The Book 2002-03 UL Lady Cajuns Volleyball
<blockquote>Louisiana's Lady Cajun Volleyballers left the friendly confines of Lafayette Louisiana, and took a 100 mile trip west to participate in a volleyball tournament at McNeese's <b>LA Memorial Gymnasium</b>.<hr width=300<p><i>Louisianato opens season with back-to-back wins for the first time since 1995</i>
LAKE CHARLES – Louisiana opened the 2002 volleyball season here Friday at the McNeese State Cowgirl Roundup Invitational with a pair of victories over Jackson State and Southern Mississippi.
The Cajuns (2-0) defeated JSU in game one behind the duo of sophomore Stacey Cole and senior Priscilla Lima, who together combined for 32 of Louisiana's 49 team kills in the 3-0 (30-21, 30-22, 30-9) win over the Tigers.
The win came in the first match for new Ragin' Cajuns head coach Becky Madden and kicked off the 2002-03 UL athletic season.
Cole had a team-best 18 kills while Lima chipped in with 14 kills of her own to pace the Cajuns offense. Senior and 2002 preseason All-Sun Belt pick Clarice Laires led the Cajuns defensively with a match-high nine digs while adding six kills.
Louisiana had three players with a hitting percentage over .400 and improved their hitting percentage as a team as each game of the match progressed. sophomore Stacy Liverett had a team-high .600 hitting perentage.
Lafayette native and junior Beth Henson, starting at setter for the first time since her freshman season, recorded 30 assists and four digs while adding three kills. Last season's starting setter Connie Byrnes, limited to action due to a minor shoulder injury, played one game and notched 14 assists.
For the match, Louisiana boasted a hitting percentage of .337 compared to JSU's .049. The Cajuns had 49 kills and 35 digs to the Tigers 21 kills and 27 digs. Madden was pleased with the team's overall play and the fact that she was able to work everyone into the match.
In the second match, Louisiana bounced back from a 2-0 deficit to claim a hard fought 3-2 (29-31, 20-30, 30-23, 30-25, 15-13) victory.
Cole led the Cajuns in kills for the second straight match, recording 16 to go along with 16 digs. Lima and freshman Lesley Tough each recorded 12 kills for the match and were helped offensively by Henson, who added 37 assists in the match to combine for 67 assists for the day.
Louisiana opens the season 2-0 for the first time since Sept. 1, 1995.
The Cajuns will conclude round robin play Saturday with matches against Prairie View at 1 p.m. and McNeese State at 5 p.m.
Louisiana 3, Southern Mississippi 2
<pre><font size="3">Louisiana 3, Southern Mississippi 2
1 2 3 4 5
Louisiana (2-0) 29 20 30 30 15
Southern Miss. (1-1) 31 30 23 25 13
Louisiana:
Kills 57 (Cole 16, Lima, Tough 12);
Digs 96 (Lima 23, Cole, Laires 16);
Assists 45 (Henson 37, Byrnes 6).
Southern Miss:
Kills 53 (Bush 19, Files 14, Tribble 12);
Digs 84 (Bush 19, Olsson 18, Tribble 17);
Assists 43 (Zane 40).
T: 2:10.</pre>
Lady Cajun volleyball heads to A&M tournament
ADVERTISER
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas - UL Lafayette's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team continues its long road to its first home match this weekend at the McDonald's Texas A&M Verizon Invitational here at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Cajuns (4-3) will open tournament play against perennial power and Mountain West Conference member BYU (3-5) at 5 p.m. today. The Cougars began the 2002 season in the AVCA Division I Top 25 poll. They enter the match off a 3-0 (30-26, 31-29, 30-24) win over in-state rival Weber State.
Following today's match, UL will face the host Aggies at 1 p.m. and Sam Houston State at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Today's match will be the first-ever between the Cajuns and Cougars. Though they have no history on the court, they do have one thing in common. Both schools are led by coaches in their first season at the school.
Louisiana coach Becky Madden and her charges will be seeking to snap a skid that began last weekend at the Crowne Plaza/Rice Invitational. The Cajuns are currently riding a three-match losing streak and have lost nine consecutive sets.
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One area of focus for the Cajuns this weekend will be errors. In their current losing streak, UL had better statistical numbers than its opponents but was plagued by attack and reception errors.
"There's no doubt in my mind that we will be facing some great competition," Madden said. "Texas A&M is ranked and BYU was at one time.
"We had a good week of preparation and spirits seem to be high. This team knows well what it is capable of, all we need is to go out and fight hard for each and every point and have the same intensity that made us so successful in the season-opening tournament (McNeese)."
Leading UL offensively is Stacey Cole, who has 97 total kills and 4.04 per game. In her last match against TCU, Cole notched her third double-double of the season and had a season-high .565 attack percentage. She also leads all Cajuns with 14 service aces.
