The Book 2008-09 UL Lady Cajuns Volleyball

[NewsCopy]

  UL – After a month-long absence from Earl K. Long Gym, the Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball team returns home with Sun Belt Conference matches against South Alabama on Friday at 5 p.m. and Troy on Saturday at 7 p.m.

The team’s extended road trip began after their first home match against Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday, Sept. 9. That match ended in a loss, but home cooking sparked the Cajuns, who won three of the next four. Overall, Louisiana has gone 4-6 since last playing at home.

Overall, the Lady Cajuns stand at 4-10, with a mark of 1-3 in the Sun Belt.

Senior Sonora Edwards leads the team into the homestand after quickly becoming the squad’s top hitter. After recovering from an offseason injury and missing seven of the first 10 matches, she leads the Cajuns in hitting percentage (.232) and is second in kills per set (1.86).

Sophomore hitter Caroline Dufrene sets the pace in kills per set at 2.00, and kills with 84. Freshman Lesley Mirarchi is second with 76, just ahead of senior Elizabeth Inman, who has registered 74. Inman has a team-best 19 service aces and 37 total blocks.

The South Alabama Jaguars bring a 7-6 overall and 1-4 conference record to Lafayette on Friday. The Ragin’ Cajuns have history on their side, with a dominant 30-8 all-time advantage over the Lady Jags. Last year, though, USA stole a 3-1 match in Mobile, Ala., in the only meeting between the two squads on Friday, Oct. 6.

The Jaguars are led by Juliana Almeida, who stands atop the statistics with 129 kills. She adds an average of 1.58 digs per set and 21 total blocks. The team’s top hitting percentage among everyday players belongs to Lindsay Schwartz, who hits at a clip of .268.

The Troy Trojans visit Lafayette Saturday defending a 9-11 overall record, and a 0-5 mark in the Sun Belt. In previous meetings, Louisiana holds a 5-3 edge. In 2007, the Cajuns dropped a 3-0 decision in Troy on Saturday, Oct. 5.

Meghan Gilroy leads all Trojans with a .302 hitting percentage and 242 kills. Emily Strader anchors the defense with 208 digs, 2.77 per set, while Aubre Smith leads the net defense with 59 total blocks, .80 per set.

Following the home weekend, the Cajuns travel to ULM on Tuesday, Oct. 14 before returning to Lafayette for a three-match homestand, the longest of the season.

RaginCajuns.com

[LSUConnMan]

I'll be there Saturday watching Troy grab their first SunBelt victory!

[RaginFan2]

_ I'll be there Saturday watching Troy grab their first SunBelt victory! _

Ain't gonna happen, TroyConnMan! Geaux Cajuns!!! But please do take lots of good pictures!

[NewsCopy]

  UL – Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns Athletic Department advises fans that due to Festival Acadiens being held at Girard Park this weekend, parking is being adjusted for Saturday’s volleyball match with Troy.

Limited parking will be available in the parking lot between Earl K. Long Gym and Billeaud Hall, beginning at 6 p.m.

Overflow parking will be available in the Student Union parking lot.

First serve for the match is set for 7 p.m.

For more information regarding parking instructions, please call 337-482-5720.

[cajunvbmom]

_ I'll be there Saturday watching Troy grab their first SunBelt victory! _

Boy, if I could be there this weekend you would see the difference between a bulldog and a volleyball mom... NONE!

Anyway... GEAUX CAJUNS! Bring the intensity to the court that you showed at North Texas. Watch the Service and Attack errors. THIS WILL BE A VICTORIOUS WEEKEND!

[RaginDave]

Congrats to the Ladies as they defeated USA tonight in 5 games. They next take on Troy who is winless in the SBC play, a win by the ladies Sunday will get them back to .500 in conference play at 3-3 and improve there overall record to 6-10.

Considering the struggles that the v-ball team has had over the past couple of seasons, this is nice improvement.

2007 4-29 overall 3-15 SBC
2006 8-21 overall 5-14 SBC
2005 5-20 overall 2-10 SBC
2004 7-23 overall 3-12 SBC
2003 6-22 overall 2-13 SBC
2002 15-14 overall 9-6 SBC

We have a chance to have our best season since 2002. Good luck on the remainder of the season, keep improving!!!!

Geaux Cajuns.

[NewsCopy]

  UL – Powered by the trio of Elizabeth Inman, Amie Goodwin and Sonora Edwards, which combined for 42 kills, Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball team made a triumphant return to Earl K. Long Gym here Friday evening.

The trio accounted for 68 percent of Louisiana’s offense in a 3-2 (24-26, 25-23, 25-15, 23-25, 15-9) victory over South Alabama. The Cajuns improved to 5-10 overall and 2-3 in Sun Belt play with the win.

The team’s 62 kills marked a season high and Inman’s match-best 18 kills was a UL individual season high. Defensively, libero Lindsay Brown posted a season-high 24 digs.

In an evenly matched affair, the score was tied 34 times and the lead changed hands 15 times. The first set featured 17 ties and eight lead changes.

