 per outing.

Cincinnati is 13-5 overall and 2-2 in BIG EAST action. The Bearcats picked up a 3-0 win over DePaul and defeated Notre Dame, 3-1, on their home court. Cincinnati is the second ranked team in the conference in blocking as they average 2.44 per set and has the second overall conference blocker in Jessie Nevitt, who picks up 1.19 blocks per set.

In last season's meeting at Jake Nevin Fieldhouse, Villanova defeated Cincinnati, 3-2, but fell to Louisville, 3-1.