It may be Labor Day, but there is still plenty going on around UK Athletics on this rainy Monday morning. I’ll be heading to Joker Phillips’ weekly press conference shortly and will have coverage of that this afternoon as well as real-time updates of any particularly notable happenings on @UKAthleticsNews. Before I do though, here are a few notes:

• Football will have its home opener on Saturday against Central Michigan. The head coach of the Chippewas, Dan Enos, spoke this morning on the Mid-Atlantic Conference’s weekly teleconference. Opening the season with a 21-6 win over South Carolina State, Enos sounded a lot like Joker Phillips did after the Wildcats’ 14-3 win over Western Kentucky. He was very pleased with the play of his defense, calling its outing “dominating”, but wanted more out of his offense. The defense allowed just 137 total yards and just 1.4 yards per carry. As for UK’s defense, Enos said he was very familiar with Rick Minter from a few of his past coaching stops and was very impressed with the way his unit played on Thursday. Offensively, he said that he knows the Wildcats are better than they played in the opener and singled out junior quarterback Morgan Newton and freshman running back Josh Clemons as players that concern him. All in all, Enos had a perspective that applies to UK. With the lack of a preseason, expecting teams to come out and play perfectly from the opening kickoff is unrealistic. Enos said that defenses are often ahead of offenses at this time of year and that is to be expected.

• I talked a bit about the early season success of the men’s and women’s soccer team on Saturday morning, but both teams played again on Sunday. The women’s team concluded play in the Courtyard by Marriott Airport Cardinal Classic, moving to 5-0-0 with yet another thrilling victory. Freshman Arin Gilliland headed in a corner from Kelsey Hunyadi in the 84th minute to send the Wildcats past Baylor, 2-1. With the win, UK claimed victory in the Cardinal Classic.

• The men’s team also won a tournament this weekend. No. 21 Kentucky took the UK Invitational after tying 2-2 against IUPUI on Sunday. In spite of launching 28 shots, fourth-most in school history, the Wildcats settled for a tie when a thunderstorm forced the game to be called before overtime could be played. Ian Collins’ team will head west next weekend to play Stanford and California on Friday and Sunday.

• After a disappointing effort last week against Cincinnati, the volleyball team got on the right track in the Kentucky Classic this weekend. Playing three matches in two days, the Wildcats swept Western Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia Tech, improving to 5-2 on the season in the process. Senior setter Christine Hartmann entered the starting lineup, keying the Wildcats’ attack. She was named to the All-Tournament team along with libero Stephanie Klefot and outside hitter Lauren O’Connor.

• There are a number of home events this week, but there are a couple that merit some special notice. Volleyball hosts Louisville at Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. Women’s soccer also plays the Cardinals at home with kickoff taking place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night at the UK Soccer Complex.

• John Calipari’s Dominican Republic National Team is currently playing against Panama in the first game of the next round of play in the FIBA Americas Championship. The live stream can be viewed here. There are eight teams remaining and each will play four games with the points from the preliminary round transferring. The top four teams after that set of four games will advance to a semi-final knockout phase. If you’re confused, fret not, because I am too.