Inman ended the match hitting .308 and Edwards was right behind with 12 kills on only 26 attempts for a .269 hitting percentage.

USA (7-8, 1-6 Sun Belt) was paced by 13 kills from Juliana Almeida.

The first set saw neither team gain an advantage greater than two points. UL held an 18-16 lead before a USA timeout halted momentum. The Jags responded with a kill, service ace, and block to regain the lead. The Cajuns recovered to tie the score four times with the last tie 24-24. USA called another timeout and scored the final two points.

Louisiana bolted out to an 8-3 lead in the second set. USA rallied to go ahead 21-20. A kill by Amie Goodwin put UL up 24-23 and a block thrown up by Inman and Kendra Hall clinched set point and evened the match 1-1.

UL used a 6-0 run – which featured four kills by Inman – in the third set to erase an early 4-1 deficit and never looked back. USA got close at 11-8, but a kill by Caroline Dufrene and service ace by Brown upped the lead to five points. UL closed out the set scoring the final three points – all kills with one apiece from Dufrene, Goodwin and Inman.

The Jaguars pulled away late in the fourth set and held off a furious UL rally in the end to force a fifth and deciding set. Louisiana stormed back from a 21-14 deficit with six straight points before an Almeida kill broke the string.

UL left no doubt in the fifth set. The Cajuns jumped out to a quick 7-1 advantage. Down 10-2, USA attempted to make a game of it scoring three straight points.

Edwards came up with two critical kills keeping USA away. Her first made it 11-5 and the second gave UL another six point lead, 12-6. Those kills were key as USA would score the next two points.

Louisiana won its 11th straight over South Alabama in Earl K. Long Gym.

It was the Cajuns’ second victory in five sets this season (2-0).

Louisiana finishes off its weekend homestand on Saturday with a 7 p.m., match against Troy at Earl K. Long Gym.

RaginCajuns.com

[wisconsincajun]

Great victory last night ladies! Good luck tonight against Troy. This next stretch of home matches is your chance to show what you're made of. Wish we could be there. See you in Tenn and KY later in the month. Geaux Cajuns!

[DrumRoll]

_ Congrats to the Ladies as they defeated USA tonight in 5 games. They next take on Troy who is winless in the SBC play, a win by the ladies Sunday will get them back to .500 in conference play at 3-3 and improve there overall record to 6-10.

Considering the struggles that the v-ball team has had over the past couple of seasons, this is nice improvement.

2007 4-29 overall 3-15 SBC
2006 8-21 overall 5-14 SBC
2005 5-20 overall 2-10 SBC
2004 7-23 overall 3-12 SBC
2003 6-22 overall 2-13 SBC
2002 15-14 overall 9-6 SBC

We have a chance to have our best season since 2002. Good luck on the remainder of the season, keep improving!!!!

Geaux Cajuns. _

HUGE, HUGE, HUGE, IMPROVEMENT!!! That's right. the team's improvement warrants an official 3 HUGE rating...

Attacking by the numbers...

1st 4 opponents...

89 kills with 93 errors out of 389 attacks for an attack % of -.01

Last 4 opponents...

161 kills with 80 errors out of 497 attacks for an attack % of .163

Keep it up, pound the dang ball!!!!

[cajunvbmom]

Way to go Cajuns! Keep up the good work. I watched the game via the internet and was impressed by the detemination and intensity. You kept your composure and played "your" game.

The bottom line.. good passing, makes for good sets, makes for killer plays and great blocking makes it easier on the defense.

The best is yet to come!

[Zeebart21]

_ Way to go Cajuns! Keep up the good work. I watched the game via the internet and was impressed by the detemination and intensity. You kept your composure and played "your" game.

The bottom line.. good passing, makes for good sets, makes for killer plays and great blocking makes it easier on the defense.

The best is yet to come! _

Nice job by the VB team!!! Congrats on an excellent showing!

Z

[NewsCopy]

  UL- Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit in Saturday’s match with Troy, but fell victim to attack errors in the fifth set and dropped a 3-2 (23-25, 20-25, 30-28, 25-11, 8-15) decision here at Earl K. Long Gym.

UL (5-11, 2-4 Sun Belt) only had one kill and committed eight errors in the match-deciding set. Those errors helped the Trojans race to a 7-3 lead. Three of Troy’s final four points were Cajuns attack errors including Elizabeth Inman hitting into a block by Troy’s Brittany McClelland giving the Trojans (11-11, 2-5 Sun Belt) a 15-8 win which claimed the match.

It was an anticlimactic ending for the Ragin’ Cajuns who surged back from the 2-0 deficit with a .217 hitting percentage in set three and .318 hitting percentage in the set four.

For the second straight evening Inman led the Cajuns offense. She tallied 13 kills for her second straight match with double-digit kills.

Defensively, libero Lindsay Brown hauled in over 20 digs for the second straight night. Brown posted a match-best 23 digs. Combined with 24 against South Alabama Friday, she ended the weekend with 47 digs over 10 sets.

