The Book 2007-08 UL Lady Cajuns Volleyball

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LOUISIANA - After a grueling three-week road swing that saw them struggle through a 14-match losing streak, the Lady Cajuns volleyball team returns home to open Sun Belt Conference play this weekend with a pair of Florida schools. The Cajuns (1-14) host the Florida Atlantic Owls (3-7) Saturday at 3 p.m., followed by the FIU Golden Panthers (5-2) Sunday at 12 p.m. Live stats, as well as streaming audio and video, will be available for both matches at RaginCajuns.com. Louisiana has not been on the winning side of a match since its season-opening 3-0 defeat of the Jackson State Tigers at the Capital One Ragin' Cajuns Classic on Aug. 24. Despite Louisiana's recent misfortunes, the Cajuns have been paced offensively by the solid performances of freshman Amie Goodwin (Tucson, Ariz.) and junior Elizabeth Inman (Fort Worth, Texas). Goodwin leads the Cajuns with 190 kills, averaging a team-high 3.45 kills per game. She has posted a team-best six double-doubles. Inman is second on the team with 181 kills, while posting a 3.29 kill-per-game average. Inman leads the team with a .195 attack percentage. Senior Erika Castro (San Antonio, Texas) ranks fourth in the Sun Belt with 4.89 digs per game (215 digs overall). Castro, who is currently fourth in school history with 1,307 digs, needs seven more to pass Annette Carney (1,313) for third on the school's all-time list. Florida Atlantic (3-7) opens their Sun Belt Conference schedule Friday night against the New Orleans Privateers in New Orleans. FAU is paced offensively by Krystena Castro and Kala Abdell, who have 113 and 111 kills, respectively. Dating back to the end of last season, the Owls are 7-17 in their last 24 matches, including a 3-13 record away from home. Last season in the first meeting between the schools, the Cajuns defeated the Owls 3-0 in Boca Raton, Fla. Jamie Sinegal led the UL offensive with 19 kills, while Liz Inman added 11 kills. Florida International (5-2) will have the daunting task of a three-match Sun Belt road swing, beginning Friday at Louisiana-Monroe. FIU will then travel to New Orleans to face the Privateers Saturday night before playing the Cajuns Sunday in Lafayette. Last season, the Golden Panthers shut out the Cajuns 3-0 in Miami. However, UL leads the all-time series 7-4. Yarimar Rosa leads the Golden Panthers with 146 kills through seven matches, averaging a team-best 5.03 kills per game. Olga Vergun is close behind with 136 kills - a 4.69 kill-per-game average. Following this weekend's Sun Belt Conference home opener, Louisiana-Lafayette will travel to Arkansas to face the Arkansas State Indians (Sept. 28) and the UALR Trojans (Sept. 29). RaginCajuns.com

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LAFAYETTE - Following a dominating performance Monday night, Louisiana's volleyball team will look to continue its winning direction when it welcomes Denver and North Texas to Earl K. Long Gym this weekend. UL fans can follow the action online with Live Stats on RaginCajuns.com. In addition, fans can watch LIVE streaming video of the game exclusively on Ragin' Station, the Official Broadband Video Channel of the Ragin' Cajuns. Louisiana (3-20, 2-6 Sun Belt) will face the Pioneers (10-9, 4-2) Friday at 7 p.m., following Denver's Thursday night match at Louisiana-Monroe. The Mean Green of North Texas (7-13, 3-3) will invade Cajun Country Saturday at 7 p.m. Monday, the Cajuns snapped their six-match losing streak, while continuing Louisiana-Monroe's winless season in the process as UL eased past the Warhawks 3-0 (30-14, 30-16, 30-15). UL had arguably its best performance of the season against ULM as the Cajuns registered just four attack errors, recording a season-best .470 attack percentage (43k, 4e, 83ta). RaginCajuns.com

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Senior Erika Castro needs just eight digs to move into second place on the school's career list. Louisiana's volleyball team will conclude its six-match homestand Friday night when it welcomes the New Orleans Privateers to the Earl K. Long Gym. Match time is set for 7 p.m. UL fans can follow the action online with Live Stats on RaginCajuns.com. In addition, fans can watch LIVE streaming video of the game exclusively on Ragin' Station, the Official Broadband Video Channel of the Ragin' Cajuns. Louisiana (3-24, 2-10 Sun Belt) has lost its last four home matches since opening its homestand with a 3-0 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 8. Earlier this season, New Orleans (12-12, 6-5 Sun Belt) defeated the Ragin' Cajuns 3-1 (27-30, 21-30, 30-28, 26-30) at the Human Performance Center in New Orleans on Oct. 2. Last weekend, the Cajuns dropped a pair of matches to the Sun Belt Conference's first- and second-place teams. UL challenged the first-place Western Kentucky Lady Toppers in all three games before falling 3-0 on Friday, Oct. 20. The following night, second-place Middle Tennessee held off the Cajuns 3-0. Louisiana, which has played the last four matches without the services of freshman points leader Amie Goodwin (Tucson, Ariz.), has benefited from the recent solid play of junior outside hitter Elizabeth Inman (Fort Worth, Texas) and freshman middle blocker Caroline Dufrene (Lake Charles, La.). In the Cajuns' last match, Inman took over the team kills lead, surpassing Goodwin. Inman has 302 kills in 26 matches, averaging 3.25 kills per game. Dufrene is currently third on the team with 131 kills and 1.66 kills per game. The freshman is also second on the team with 64 total blocks. During the Cajuns' current homestand, Dufrene has tallied a team-best 52 kills and 16 total blocks, while leading the team in total points (61.0) during that stretch. Senior libero Erika Castro (San Antonio, Texas), who leads the team with 388 digs at a 4.56 dig-per-game pace, needs eight digs to move into second place on the school's all-time list. Castro, who currently has 1,480 career defensive stops, trails Gina Calegari (1,487) by seven digs. In this season's earlier meeting, UNO's Lindsey Boler led all players with a match-high 18 kills, while Dobrilla Kovacevic and Lindsey Loyd added 14 and 12 kills, respectively. Kaley Hubbard was the fourth Privateer in double figures, tallying 10 kills. Boler leads UNO with 305 kills through 24 matches, while averaging 3.55 kills per game. Loyd and Kovacevic are second and third on the team with 287 and 214 kills, respectively. Defensively, Nicky Valenti paces the Privateers with 399 digs, averaging 4.43 digs per game. UNO has lost two of its last three matches. Saturday, the Privateers shocked Western Kentucky 3-2, dropping the previously undefeated Lady Toppers into a first-place tie with Middle Tennessee in the East Division. Since defeating the Cajuns on Oct. 2, UNO has since won four of its last six matches. New Orleans holds a 43-31 all-time series advantage and has won the last five meetings. UL's last victory in the series came on Oct. 30, 2003, at Earl K. Long Gym. Following Friday's home tilt with the UNO Privateers, Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns will head north to Monroe, La., to face the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks Sunday at 5 p.m. RaginCajuns.com

