The Book 2009-10 UL Lady Cajuns Volleyball

[LuLu]

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Need to remind everyone, on Sept. 26, next Saturday, the Volleyball team opens play at home. The Sun Belt Conference games begin. Saturday at 7pm against ASU, then Sunday at 1 pm against UALR.

Pack EKL Gym, y'all!

Geaux Cajuns!
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[wisconsincajun]

The girls FINALLY have their first home match tomorrow at 1:00. Geaux and support the team. Fill the gym. What better thing is there to do before the football game starts? Good luck girls! Geaux Cajuns!

[Turbine]

_ The girls FINALLY have their first home match tomorrow at 1:00. Geaux and support the team. Fill the gym. What better thing is there to do before the football game starts? Good luck girls! Geaux Cajuns! _

What a great idea.

I would like to go but have to be at work for 2pm

[NewsCopy]

  For the first time in her senior season, setter Kendra Hall takes to the court at Earl K. Long Gym on Saturday. Hall needs just 37 assists to pass Lisa Bordes into second place for career assists.

The wait is over for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team.

After four weekends and a total of 15 matches on the road, the Ragin' Cajuns (6-9) are set to make their home debut at Earl K. Long Gym on Saturday, Sept. 26 against Arkansas State (10-5, 0-1 Sun Belt) at 1 p.m.

Not only are the Cajuns making their home debut, the squad is opening Sun Belt Conference play. For the remainder of the regular season UL will compete in SBC matches only.

On Sunday, the Cajuns meet UALR to wrap up the weekend. First serve will be at 5 p.m.

This weekend's matches start a four-match homestand for UL to begin the Sun Belt slate. Overall, the Ragin' Cajuns will play 10 of their 18 SBC matches at Earl K. Long Gym.

Setter Kendra Hall is primed to make another splash in the program's record books. She needs only 37 more assists to pass Lisa Bordes into second place in the program's record books for career assists.

Amie Goodwin leads the team in kills with 152. Goodwin has strung together impressive performances the last two weeks. She has reached double figures in kills in six of the last seven matches, averaging 3.42 kills per set. Since Sept. 11, Goodwin sports a .249 hitting percentage.

Defensively, the Cajuns are led by Bethany Fogler with 28 blocks, while libero Lindsay Brown leads the team in digs with 237.

Last season, Brown led the Sun Belt Conference in digs in league matches. Heading into league play this year, Brown is averaging 4.56 digs per set and has reached double figures in 13 of 15 matches

The Cajuns rank nationally in services. As a team, UL has recorded 101 service aces to opponents' 59. The average of 1.94 aces per set places the Cajuns 15th in the NCAA stats.

Arkansas State is led by Cayla Fielder and Charlyn Ursell, each with 145 kills. Laura Bennett leads the team with 520 assists.

Defensively, the Red Wolves are led by Fielder who has 62 blocks, while libero Heather Bowman has 286 digs over 48 sets for an average of 5.96 digs per set. Bowman ranks third in the NCAA stats.

The Red Wolves began Sun Belt play on Thursday in New Orleans. UNO claimed a 3-1 (25-20, 27-29, 25-16, 25-20) victory over ASU, sending the Red Wolves to their fourth consecutive loss after beginning the season with a 10-1 record.

UALR's main offensive threat is Anita Bucur, who has accumulated 168 kills so far. She is usually set up by Giuliana DeFrancesco, who has 389 assists on the year.

Defensively, the Trojans are led by Katharina Nobel, who has 35 blocks. Emily Pepperman leads the team in digs with 162.

UALR started Sun Belt play on Thursday in Monroe. The Trojans blanked Louisiana-Monroe by a count of 3-0 (27-25, 25-14, 25-13). UALR continues conference action on Saturday as they travel to New Orleans to meet UNO before making the trip to Lafayette to meet the Ragin' Cajuns on Sunday.

All-Tournament Cajuns: The Cajuns collected six All-Tournament honors during non-conference play. Five different players combined for the honors.
Comfort Suites/SHSU Invitational
Ariel Krolikowski & Bethany Fogler

LSU Tiger Classic
Kendra Hall

McNeese State Invitational
Amie Goodwin & Kendra Hall

Northwestern State Tournament
Lesley Mirarchi

UL SI

[NewsCopy]

Sat, Oct 03

UL vs North Texas

Earl K. Long Gym
5:00 p.m.

