The Book 2003-04 UL Lady Cajuns Volleyball

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UL records season-high 18 aces

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team opened play here Friday afternoon at the University of Memphis Invitational with a 3-0 (31-29, 30-17, 30-14) win over Holy Cross at Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

The win improved the Cajuns to 3-5 on the season and snapped a five-match losing streak which dated back to Saturday, Aug. 30. Holy Cross fell to 1-5 on the season.

Louisiana posted its first straight sets sweep of the season and kept alive its hopes for an in-season tournament title for the fourth straight season.

The Cajuns were paced by senior setter Beth Henson and her match-high 12 kills. The Lafayette native also had 19 assists and 11 digs for her second triple-double of the season.

Lesley Tough extended her streak of matches with double-digit kills to three as she tallied 11 kills. With her ninth kill of the match she moved over the century mark for the season and has now posted double-digit kills in all but two of the Cajuns matches this season.

The Cajuns also benefited from a season-high 18 service aces. Henson led the way with seven while freshman Hope Webre added a career-best six.

The Cajuns defense dominated the Crusaders out-digging them 52-35 andm holding Holy Cross to a .038 attack percentage.

Holy Cross was also hurt by 11 service errors to go along with its 18 reception errors.

UL Lafayette out-killed the Crusaders 43-23 and out-blocked them 6.5-3.0. Kim Rodgers led the way with five blocks.

Hollie Girouard tallied 13 digs for the Cajuns to extend her streak of matches with double-digit digs to six.

Louisiana returns to action Saturday as the Cajuns wrap up play in the Memphis Invitational with a 10 a.m. match against Tennessee Tech and 7 p.m. tilt with host-Memphis.

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Louisiana hurt by 33 attack errors and 16 service errors

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team was unable to make up for its mistakes here Saturday morning dropping a 3-1 (30-22, 29-31, 22-30, 24-30) decision to Tennessee Tech in the second round of the University of Memphis Invitational.

The Cajuns (3-6) committed 33 attack errors and 16 service errors eliminating the advantage they had in out-killing the Golden Eagles 67-51. TTU (1-5) also had a 13.0-3.0 advantage in blocks led by Annette Kupka's four block solos.

UL Lafayette, coming off of its first win in two weeks, lost the match despite having four players tally double-figures in kills and four reach double-digits in digs.

Beth Henson led the Cajuns in kills for the second straight match as she collected a career-high 20. Freshman Hope Webre chipped in with 15 kills to tie her career best. Kim Rodgers and Lesley Tough each had 11.

Hollie Girouard led the Cajuns defensive effort with 18 digs as she reached double-figures in digs for the seventh straight match.

Henson and Tami Harvey split time at setter for the Cajuns. Harvey led the Cajuns with 37 assists while Henson had 21.

TTU placed three players in double-digit kills led by Liz Engel's 18. The win was the first of the season for the Golden Eagles and first under former Ole Miss head coach John Blair.

UL will wrap up play at the UM Invitational at 7 p.m. when the Cajuns take on host-Memphis in the tournament finale.


MATCH SUMMARY

Louisiana vs. Tennessee Tech
Site: Memphis, Tenn. (Elma Roane Fieldhouse)
Date: Saturday, Sept. 13, 2003
Att: 58 Time: 1:44

Tennessee Tech 3, Louisiana 1
1 2 3 4
Louisiana (3-6) 30 29 22 24
Tenn. Tech (1-5) 22 31 30 30

Louisiana-Lafayette (3-6)
(Kills-aces-blocks) - Henson, Beth 20-1-1; Webre, Hope 15-2-0; Tough, Lesley 11-1-2; Rodgers, Kim 11-0-2; Salomaki, Elina 4-0-1; Pattison, Jessica 3-0-0; Harvey, Tami 2-2-0; Bermes, Lindsey 1-0-0; Totals 67-6-3.0.
(Assists) - Harvey 37; Henson 21.
(Dig leaders) - Girouard 18; Harvey 15; Tough 14; Webre 10

Tennessee Tech (1-5)
(Kills-aces-blocks) - Engel, Liz 18-2-2; Kupka, Annette 11-2-8; Morrow, Anne 10-0-1; Sidorowicz, Laura 6-0-1; Tyburski, Laura 5-0-0; Meyer, Nancy 1-0-5; Kastner, Kristen 0-0-1; Perry, Courtney 0-3-0; Totals 51-7-13.0. (Assists) - Meyer 43.
(Dig leaders) - Tyburski 21; Engel 15; Perry 10; Meyer 10

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Louisiana participating in Southern Miss tournament Friday and Saturday

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team will close out its season-long 10-match road swing and non-conference schedule here Friday-Saturday, Sept. 19-20 at the Forrest General SportsCare Volleyball Classic being hosted by the University of Southern Mississippi.