Defensively, the Cajuns are paced by the duo of Clarice Laires and Priscilla Lima. The two combine for over six digs per game. Lima leads all Cajuns with 81 digs in 25 games, an average of 3.24 per game. Laires is not far behind, collecting 79 in 25 games for an average of 3.16 per game.
"This weekend presents us with the opportunity to continue to further develop our team chemistry and to see how we match up with high-caliber teams," Madden said. "In the long run, this tournament will help prepare us for the conference season."
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Lady Cajun volleyball loses close league match
Advertiser-Staff Reports
Posted on September 30, 2002
DENTON, Texas - Maybe the road is finally beginning to wear on the UL Lafayette Ragin' Cajun volleyball team. Or maybe five just isn't the Cajuns' lucky number.
For the second straight match, on the opening weekend of Sun Belt Conference volleyball action, UL Lafayette (6-9, 0-2 SBC) dropped a five-game decision Sunday. This time it was host North Texas escaping with a 3-2 (30-22, 30-19, 20-30, 28-30, 15-9) win.
The Cajuns fell behind 2-0 early in the match, bringing back déjˆ vu of UL Lafayette's last trip to the Snake Pit when they fell behind 2-0 only to win 3-2. However, this time the Cajuns couldn't finish the comeback as they dropped the final game of the match to the Mean Green (7-11, 2-0 SBC) 15-9.
The loss not only spoiled a valiant comeback effort by coach Becky Madden's charges, it also overshadowed a career-high 23-kill performance by sophomore outside hitter Stacey Cole.
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Senior middle blocker Priscilla Lima notched her 10th double-double of the season and second this weekend as she swatted 15 kills and pulled out 13 digs. Lima has a double-double in three straight matches and in eight of the Cajuns last nine matches.
UL drops its third straight match overall and fourth straight in SBC play dating back to last season. The Cajuns have lost nine of 11 matches since a 4-0 start and are 2-4 this season in matches decided in five games.
UL returns to the court Tuesday as they participate in the ING/UNO Louisiana Showcase at the New Orleans Arena, hosted by the University of New Orleans. The Ragin' Cajuns will battle Tulane in a 5 p.m. match. -->
Cajun volleyball rolls to second straight league win
<blockquote><p align=justify>Dan McDonald / Staff Writer
Posted on October 14, 2002
LAFAYETTE - Credit hard-earned experience, or credit the home court.
Or maybe, credit UL's volleyball team with finding the consistency that had been lacking in a season-opening 17-match road swing.
Whatever the reason, the Ragin' Cajuns apparently chose this weekend to post two of their best performances of the year, the most recent a dominating 30-19, 30-15, 30-18 win over Sun Belt Conference rival New Orleans Sunday at Earl K. Long Gym.
"We knew we were capable of playing like this," said coach Becky Madden. "We lost some close five-game matches on the road, and playing all those road games wears you down. These couple of wins shows what we're capable of."
The Cajuns certainly showed that, exploding from a 16-16 tie midway through the first game and scoring 19 of the match's next 22 points - a streak pretty much unheard of in rally scoring.
"We've played that well," Madden said of the Sunday win, "but only in spots. The last two matches, we've really cut down our errors and we've passed the ball well."
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The Cajuns held an opponent under 20 points in each game for the first time this year, and the 15 points allowed in the middle game was the fewest given up since an easy win over Prairie View A&M back on Aug. 31 in the McNeese Cowgirl Roundup.
UL, which took a similar 30-22, 30-18, 30-22 home-opening win over league foe South Alabama on Friday, improved to 8-11 overall and to 2-3 in Sun Belt play, moving into third place in the league's Western Division. UNO fell to 7-12 and 1-3.
Team kill leader Stacey Cole had a match-high 15 kills and hit for a .419 percentage, while freshman Lesley Tough and Clarice Laires had 14 and 12 putaways respectively. As a team, UL Lafayette out-killed UNO 57-35 and hit .354 compared to the .062 mark for the Privateers.
More impressively, the hosts continued a streak that now includes 24 wins in their last 26 matches at Long Gym dating back to 1999.
"In this gym, they feel so comfortable," said Madden, whose squad played all of its matches through the season's first five weeks away from home. "One of our goals is to win all our conference home games, and if we do that we'll be right in it."
Neither team led by more than a single point before Laires broke a 16-all tie with back-to-back kills in the opening game. That sparked an 11-1 run that included two aces by Tough and a Laires block that gave the Cajuns a 27-17 lead.
UL then jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second game, and Cole had seven of her kills in the middle game as the Cajuns scored the game's final nine points for the 2-0 lead. After the break, UL bolted to an 8-2 lead and Laires had six kills in the Cajuns' final 15 points.
"Our middle attack was opening up a lot of opportunities for us," said Madden, whose club hosts Florida International Sunday at 11 a.m. in another pivotal league matchup. "You've got to be really patient in rally scoring, but if you can continue to pressure and push there you can get on some streaks like we did today."
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