Amie Goodwin contributed nine kills and Caroline Dufrene added seven. Rachel Mauti came off the bench to thrown down six kills on only 13 attempts.

UL out-killed Troy 52-48, but attack errors were the difference. The Cajuns had 18 attack errors in the first two sets compared to Troy's 11.

The Trojans received a match-high 16 kills from Meghan Gilroy. Troy’s defense piled up 70 digs with three players hitting double digits led by 18 from Megan Henderson.

The first set slipped away from UL in the waning moments. The Cajuns led from the start and enjoyed a 21-15 edge. The Trojans battled back with five unanswered points.

Louisiana broke the run with an Inman kill. Troy stole momentum scoring four straight points off a Katie Kennedy service error, back-to-back attack errors by Inman and a kill from McClelland. Inman redeemed herself with a kill, but on the ensuing serve Goodwin committed an error to give Troy a 25-23 win.

The second set had a similar ending with Troy scoring the final four points. Louisiana which led twice at 16-14 and 18-17 saw the visitors rally. A kill by Dufrene drew the Cajuns within 21-20. A kill by Gilroy pushed the Trojans advantage to 22-20. The Cajuns self-destructed with consecutive attack errors and a Gilroy service ace.

UL turned the tables on Troy in the third set. After trailing early and falling behind 13-7, the Cajuns crawled all the way back into a 22-all tie. Facing set point and trailing 25-24, Mauti threw down a kill and Lesley Mirarchi and Mauti combined on a block to push UL in front 26-25.

After trading points through a 28-all tie, a Dufrene kill gave the Cajuns a 29-28 lead. She then served up set point to avoid the sweep.

In the fourth set the Ragin’ Cajuns continued building off their third set rally. Louisiana raced to an 11-3 lead and never looked back. The Cajuns posted 10 kills on only 22 attempts and Troy committed nine attack errors.

Louisiana travels to Monroe on Tuesday, Oct. 14 to meet ULM at 7 p.m., in the ULM Activity Center. UL then returns to Earl K. Long Gym for a three-match homestand beginning Friday, Oct. 17 with Arkansas State.

RaginCajuns.com

[cajunvbmom]

OUCH!!!!

You let this one get away!

Let it go, re-group and deal with ULM they way you know how! Don't overlook this team. A win going into this coming weekend would be great, and will definitely get you ready for the next 5 matches.

Lets re-focus and get your intensity back.

GEAUX CAJUNS!

[NewsCopy]

  MONROE, La. – Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball team repelled the ULM Warhawks in a 3-1 win on Tuesday night by scores of 25-13, 18-25, 25-17 and 25-14. UL improves to 6-11 overall and 3-4 in the Sun Belt Conference.

The first set started evenly, with an 8-8 tie after several minutes of play, but ended with a dominant series of rallies from the Cajuns. UL won 17 of the next 22 points to finish the match at 25-13, including six straight points on rallies started by Lindsay Brown serves. Louisiana ended the set with an impressive .370 hitting percentage.

Set No. 2 started, and ended, much differently as UL quickly went down 5-0. They battled back to a one-point deficit at 7-6, but that was the closest they would get. The Warhawks opened up a comfortable seven-point lead to close out the match at 25-18.

“As long as we don’t panic, we’re fine, and we didn’t, so we came back and won games three and four,” head coach Heather Mazeitis said. “I keep telling (the Cajuns) to be patient with their offense, and when we do that we can win.”

The third set opened with an exchange of six ties before ULM slipped ahead to a 12-10 lead. Louisiana charged back with four straight points, led off by an Amie Goodwin kill, followed by two straight service aces from Katie Kennedy, and capped by another Goodwin kill. The Cajuns capitalized on the momentum, outscoring ULM 11-5 in the remainder of the set, finishing at 25-17.

Louisiana closed out the match with a convincing 25-14 fourth set, despite trailing 6-2 early. They went on a furious 13-1 run, including five Cajuns’ kills, service aces from Goodwin and Elizabeth Inman, and six ULM attack errors.

For the match, the Cajuns were led by Inman, who nailed 12 kills on .250 hitting. Goodwin followed with 11 kills and Sonora Edwards slammed 10 to the floor on .348 hitting, a match best for players on both sides of the court with more than two attempts.

Kendra Hall posted 32 assists, as well as season-highs in kills and attack attempts, at three and seven respectively. Lindsay Brown led all players with 21 digs, three short of her season mark of 24, set at South Alabama on Oct. 10. Katie Kennedy chipped in 15 digs along with two kills on two attempts.

Inman and Hall each put three block assists, while Goodwin had one solo block and one assist. The Cajuns put up seven total blocks as a team.

Louisiana hosts two Sun Belt matches over the weekend, first against the Arkansas State Red Wolves Friday at 7 p.m., followed by a contest with the UALR Trojans on Sunday, slated to begin at 1 p.m. Both matches will be broadcast via a live video feed on RaginCajuns.com.

RaginCajuns.com

[CajunFun]

Ladies host ASU tonight at 7:00.

I'm going... anyone else?