UL (3-7) will face Jackson State (7-6) on Friday at 5 p.m. in the tournament opener.

On Saturday, the Cajuns will get a preview of Sun Belt Conference competition when they play Arkansas-Little Rock (7-3) at 10 a.m. Louisiana's final match of the tournament takes place at 4 p.m. Saturday against host-USM (10-2).

This weekend's tournament provides the Cajuns with the final opportunity to extend their streak of consecutive seasons with an in-season tournament championship to four. Louisiana-Lafayette has claimed at least one in-season tournament title since 2000.

The Ragin' Cajuns are coming off of a 1-2 weekend at the Memphis Invitational. While at UM, the Cajuns snapped their season-high five-match losing streak with a 3-0 sweep of Holy Cross, but fell to Tennessee Tech and Memphis last Saturday.

Head coach Becky Madden will use the tournament as an opportunity to ready her squad for the upcoming Sun Belt Conference battles which begin next Friday at Earl K. Long Gym versus Western Kentucky.

"I think we have found a lineup that we will be utilizing for remainder of season," Madden said. "This will give them an opportunity to work together and familiarize each ones tendencies.

"It will also be good to see our conference rival Arkansas-Little Rock to get a taste of what the conference competition will be like."

Following this weekend's tournament, UL returns home for the beginning of a four-match homestand on Friday, Sept. 26 against three-time defending Sun Belt champion Western Kentucky.

FORREST GENERAL SPORTSCARE VOLLEYBALL CLASSIC
Hosted by the University of Southern Mississippi
Friday-Saturday, Sept. 19-20, 2003
Hattiesburg, Miss.

Friday, Sept. 19
5 p.m. - Louisiana (3-7) vs. Jackson State (7-6)
7 p.m. - Southern Miss (10-2) vs. UALR (7-3)

Saturday, Sept. 20
10 a.m. - Louisiana vs. UALR
Noon - Southern Miss vs. Jackson State
2 p.m. - UALR vs. Jackson State
4 p.m. - Southern Miss vs. Louisiana

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UL will take on Southern Miss and UALR on Saturday

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team returned to the win column Friday afternoon posting a 3-0 (30-21, 30-17, 30-13) sweep of Jackson State in the first day of competition at the Forrest General SportsCare Classic here at the Payne Center on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi.

Cajuns were paced by the setter combo of senior Beth Henson and junior Tami Harvey. Henson had 19 assists and led the team in kills with 15 and also had a team-high five service aces.

Harvey led the Cajuns with 20 assists and also chipped in a team-high seven digs. Lindsey Bermes had nine kills for the Cajuns.

Jackson State committed 18 attack errors, while the Cajuns only committed nine.

Angela Franke led the Tigers with 24 assists, while Chinyere Marner and Katrina Dunn led the team with seven kills each. Cara Jones committed a team-high nine attack errors.

The sweep was the Cajuns second of the season and ended a two-match slide.

The second day of the Forrest General SportsCare Classic will continue Saturday as Louisiana takes on Sun Belt Conference-member Arkansas-Little Rock in a 10 a.m. match and then concludes tournament play against host-Southern Mississippi in a 4 p.m. match.

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Louisiana vs. Jackson State
Site: Payne Center (Hattiesburg, Miss.)
Date: Friday, Sept. 19, 2003
Att: 106 Time: 1:10

Louisiana 3, Jackson State 0

                             1         2         3

Louisiana (4-7)             30        30        30

Jackson State (7-7)         21        17        13

 

Louisiana (4-7) (Kills-Aces-Blocks) - Henson, Beth 15-5-0; Harvey, Tami 0-1-0; Webre, Hope 4-1-0.5; Liverett, Stacy 7-0-0; Bermes, Lindsey 9-0-0.5; Salomaki, Elina 7-1-0.5; Girouard, Hollie 1-0-0; Rodgers, Kim 3-0-2.0; Tough, Lesley 4-0-0.5; Pattison, Jessica 3-0-1.0; Totals 53-8-5.0.

(Assists) - Harvey 20, Henson 19, Webre 2, Bermes 2.
(Dig leaders) - Harvey 7, Henson 6, Girouard 6.

Jackson State (7-7)
(Kills-Aces-Blocks) - Carline, Denetia 1-0-0; Jones, Cara 6-2-0; Danielly, Shinician 6-0-0; Dunn, Katrina 7-0-0; Marner, Chinyere 7-0-0; Franke, Angela 1-0-0; Henderson, Whitney 0-0-0; White, Verita 0-0-0;

Totals 28-2-0.
(Assists) - Franke 24, Marner 1, Dunn 1.
(Dig leaders) - White 7, Henderson 6.LOUISIANA SI

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Hollie Girouard improves to help Cajun volleyball.

