The Book 2008-09 UL Lady Cajuns Volleyball

[NewsCopy]

UL - The Universtiy of Louisiana named Heather Mazeitis the 12th head women’s volleyball coach in school history on Monday. Her hiring is pending approval by the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors. Mazeitis replaces Amy Kraljev, who resigned to pursue other opportunities. Mazeitis will begin her new post effective Jan. 1, 2008. The 2007 Cajuns had just two seniors and seven freshmen. “I am truly excited over the possibilities that exist at The University of Louisiana () and its volleyball program,” stated Mazeitis. “I believe that UL volleyball can be a tremendous program in the future. “While I admit to being proud of the progress on the court, where my teams are known for technical soundness and their strong will, I am most proud that I was and will always build a program within the context of an educational and ethical framework.” No stranger to Louisiana, Mazeitis spent seven seasons at the helm of the Louisiana Tech volleyball program where she was named head volleyball coach on Jan. 30, 2001. She coached several Techsters into the record books highlighted by junior Shannon Phillips becoming on the second Techster to enter the illustrious 1,000-kill club. “Coach Mazeitis has 12 years of experience working with student-athletes,” said senior associate director of athletics Scott Farmer. “She has been successful academically, as well as athletically, and places an emphasis on both aspects of coaching.” “Her record against the Sun Belt is impressive,” added Farmer. “Coach has captured tournament titles in Lafayette in 2003 and 2005 and we look forward to her building our program.” In 2005, her team won the Scott Clause Advertising Classic (the tournament hosted by the Cajuns) and the Troy Tournament while placing second in the Mercer Tournament. Mazeitis was one of just 35 female coaches to be invited to attend the NCAA Women’s Coaches Academy, which took place in June of 2005 in Atlanta. In total, The Leavenworth, Kan., native boasts a 13-4 record versus opponents from the Sun Belt Conference. Mazeitis’ leadership was instrumental in revitalizing the Lady Techsters volleyball program. When Mazeitis arrived in Ruston in 2000, the program was coming off an 8-26 season including going winless in conference play, and the team had averaged just 11 wins per season in the four years prior to her hiring. Since that time, Mazeitis has coached five All-WAC performers and 22 Academic All-WAC honorees. Mazeitis led Tech to back-to-back winning seasons in 2003-04 for the first time since 1995-96. The 2003 team finished a best-ever seventh in the WAC and swept two Eastern Division opponents, UTEP and Tulsa, while posting some very impressive numbers along the way. The team spent its second-straight season ranked among the nation’s leaders in aces per game and actually set the WAC record with 23 aces in the season opener against Alcorn State. Tech won tournament titles at Louisiana-Lafayette and Drake in 2003 along with a second-place finish at Tulane. A win over ULM (10-17-04) gave Mazeitis her 200th career victory, placing her second on the all-time career wins list at Tech. There have been many highlights for Tech under Mazeitis, but the most impressive fact is the Lady Techsters in 2002 posted an 11-win improvement over the previous season. This tied Tech for the seventh biggest turnaround in college volleyball, and it came from a program that played one of the toughest schedules in school history with match-ups against Hawaii, Fresno State, Washington, Nevada, LSU, Tulane and Houston. The 2002 team etched its name throughout the school record books both individually and as a team. Tech posted a school record 257 aces, which placed the Lady Techsters among the nation’s leaders. The Lady Techsters also posted the fourth most digs in school history and recorded the highest per game kill average in school history. The team won its first tournament in nine years at the Southern Mississippi Tournament in 2002 and won its last five home matches, while shocking the rest of the league by qualifying for the postseason tournament. The Lady Techsters finished fifth in the WAC in attendance in 2004, quite a feat in an area where there is no high school volleyball played. Prior to her time at Tech, Mazeitis led a successful junior college volleyball program at Kansas City (Kan.) Community College in five seasons as the head coach. The winningest coach in KCKCC history (single season and career), Mazeitis compiled a 161-110 record as head coach of the Lady Blue Devils. Her squad was featured in the top 20 NJCAA Division I Volleyball national rankings each of her final two seasons. During her tenure at KCKCC, she coached 20 All-Conference athletes, nine all-region athletes and one All-American. Over 80 percent of her players earned Academic honors en-route to graduating and transferring to finish their careers at four-year programs. In the 1999-2000 academic year, Mazeitis became the first person to earn Coach of the Year honors in two sports in the NJCAA Division I Jayhawk Conference. She was named Coach of Year in volleyball and softball that year. In addition to coaching collegiate volleyball, Mazeitis has also been involved in USA junior club volleyball in the Heart of America Region. She led her Team KC 16 & under club to the USA Volleyball junior nationals and a seventh place finish in the 2000 club season. Mazeitis earned her business administration degree in 1992 from Central Oklahoma where she played middle blocker for the Bronco’s volleyball program. Prior to Central Oklahoma, she had a one-year stint at Emporia State before transferring to Fort Scott Community College where Mazeitis was the only three-sport athlete in school history, playing volleyball, basketball and softball. She was inducted into the Fort Scott Community College Hall of Fame, where she was a standout basketball, softball and volleyball player. Mazeitis graduated from Immaculata Catholic High School in Leavenworth, Kan., in 1988 and earned all-state honors in volleyball and basketball. RaginCajuns.com

