The Book 2006-07 UL Lady Cajuns Volleyball

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The deck is definitely stacked against the University of Louisiana volleyball team for tonight's Sun Belt Conference opener. The Cajuns have lost eight of their last 10 matches, one of the most disappointing coming on Tuesday at home in their last outing, and they'll meet one of the Sun Belt's hottest teams at 6 p.m. today when they face Florida International at Golden Panther Arena. They'll also be short-handed - specifically, Jessica Pattison's injured hand. Pattison, a senior from Lafayette High whose career has been plagued by injuries, broke her thumb during Tuesday's four-game loss to Lamar at Long Gym. She is likely out for the season, leaving UL (3-8) with a hole at the right-side hitting slot. "You can only stretch so many players so far," said Cajun coach Amy Kraljev. "We know we can be a much stronger team, but we've got to work on execution and find something to build our confidence a little." The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[cajunvbmom]

Okay...so we hit a hurdle...let's come together and get over it. They are also experiencing some usage injuries with the remaing players but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Everyone on this volleyball team, from the freshman to the seniors needs to get serious and play agressively with heart and determination. At this point they could be their own worst opponent. I could state hundreds of cliche's to motivate these ladies but it has to come from within. I believe this group is capable of overcoming these set-backs and I hope the stands at EK Long will be full of supporters when the teams returns to play at home Sept. 29th and 30th.

GEAUX CAJUNS!

[breena1]

This guy that wrote this article must be from Florida, you did more negative overtones then anything. I really want to thank you for your unwavering support. The girls know this is a set-back but you as a sport writer should know that one person doesn't make a team. Yes, I'm sorry as I know the girls are about Jessica's injury but in this article you are implying that without Jessica this team doesn't have a prayer. I think that's false. Did you know Jessica hadn't been playing in all the games because her knee injury? The girls have adjusted maybe they was taken aback at the moment but please don't dig a hole for them if you suppose be an objective writer. Hey, here's a thought they have other players that can play and has player competitive volleyball and has seen injuries before let me name a few Erika, Jamie, Liz, Kim and the rest of the team. When you mention Jamie maybe she wasn't getting sets or she had an off night. Dan, in volleyball this does happen that is one reason everyone needs to be involved and not rely on one person. Volleyball is a TEAM sport not an individual sport. So in your next articles try not to be so critical. Also remember their are other girls from other states that can play the game and play darn well.

Maybe the coaching staff and university needs to look at where the girls play there pre-season games so they can have that momentum going into conference play. Who and how you play carries into your conference play. I'm not saying you have to win every pre-season game but if you play harder teams outside your conference this may help you prepare and gives you that mental edge you can always reveiw the tapes to see what or how you did as a whole.

Girls, I'm truly sorry that Jessica is hurt but as collegiate players and hopefully former club players you have seen an injury before so you all as a whole need to get focus on the game this injury to Jessica doesn't stop the season unless you want it too. Even when or if the coaching staff may say they have three leaders( who are upperclassmen like Jessica, Kim or Tara) that they keep mentioning, all of you are leaders it's time to prove them wrong. You all need to remember to play team ball instead of individually this wins game. Let you ability and skills speak for themselves, if by chance some of you have gotten an attitude like you are the ______ drop it and play team ball. If you think that you're that good, I would like to see you compete by yourself against six other players from a team and see how far you get without a team. As I said before you can play ball please act like it and play as a unit. The conference is still young don't give up on yourself ;we won't. The desire comes from within; you must want it ; own it and say we can and leave all of it on the volleyball court. Don't just go through the motion, constantly talk while you're on the court, cover your on space, constantly move and be ready to play. Come to each game fired up! You have it!! Bring the desire and passion to every game and keep the mistakes to a minimum. Please don't wait for someone to praise or pat you on the back let your skills, ability and mental toughest speak for themselves this will quiet the critics. Life is never easy so let's kick some ( you know what I mean) at the remaining games. Never! Never give up!