LOUISIANA la. — She is as confident — and as competitive — as any University of Louisiana volleyball player has ever been, but one month ago Hollie Girouard had some major questions about herself.

She was coming back to collegiate play after a self-imposed hiatus of two years, and that self-confidence had her believing such a return would be a snap.

“I expected to just jump in and be as good if not better than before,” she said. “I have pretty high expectations for myself.”

It wasn’t happening.

Girouard had worked her way back into a regular spot after trying out with second-year Cajun head coach Becky Madden, but her preseason play didn’t meet her standards.

“It was rough at first,” she said. “I wasn’t getting to balls that I used to get to, I wasn’t able to read the hitters. It was a lot of little athletic and mental things that I had lost track of. I didn’t think I’d be able to catch up … I thought I had fallen so far behind.”

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

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Louisiana hosts Sun Belt West Division foe Denver Friday at 7p.m.

LOUISIANA La. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team continues its current four-match homestand here Friday at Earl K. Long Gym versus Sun Belt Conference West Division foe Denver at 7 p.m., looking to break into the win column in conference play and snap a four-match losing streak.

Louisiana (4-11, 0-2 Sun Belt) opened SBC play last weekend dropping a pair of heartbreakers to Western Kentucky and North Texas. Last Sunday the Cajuns held a 2-0 lead against NT before the Mean Green rallied to win the final three games of the match and steal a win.

Denver (10-5, 2-0 Sun Belt) posted wins over South Alabama (28-30, 30-19, 36-34, 30-14) and New Orleans (30-25, 30-22, 30-20) last weekend for its first 2-0 start to Sun Belt play since joining the league in 1999. The Pioneers return all six starters and 10 of 11 letterwinners from last season squad.

Louisiana-Lafayette leads the all-time series 5-3 and has won the last three meetings with DU at Long Gym. The Cajuns won the only meeting between the two teams last season posting a 3-0 (30-16, 30-18, 30-24) win on Nov. 10 at Long Gym.

Head coach Becky Madden realizes the importance of this weekend's matches with Denver Friday and then New Mexico State on Sunday. The Cajuns are 0-2 in the Sun Belt and need a win or two to get back in the race as only eight of the 11 league schools qualify for the conference tournament.

""You can only stay positive for so long when you are on a losing streak," Madden commented. "It is imperative that we come out this weekend and play well together and get a win just so we have something to feel good about, to build upon, but more importantly stay in the conference race."

"They (Denver and New Mexico State) are two legitimate teams that are playing well in league play right now," Madden said of Denver and NMSU's 2-0 league starts. "It will take a complete team effort for the entire match in order for us to get the results we need."

Following Friday's match, the Cajuns will conclude their four-match homestand on Sunday in a 1 p.m. match with New Mexico State (11-4, 2-0
Sun Belt).

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MOBILE, Ala. - After this weekend, Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team will know its chances of qualifying for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

The Cajuns (4-13, 0-4 Sun Belt) are currently tied for ninth place in the overall SBC standings. Eight teams (out of 11) qualify for the league championships being held Nov. 20-22 in Bowling Green, Ky.

This weekend the Cajuns will face South Alabama (3-12, 0-4 Sun Belt) and New Orleans (7-11, 1-2 Sun Belt) with an opportunity to surpass both of them and into the eighth and final slot as the league season nears the halfway point.

On Friday the Cajuns will take on USA at 7 p.m. here at Jaguar Gym. Then on Saturday, the Cajuns head back west on I-10 to face UNO in a 3 p.m. match.

A pair of wins over the weekend would put UL Lafayette back on track to qualify for the SBC Tournament. A pair of losses and the Cajuns would be 0-6 in the league and at least two wins out of the final tournament slot.

Louisiana has had its way with the Jaguars the past six seasons. The Cajuns have won the last 13 meetings between the two schools and hasn't lost to USA since Oct. 20, 1995.

South Alabama enters Friday's match riding a 23-match losing streak in Sun Belt regular season matches. The Jags last Sun Belt win came on Oct. 28, 2001.

Louisiana will be attempting to snap a streak of its own. The Cajuns have lost six straight matches overall and five straight in SBC play dating back to last season.

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Louisiana drops ninth consecutive match, falls to 0-7 in Sun Belt play

MIAMI - Elina Salomaki and Hope Webre each tallied 10 kills but it wasn't enough as Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team suffered its ninth straight defeat here Sunday afternoon dropping a 3-0 (27-30, 16-30, 21-30) decision to host-Florida International in Golden Panther Arena.

With the loss UL fell to 4-16 overall and 0-7 in Sun Belt play. FIU improved to 11-9 overall and 3-4 in Sun Belt play.

The Golden Panthers ended their four-match losing streak while the Cajuns moved within one loss of tying the program record for consecutive losses.

Louisiana's Achilles heel all season long, attacking errors, came back to haunt them once more. The Cajuns committed 27 errors to 17 for FIU.