[Turbine]

I guess every coach deserves a honeymoon period but my pet criteria is NEVER hire a coach from a losing team.

A coach that will be recruiting based on finishing last year 1-19 does not seem like the best possible hire.

I hope I am wrong.

jmo

[OLF82]

It looks like her overall career record is just under .500. Hopefully, her last couple of years at Louisiana Tech were an aberration. Best of luck to the new coach.

Does anyone know if Amy Kraljev truly resigned or was fired. I realize her record was not very good, but the academic achievements of the team members is praiseworthy. Congratulations to her on this excellent accomplishment. On the court, the players always played hard. All the best to her in whatever the future holds. Thank you for your time at the university.

[rhineaux]

Hopefully she can get that program turned around. The big five are all getting their usual, and seeming to be getting a little more as of late. Track and soccer got their's with the complex renovations. Now hopfully volleyball can compete within the conference, and also on a national basis.

[NewsCopy]

BATON ROUGE - Already with a successful spring tournament to their credit, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team and head coach Heather Mazeitis will participate in the LSU Spring Volleyball Tournament Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. In pool play, the Cajuns will play three matches, consisting of two 25-point games. Louisiana, participating in Pool A on the main floor at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, will play host LSU at 9 a.m., followed by Southern Miss at 11:30 a.m. and Wharton County Junior College at 12:15 p.m. Once pool play is complete, the eight teams will compete in crossover play. Crossover matches will be the best three-out-of-five to 25 points with the fifth game to 15 points. The fourth-seeded teams in each pool will play on the main court of the PMAC and the third-seeded teams on the auxiliary court at 2 p.m. The top-seeded teams will square off on the main floor, while the second-place teams will play on the auxiliary court at 3:30 p.m. 2008 LSU Spring Volleyball Tournament Pool A (Main Court): (1) LSU, (2) Southern Miss, (3) Louisiana, (4) Wharton County JC Pool B (Auxiliary Court: (1) Tulane, (2) New Orleans, (3) Southeastern Louisiana, (4) Southern Pool Schedule 9 a.m. - Louisiana vs. LSU (PMAC Main Court) 11:30 a.m. - Louisiana vs. Southern Miss (PMAC Main Court) 12:15 p.m. - Louisiana vs. Wharton County JC (PMAC Main Court) RaginCajuns.com Chris Yandle

[reaper1]

Looks like a great hire by UL? Any word on how recruiting is going?
Mazeitis WILL turn this around shortly, and put the HEAT in cajun volleyball.