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LAFAYETTE – Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball team continues its current homestand on Wednesday, Oct. 4, with a 7 p.m., match against in-state rival New Orleans at Earl K. Long Gym. The Ragin’ Cajuns (4-11, 1-3 Sun Belt) are 0-2 on the five-match homestand. UL was swept in straight sets by Arkansas State and Arkansas-Little Rock last weekend. Halting a homecourt losing streak is a must if UL is to have any success on the homestand. The Cajuns enter Wednesday’s match having lost six straight at Long Gym. Injuries have hampered UL lately. Jessica Pattison was already sidelined for last weekend’s matches, but adding to the woes was an injury to starting setter Tara Cote in practice earlier last week. Cote missed the ASU and UALR matches and the Cajuns missed her leadership. Until Cote and Pattison (hand injury vs. Lamar) return, the Cajuns will have to rely on their balanced attack. Jamie Sinegal leads the quartet of four Cajuns averaging at least 2.40 kills per game. Sinegal averages 3.05 kills (168 actual) and is closely shadowed by Kim Rodgers at 2.85 kills per game and Elizabeth Inman at 2.83 kills per game. UL is seeking to rebound from a sluggish performance against UALR last Saturday. The Cajuns were their own enemy with 27 attack errors and 16 service errors. At 1-3 in the Sun Belt West Division the Cajuns are in danger of falling out of the division race with a stretch of six straight road matches on the horizon. A win over UNO (13-5, 2-2 Sun Belt) could be the boost the Cajuns need to end the homestand in style and move their league record over .500 for the first time this season. UNO has struggled on the road in Sun Belt play thus far. The Privateers were winless on the FIU-FAU road swing Sept. 24-25. The Privateers rebounded with a pair of wins over ASU and UALR at home last weekend and are now in search of their third straight victory. Sophomore outside hitter Dobrilla Kovacevic paces the Privateers with 220 total kills. The Ragin’ Cajuns and Privateers are meeting for the first time since the 2004 season. UNO’s 2005 season was cancelled due to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina after only four matches. The last time the two teams met at Long Gym was Oct. 6, 2004. The Privateers won 3-1 (30-26, 30-22, 28-30, 30-24) to win in Lafayette for the first time since 1993. UNO leads the all-time series 40-31 and has won the last two meetings. Following Wednesday’s match the Ragin’ Cajuns will wrap up their homestand over the weekend. UL will host Troy at 7 p.m., on Friday and then meet South Alabama at 5 p.m., on Saturday. LOUISIANA SI