After hitting the ball well in the opening game of the match, attacking at a .275 clip, the Cajuns fortunes went downward in the final two games with percentages of .000 and .024 in the second and third games respectively.

Meanwhile, FIU kept its hitting percentage consistent throughout the match attacking above .250 in each game including a match-high .300 in the 30-27 win in game one.

The Golden Panthers also took advantage of 10.5 blocks to just 5.0 for UL. Julie Doan led all players with four blocks while Adriana Fundora and Jessica Jones each tacked on three blocks. Setter Charlyn Ball-Llovera tallied the match's lone block solo.

Kim Rodgers added eight kills for Louisiana and collected two blocks. Stacy Liverett led all Cajuns with three blocks.

Senior Beth Henson posted a team-best 11 digs to go along with 16 assists. Hollie Girouard and Salomaki each had five digs.

Doan led FIU with 13 kills followed by 12 from Fundora. Fundora had seven kills in the nip-and-tuck game one.

The Golden Panthers cruised to a 30-16 win in game two while holding UL to a .000 hitting percentage (9 kills, 9 errors).

Game three was close early on until FIU won nine-straight points behind the serve of Jones to open up a 23-12 lead. Doan finished the game with a kill to give the Golden Panthers a 30-21 win to clinch the straight sets sweep.

With the win FIU avenged a 3-0 UL victory last season and notched its second win in the all-time series. Both of FIU's wins over Louisiana have come in Miami - both on the Cajuns last two trips.

Louisiana will play its next four matches within the friendly confines of Earl K. Long Gym over the next two weekends to conclude the home portion of the 2003 slate.

The Cajuns open the homestand on Friday, Oct. 24 against Arkansas-Little
Rock (12-9, 3-4 Sun Belt).

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MATCH SUMMARY

Louisiana at Florida International
Site: Golden Panther Arena (Miami, Fla.)
Date: Sunday, Oct. 19, 2003
Att: 73 Time: 1:27

FIU 3, Louisiana 0
1 2 3
UL (4-16, 0-7 SBC) 27 16 21
FIU (11-9, 3-4 SBC) 30 30 30

Louisiana (4-16 (0-7 SBC))

(Kills-aces-blocks) - Webre, Hope 10-0-2; Salomaki, Elina 10-0-1; Rodgers, Kim 8-0-2; Henson, Beth 4-0-1; Harvey, Tami 3-1-0; Liverett, Stacy 2-1-3; Pattison, Jessica 2-0-1; Totals 39-2-5.0.

(Assists) - Harvey 18; Henson 16.

(Dig leaders) - Henson 11; Salomaki 6

Fla. International (11-9 (3-4 SBC))

(Kills-aces-blocks) - Doan, Julie 13-0-4; Fundora, Adriana 12-0-3; Owens, Jennifer 9-0-3; Jones, Jessica 6-1-3; Rodney, Myriam 6-0-2; Vogel, Laura 1-1-2; Ball-Llovera,Charlyn 0-0-2; Moreland, Betsy 0-1-1; Totals 47-3-10.5.

(Assists) - Moreland 38.

(Dig leaders) - Fundora 13; Baldwin 7

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Louisiana's next four matches to be played in Long Gym

LOUISIANA La. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team will open a four-match homestand Friday with a 7 p.m. match against Sun Belt Conference East Division foe Arkansas-Little Rock.

Friday's match marks the first of four home matches over the next two weekends for Louisiana-Lafayette as the Cajuns round out the home schedule for the 2003 season.

The Cajuns (4-16, 0-7 Sun Belt) will be looking to put an end to a season-high nine-match losing streak, which dates back to Sept. 20, and claim their first Sun Belt victory of the season.

UALR (12-9, 3-4 Sun Belt) has won its last two conference outings after dropping four of its first five. The Trojans swept past UNO and South Alabama last weekend - led by Sun Belt Player of the Week Larisa Durmisevic.

The Cajuns will be without sophomore Lesley Tough this weekend. The team's leader in kills per game suffered a minor shoulder injury last Sunday prior to the FIU match and is doubtful for this weekend with a probable return for next Thursday's match against South Alabama.

In her absence Louisiana will rely on a quartet of players that average over two kills per game. Freshman Hope Webre leads the group with 2.35 kills per game.

UALR depends on the swing of junior Ivana Vracar, who averages 5.13 kills per game, for quick offense. On defense sophomore middle blocker Ivana Kuzmic has a team-best 30 block solos and averages 1.15 blocks per game.

The Trojans lead the all-time series 18-1 and have won all regular season meetings between the two schools. UL Lafayette's lone win in the series came in the 2001 Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Denver.

Following Friday's match the Cajuns will continue the homestand on Sunday at 1 p.m. against SBC East Division leader Arkansas State.

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