[NewsCopy]

  Linsday Brown piled up a career-high 32 digs for Louisiana Saturday evening vs. North Texas. As a team, UL posted a season-high 17 blocks.

Louisiana's volleyball team nearly rallied from a 2-0 deficit, but North Texas held on and claimed the match 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 20-25, 22-25, 15-12) Saturday evening at Earl K. Long Gym.

The Cajuns (6-12, 0-3 Sun Belt) turned up the intensity following the intermission throwing down 30 kills and posting hitting percentages of .304 and .217 in the third and fourth sets to force a decisive fifth set.

North Texas opened a quick 6-2 lead in the final set. Louisiana stormed back with a 6-1 run and appeared to be headed to an improbable comeback triumph. During the run the Cajuns received three kills from Lesley Mirarchi and threw up a pair of their season-high 17 blocks.

Mirarchi slammed home a kill on the 15th rally for an 8-7 lead. The Mean Green (6-11, 2-1 Sun Belt) evened the score with a kill by Brittani Youman and the two sides swapped points over the next eight rallies.

Tied at 12-all, NT sealed their victory with kills on consecutive rallies - one by Kati Dillard and one by Youman. On match point, Ariel Krolikowski committed an attack error when she hit into a solo block throw up by Dillard ending the Cajuns comeback attempt.

The loss was the fifth straight overall for Louisiana and kept the team winless in Sun Belt play. The Cajuns saw their two-match win streak over the Mean Green snapped.

Krolikowski swung down a career-high 18 kills - her third straight match in double figures on the current four-match homestand. Joining her in double figures for UL was Amie Goodwin with 12 and Mirarchi with 10.

The Ragin' Cajuns frontline defense was superb and that resulted in a season-high for blocks (17). The Cajuns threw up at least three blocks in each of the first four sets. Bethany Fogler led the way with a career-high 10 blocks (1 solo, 9 assists). In all, four Cajuns posted at least five blocks.

Between the two teams there were seven players that reached double digits in digs. Louisiana's Lindsay Brown finished with a career-high 32 digs (6.4 per set). Krolikowski added a career-high 18 digs which allowed her to notch her third double-double of the season. Mirarchi collected 12 digs to notch the first double-double of her career.

The Mean Green was paced by the tandem of Roxana Casvean and Amy Huddleston. They combined for 36 kills - 18 apiece - and hit .224 and .234, respectively. Sarah Willey was the top digger with 19.

The Ragin' Cajuns 17 blocks and 87 digs were the highest recorded by the team in the Heather Mazeitis Era.

If Louisiana has to look back at why they lost they need look no further than letting a 13-7 lead in the opening set slip away and a .000 hitting percentage (11 kills, 11 errors, 44 attempts) in the second set. In the second set, the Cajuns lost a 16-11 lead.

UL scorched the nets in the third set, throwing down 16 kills against only two errors in 46 attempts. The Cajuns battled back from a 16-10 deficit with a 9-3 run which evened the set at 19-all. A kill by Fogler broke the tie and then she combined with Mirarchi for a block which upped the Cajuns lead to 21-19.

Louisiana scored on the next three rallies and finished off the set with a Goodwin kill which forced a fourth set.

The fourth set saw the competition heat up as there were 15 tied scores and eight lead changes. UL found themselves down 22-21 when a kill by Mirarchi knotted the score at 22-all.

Krolikowski then stepped up and delivered kills on consecutive rallies to make it 24-22. On the next serve, Casvean committed an attack error giving UL new life as the match entered the fifth set.

The comeback was foiled as the Mean Green stood strong in the final set posting a .320 hitting percentage (11 kills, 3 errors, 25 attempts).

Louisiana returns to the court on Sunday, Oct. 4 as the Denver Pioneers (7-10, 2-1 Sun Belt) visit E.K. Long Gym. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. The matinee will conclude UL's current four-match homestand.

UL SI

[NewsCopy]

  Louisiana Volleyball will get to enjoy the comforts of home Monday night as the squad hosts ULM at Earl K. Long Gym.