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LOUISIANA La. – UL Lady Cajuns volleyball team rebounded from Wednesday’s heartbreaker against UNO by sweeping Troy here Friday evening at Earl K. Long Gym. The Lady Cajuns (5-12, 2-4 Sun Belt) halted a seven-match losing streak at Long Gym with the 3-0 (30-25, 34-32, 30-28) victory over the Trojans (8-15, 2-5 Sun Belt). UL collected its first victory on its current five-match homestand which concludes Saturday, Oct. 7 against South Alabama at 5 p.m. An improved hitting percentage was the key to the Cajuns victory. UL had struggled in its previous two outings against UNO and UALR hitting below .100. Friday night, UL upped that percentage to .205. The Cajuns got by in game one only hitting .111 and getting only 10 kills. Troy made 11 attack errors and the Cajuns added four blocks and three aces to cling on to a 30-25 win. UL turned it up a notch in games two and three getting a combined 39 kills. The Cajuns hitting percentage rose to .255 in game two and then .227 in game three. Jamie Sinegal and Elizabeth Inman paced the Ragin’ Cajuns with 12 kills apiece. Sinegal hit a season-high .321, committing only three attack errors in 28 attempts to go along with her 12 kills. Rachel Mauti joined Sinegal and Inman in double figures with 10 kills. Kim Rodgers finished off the balance with nine kills. Defensively UL got a match-high 12 digs from Erika Castro. She was supported by eight digs each by Kendra Hall, Inman and Mauti. Troy had a balanced trio between Kerry Heinz with 12 kills added to 11 kills by both Liz Leeds and Aubre Smith. The only problem was that the rest of the squad only provided 11 kills. A five-point swing in the middle of game one helped the Cajuns grab an early 1-0 lead in the match. Trailing 16-15, after Troy erased a 12-7 UL lead, the Ragin’ Cajuns evened the game with a kill by Inman. Rodgers then followed with a solo block on an attack attempt by Meghan Gilroy giving UL a 17-16 advantage. Inman served up two more points. She got an ace on the very next serve and then an attack error by Leeds pushed the Cajuns run to 5-0 and put the hosts on top 20-16. Leeds broke the UL run with a kill, but the Trojans would never threatened. After the Trojans cut the gap to 23-20, the Cajuns reeled off five consecutive points to increase the lead to 28-20. The Cajuns raced off to a quick 4-0 advantage in game two and never trailed. The lead was close throughout with the largest lead at five points. The Cajuns had to wait a few extra points to finish off the game. A 28-23 lead disappeared with Troy using a 6-1 run to tie the game at 29-29. After the two teams traded points over the next six serves the Cajuns broke a 32-32 tie with Sinegal’s eight kill of the game to make it 33-32. The game went to UL on the next serve when Gilroy went up for an attack and missed the ball allowing it to hit the court and give the Cajuns a 34-32 victory. It was the Cajuns’ turn to rally in game three. UL erased a 27-25 deficit with four unanswered points to go in front 29-27. A kill by Smith allowed the Trojans to trim the deficit to 29-28. Smith then stepped up to serve for a chance to tie the game. However, she timed her serve too long and when she let it go the ball went straight into the net for a service error which gave UL game and match point. The Ragin’ Cajuns collected their first Sun Belt victory over Troy. Friday’s match was the third time the two teams met as conference foes since Troy joined the SBC in 2005. LOUISIANA SI

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LAFAYETTE – Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball team felt fortunate to go up 2-0 in Saturday’s match with South Alabama considering the team tallied a -.040 hitting percentage in the second game. The Cajuns (6-12, 3-4 Sun Belt) came out firing in game three, hitting at a .353 clip, to leave no doubt in completing the sweep of the visiting Jaguars 3-0 (30-23, 32-30, 30-17). With the win, UL won its second straight match and completed its five-match homestand with a 2-3 mark. Louisiana-Lafayette defeated South Alabama for the 17th time in the last 18 meetings and bested the Jaguars in Long Gym for the 10th straight match. Kim Rodgers and Rachel Mauti stepped up and delivered double-digit kills for the Cajuns. Rodgers had a team-best 11 kills and Mauti followed up with 10. Jamie Sinegal had six kills to move over 200 for the season. It was an off night for Sinegal who struggled to a -.129 hitting percentage committing 10 attack errors. The Jaguars (5-14, 0-7 Sun Belt) got a match-high 12 kills from Lauren Robbins. The visitors struggled with attack errors. USA committed 24 miscues in the final two games. UL took game one 30-23 despite being out-killed by USA 16-14. The Cajuns scored the first two points and raced out to an 11-7 lead early on. The Jaguars swung their way back into the game cutting the Cajuns lead to 24-21 after a Sinegal attack error. The Cajuns quickly turned the game in their favor after a bad set by Jenna Swilley made it 25-21 and an ace by Elizabeth Inman upped the advantage to 26-21. Back-to-back Jaguars attacking errors saw the advantage move to 28-21 and the teams alternated points until the Cajuns reached 30 giving the hosts a 1-0 lead in the match. Game two saw both teams misfiring as a total of 27 attack errors were committed. UL hit -.040 and the Jaguars a -.067. USA took the early lead opening an 11-7 advantage. The Cajuns then rode the serve of Kendra Hall into the lead. A kill by Sinegal followed by a double hit on USA’s Stephanie Cutter closed the gap to 11-9. The Jaguars then committed back-to-back attack errors and all of a sudden the game was tied at 11-all. UL claimed the lead when Hall served up an ace. At that point the Cajuns run was 5-0 and would reach 9-0 when an attack error by USA’s Taylor Irvin gave the Cajuns a 16-11 lead. The Jaguars fought back to tie the game at 25-25. USA would eventually grab the lead 30-29 when Robbins put down a kill. The Cajuns answered with a kill from Sinegal to force a tie and keep the game alive. A ball-handling error on Jade Nuss put UL in front 31-30 and the game ended when Robbins hit the ball into the net on the next serve. UL assured itself of a sweep when the Cajuns bolted out to a 7-1 lead in game three. The Cajuns put down three quick kills to open a 4-1 lead and then three straight USA attack errors helped the hosts build a six-point lead. The Jaguars closed to 8-5 before UL staged an 11-3 run that put the game out of reach. During the run the Cajuns put down five kills and added a block and a service ace. The end result was a 19-8 lead that put the Cajuns in front comfortably. It was the second straight sweep for UL which swept Troy on Friday. The Ragin’ Cajuns will now hit the road for six consecutive matches. First up is a visit to Louisiana-Monroe on Monday, Oct. 9 for a 7 p.m., match in Monroe. The next home match at Earl K. Long Gym is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 29 against Louisiana-Monroe at 3 p.m. LOUISIANA SI