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MONROE – In recent seasons, Louisiana has not fared well in five-game matches. Sunday evening, the Lady Cajuns reversed their misfortunes as UL staved off the ULM Warhawks 3-2 (30-17, 30-25, 28-30, 17-30, 15-12), sweeping the season series. The win snapped Louisiana’s (4-25, 3-11 Sun Belt) five-match losing streak as well as a 10-match road losing streak. The win was also UL’s first five-game triumph since a 3-2 win at UALR on Nov. 11, 2006. Louisiana is now 2-14 in five-game matches under third-year head coach Amy Kraljev. The Cajuns had a pair of players in double figures. Freshman Caroline Dufrene (Lake Charles, La.) led UL with a team-high 12 kills, while adding three blocks. Fellow freshman Monica Deschaine (Boerne, Texas) tallied 10 kills and three blocks. Two other freshmen – Lindsay Brown (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Amie Goodwin (Tucson, Ariz.) – each added nine kills. Middle blocker Tracie Knowlton (Forest Grove, Ore.) added eight kills, while recording a match-high six blocks. Sophomore Kendra Hall (Dallas, Texas) paced the offense with 43 assists. Senior libero Erika Castro (San Antonio, Texas) led all players with 25 digs, while becoming only the second player in school history to record 1,500 career digs (Nia Kiggundu – 2,043). ULM didn’t put up much of a fight in game one as the Ragin’ Cajuns cruised to a solid 30-17 win, taking a 1-0 lead. After the Warhawks tied the game at 12 all, Louisiana reeled off 18 of the next 23 points for the win. UL hit .233 as a team in game one, while holding ULM to nine kills and seven attack errors on 30 total attacks (.067). Louisiana continued its early dominance in game two despite the close score. Leading 24-17, the Cajuns were able to clinch a 30-25 win in game two holding off a furious ULM rally. Entering game three, the Cajuns had the chance to post its second three-game sweep of ULM this season. However, the Warhawks staged a late comeback to foil UL’s quest for the sweep and force a fourth game. Trailing 23-21, the Warhawks rattled off four straight points to take a 25-23 lead. UL was unable to overtake ULM as the Warhawks held on for the 30-28 win. ULM continued to shutdown the visiting Cajuns in game four as the Warhawks easily defeated UL 30-17. ULM held the Cajuns to a -.026 attack percentage, forcing UL to commit nine attack errors. Facing a potential five-game loss, Louisiana bounced back in the fifth and final game, denying ULM to take the lead. After ULM tied the game at 10-10, the Cajuns scored five of the final seven points to take the match, snapping its 10-match road losing streak. Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns return to action next weekend when they conclude the road portion of their 2007 schedule. UL will face the North Texas Mean Green on Friday, Nov. 2, followed by the Denver Pioneers on Sunday, Nov. 4. RaginCajuns.com

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Amie Goodwin became the fourth player in program history named All-Louisiana Freshman of the Year. BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns freshman outside hitter Amie Goodwin (Tucson, Ariz.) has named Louisiana's Freshman of the Year, as voted by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Friday. Goodwin was also an honorable mention selection to the All-Louisiana team. Goodwin becomes the first Cajun since 2003 to be named to the LSWA All-Louisiana squad. Elina Salomaki was an honorable mention pick that season. She is also the fourth player in program history to earn the state's top rookie honor, joining Nia Kiggundu (1993), Janaina Gomes (1998) and Beth Henson (2000). Goodwin recorded double-digit kills in 18 of 27 matches this season, while starting her rookie campaign with six double-digit matches. She registered a career-high 22 kills in a 3-1 win over Florida Atlantic on Sept. 22. She also tallied 14 or more kills 11 times, including two 19-kill performances. Goodwin tallied 19 kills and 20 digs in a loss to Stetson on Sept. 14. Despite missing four matches during Sun Belt Conference play, the freshman still led the Ragin' Cajuns in kills (340) and kills per game (3.21) for the majority of the season. Goodwin also recorded a team-best seven double-doubles, while also leading the team in service aces. RaginCajuns.com

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Congratulations Amie.

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BATON ROUGE - UL freshman outside hitter Amie Goodwin broke a four-year absence for the Ragin' Cajun volleyball team on the All-Louisiana Team announced Friday by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. Goodwin was named Freshman of the Year and was also an honorable mention selection to the All-Louisiana team. The rest of the story