[NewsCopy]

HOUSTON, Texas - Louisiana head volleyball coach Heather Mazeitis and her Ragin' Cajuns squad continues their spring training this weekend when they participate in the Tornados College Tournament. The Cajuns will play four matches in the 24-team round-robin tournament. On Saturday, Louisiana opens against Conference USA member UTEP at 10 a.m. followed by Houston at Noon. The Cajuns will then close out the tournament against Stephen F. Austin at 2 p.m. and SMU at 4 p.m. "This weekend will give us an opportunity to put our program on a much larger scale," Mazeitis said. "With the 2007 National Champion and several top 25 teams playing in this tournament, we are going to be in fantastic company. "What I will be hoping to get out of this weekend is for our players at UL to have a greater understanding of where we need to be competitive at the highest level nationally," Mazeitis said. "The team has been working very hard this spring and has progressed tremendously. We are already a better team because they are playing with a lot of confidence and enthusiasm and we will be able to show that this weekend." Each match will be best two-out-of-three format with each game going to 25 points. The third and final game will go to 15. The rest of the story

[NewsCopy]

During the weekend of April 26, the Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team had their first "Team Cajun Volleyball Experiment". During the weekend of April 26, the Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team had their first "Team Cajun Volleyball Experiment" - a team-building exercise that took the student-athletes out of their normal environment and enjoy time away from the court. Members of the volleyball team began that Saturday with their community service project, Cajun Fingerprints. Following the successful event organized by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the team was surprised by head coach Heather Mazeitis when she took them downtown to Festival Internationale where they met Grammy-nominated artist Geno Delafose and the French Rockin' Boogie. The team then travel to a farm in Mamou, Louisiana, and were greeted with great gumbo and a crawfish boil. The evening was highlighted by a private performance from members of The Wild Rice Band. Various members of the team played the accordion and the scrub board during a team sing-along. The two-day weekend retreat concluded Sunday with the team fixing a driveway on the farm, riding horses and enjoying the countryside on some four-wheelers. To view the photo album of the first "Team Cajun Volleyball Experiment", click here. RaginCajuns.com

[CajunFun]

Top article for Friday is the first half of our interview with UL's Head Volleyball Coach.

She was a lot of fun to interview; she's smart, and funny (I had to leave out most of the funny stuff, it didn't work in print). But I think she's going to fit in extremely well here in Acadiana, and she just might give us a great program.

[snote]

UL's Head Volleyball Coach.

please forward me her #.. been looking forward to speaking with her for last 4 months.. i have found myself a fan of the program reading what has transpired since reg season over.. the april shindig in the country won me over.. (plus ... aghhh best not typed... hee-hee)

ps.

To be totally absorbed in the present, to be one with the present experience, is to be... ...happy.

[NewsCopy]

UL - Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns head volleyball coach Heather Mazeitis announced the hiring of George Hagemaster as the newest assistant coach on her coaching staff Wednesday. His hiring is pending approval by the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors. Hagemaster, who brings with him 15 years of volleyball coaching experience, will work with the setters as well as the Ragin' Cajuns defense in addition to contributing to the program's recruiting efforts. Prior to arriving in Lafayette, Hagemaster coached the Crystal Lake, Ill.-based Sky High Volleyball Club 17-and-under team to the 2006 USAV National Championship. In 2005, his team finished 11th overall in the country. "In the short time George has been here, he has been fantastic," Mazeitis said. "I think what he's going to bring to program will really help us in making a huge jump very quickly. With his recruiting contacts, knowledge of the game and his desire to want to coach at the Division I level, he is going to make for a great addition to everything we are doing here at UL." From 1999-2004, he coached the Second City Volleyball Club team in Evergreen Park, Ill., watching the program soar with great success. His 15-and-under team won a silver medal in 2000, while serving as an assistant for the 18-and-under boys team that finished third at nationals that same year. In addition to coaching on the club circuit, Hagemaster served as a junior varsity coach for Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Ill., coaching the Spartans to eight straight sectional finals. He later served as varsity head coach for Chicago's Marist High School in 1999-2000. Hagemaster is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, where he played on the men's club team. As a high school player, he first learned to play for the Second City Volleyball Club. "Volleyball has always been my passion," Hagemaster said. "I enjoy helping players develop both mentally and physically. You never know how good you can be until you try." raginCajuns.com

[Cajunsmike]

Looks like this guy has strong credentials and he should be a good staff addition.