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MONROE - Fresh off a two-game weekend winning streak at home, UL's volleyball team will look to take that success on the road tonight when it travels for a first-ever Sun Belt Conference match with UL Monroe. The Ragin' Cajuns (6-12, 3-4 Sun Belt) are coming off straight-set wins over Troy and South Alabama on Friday and Saturday, and take that hot streak into a 7 p.m. match at the ULM Activity Center against the Warhawks, who are in their first year as a full Sun Belt member. The rest of the story

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NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana’s Lady Cajuns volleyball team makes the final stop on a six-match road trip here Friday evening facing in-state rival UNO at the Human Performance Center. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. UL (6-17, 3-9 Sun Belt) is 0-5 on the road trip which began on Oct. 9. The Cajuns are seeking to halt a losing streak which began when the road trip started. The Ragin’ Cajuns and the Privateers (17-8, 6-5 Sun Belt) are meeting for the second time this season. UNO posted a 3-2 (23-30, 30-15, 30-20, 22-30, 16-14) on Oct. 4 at Earl K. Long Gym in Lafayette. From here on out each match is extremely important for UL if the squad is to realize its goal of reaching the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The Cajuns sit two games behind UALR (5-7 Sun Belt) for the final spot in the tournament with only six matches remaining on the schedule. Junior libero Erika Castro enters Friday’s match nearing a personal milestone. Castro is only seven digs shy of 1,000 in her career. Last weekend, Castro recorded 15 digs in the WKU and MT matches combined to reach 392 for the season, a total which passed Hollie Girouard’s 2004 total of 381 for the most digs in a season during the rally scoring era. Following Friday’s match the Cajuns will return home for its first home match in over three weeks. Louisiana-Lafayette will host Louisiana-Monroe on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 3 p.m., in Earl K. Long Gym. Sunday’s match with ULM has been designated Fan Appreciation Day with the first 75 fans receiving Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball t-shirts. LOUISIANA SI

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Lady Cajun volleyball squad returns home UL's volleyball squad, having come up short in an upset bid at New Orleans on Friday, returns home for the first time in more than three weeks today when the Cajuns host Sun Belt Conference rival UL Monroe in a 3 p.m. match at Long Gym. The rest of the story

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LOUISIANA La. – Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball team extended its homecourt winning streak to three matches with a 3-0 (30-25, 30-22, 30-16) victory over Louisiana-Monroe here Sunday afternoon at Earl K. Long Gym. Overall, the Ragin’ Cajuns (7-18, 4-10 Sun Belt) halted a six-match losing streak and moved within one full game of the final spot in the 2006 Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The Ragin’ Cajuns will head into the final four matches of the season trailing Arkansas-Little Rock and Florida Atlantic, both 5-9 in the Sun Belt, for the eighth and final spot in the league’s postseason event. Elizabeth Inman led all players in Sunday’s match with 11 kills. Kim Rodgers and Rachel Mauti each added nine kills for UL. Erika Castro led the Cajuns with 15 digs UL ended the match with a .211 hitting percentage and out-killed the Warhawks (5-24, 2-11 Sun Belt) 38-31. Hitting percentages told the story in Sunday’s match. UL hit .182, .162 and .321 while ULM never had a hitting percentage above .100. The Warhawks hit .095 in game one and had more attack errors (22) than kills (20) in the final two games combined. The sweep was the third straight for the Ragin’ Cajuns at Long Gym. UL swept Troy and South Alabama in its previous two home matches prior to Sunday’s ULM match. “I thought we started off strong and finished even stronger,” said UL head coach Amy Kraljev. “Our girls played very disciplined today. They were disciplined with our defensive sets which helped make our offense successful.” The Cajuns used a late rally in game one – the only game where it wasn’t sure what the outcome would be halfway through the game. In all, the opener saw 10 tied scores and four lead changes. ULM held a 21-19 lead after a block by Stephanie Hall and Megan Osborne. A kill by Kendra Hall followed by a Jessica Pattison service ace and Mauti kill propelled the Cajuns into a 22-21 lead. The Warhawks drew even after Pattison committed a service error following a timeout. The Cajuns responded with their most dominating stretch of the opener to put the game away and take a 1-0 lead in the match. A service error from Osborne put the Cajuns up 23-22. UL then put down three consecutive kills – one from Rodgers and then back-to-back off the hand of Inman – to open a 26-22 lead. In game two the Ragin’ Cajuns broke away from an 8-8 tie by going on an 8-1 run that created a 16-9 cushion. A Mari O’Neal kill made it 16-10, but she followed up with a service error. ULM closed the deficit to 20-13 before the Cajuns put away the game with four straight points to open a 24-13 edge. The Cajuns won game two 30-22 and went into the locker room up 2-0 in the match. Game three saw the Cajuns storm out to an early lead and pull away late for a 14-point victory that sealed the sweep. ULM drew within seven points, 20-13, before UL went on to score 10 of the final 13 points. The Cajuns return to action and conclude their home schedule next weekend. UL will host North Texas at 7 p.m., on Friday, Nov. 3 before playing its final home match of the season on Saturday, Nov. 4 against Denver at 7 p.m. “We fought hard a couple of weeks ago at their place (NT and Denver),” Kraljev commented. “We are hoping playing at home in front of our fans will give us a boost in our final home weekend.” LOUISIANA SI

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With only a slim hope of still qualifying for next week's Sun Belt Conference Tournament, UL's volleyball team opens a season-ending two-match road swing today when the Cajuns face Arkansas State. UL (7-20, 4-12) meets the Lady Indians (18-13, 9-6) at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center and will travel from there to a 4:30 p.m. Saturday matchup against Arkansas-Little Rock to end the regular season. The rest of the story Dan McDonald

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - UL's volleyball team ended a disappointing season on a high note here Saturday, and took a landmark win in the process. The Cajuns held on for a 30-25, 30-27, 23-30, 25-30, 15-12 match win over Arkansas-Little Rock, giving UL its first-ever win in Little Rock and giving head coach Amy Kraljev her first five-game match win in her two-year career. UL ended its season 8-21 overall and 5-13 in Sun Belt Conference play. The Cajuns came up one win short of finishing in the league's top eight and qualifying for next week's Sun Belt Tournament. The source of the story Dan McoDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com