The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

It's the first of two meetings between the two teams this season. The Lady Cajuns (6-15, 0-6 Sun Belt) and Warhawks (3-19, 0-7 Sun Belt) will meet in the season finale on Sunday, Nov. 15 in Monroe.

The winner of the match will record their first Sun Belt Conference victory of the season.

The Ragin' Cajuns have dominated the all-time series, holding a 33-17 lead. Since UL Monroe joined the SBC in 2006, Louisiana has won five of six meetings. The Cajuns are seeking to extend their current five-match win streak over the Warhawks.

The Cajuns freshman duo of Ariel Krolikowski and Bethany Fogler has performed well in SBC play. Krolikowski leads the squad with a 2.61 kills per set average while Fogler had picked up 31 blocks and averages 1.35 blocks per set.

Lindsay Brown continues to be the story for Louisiana on the defensive side. The Yorba Linda, Calif., product is averaging 5.04 digs per set in SBC matches and is currently riding a string of eight consecutive matches with double figures in digs. Brown collected 38 digs over eight sets on the South Alabama-Troy trip.

Brown has 353 digs which leaves her 52 shy of tying her personal single-season best 405 set last season. She is also just 112 digs shy of joining the program's overall career Top 5 digs chart.

Krolikowski has recorded double figures in kills in four of the past six matches and has thrown down at least six in each match during the stretch. Against South Alabama she had 10 kills and 17 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.

Fogler has posted at least four blocks in each of the last five matches. She's the season leader in blocks with 59.

Kendra Hall stepped up on the USA-Troy trip after a rough start to SBC play. Hall hit .714 and tallied five kills at USA then hit .636 with seven kills at Troy. Hall has recorded 99.5 points this season, leaving her 12 points shy of setting a personal single-season best.

Amie Goodwin looks to shake off a stretch in which she's posted a negative hitting percentage in two of the last three outings. She did reach a milestone at South Alabama, going over 700 career kills to become just the fourth player at UL in the rally scoring era to reach that many career kills (Elizabeth Inman, Kim Rodgers and Elina Salomaki are the others).

Louisiana-Monroe's win total this season surpasses the combined total from the previous two seasons (went 2-62 from 2007-08). Sun Belt play has not been kind to the Warhawks as they are 2-59 all-time in league play and enter Monday night's match having suffered 54 consecutive SBC losses dating back to 2006.

It's a quick turnaround for the Warhawks who played at South Alabama Sunday afternoon. UL Monroe was swept by USA in straight sets by scores of 25-23, 25-23, 25-18. Mari O'Neal paced the offense with a career-high 24 kills.

O'Neal leads the Warhawks with 216 kills over 70 sets for a 3.09 kills per set average. Backing her up are Mahogany Dilonga with a 1.79 kills per set average and Stephanie Wardach with a 1.62 kills per set average.

The UL Monroe defense is anchored by Christy Tribble's 3.98 digs per set average. On the frontline the top blockers are Dilonga with 51 and Ashley Bland with 49.

Following Monday's match, the Ragin' Cajuns will take to the road for the Arkansas road swing over the weekend. Louisiana is in Jonesboro on Friday night for a meeting with Arkansas State and will be in Little Rock on Sunday afternoon for a match with UALR.

[snote]

got their 1st "sunbelt" win of the season.. good.. j.o.b,. !

[NewsCopy]

  Caroline Dufrene continues to step up for Louisiana. She finished Monday's match with UL Monroe with 15 kills and a .370 hitting percentage - the second time in the past three matches she's had at least 13 kills and a .370 percentage.

Louisiana's Lady Cajuns volleyball team collected its first Sun Belt Conference victory of the season with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-16, 25-27, 25-15) triumph over Louisiana-Monroe Monday evening at Earl K. Long Gym.

Caroline Dufrene (15 kills) and Amie Goodwin (12 kills) combined for 27 kills on 58 attempts to fuel the Ragin' Cajuns (7-15, 1-6 Sun Belt) who out-killed the visiting Warhawks 49-38.

The Cajuns hit .250 in the first set and followed up with a .273 clip in the second set to open a 2-0 lead. After the Warhawks (3-20, 0-8 Sun Belt) avoided the sweep, Louisiana sizzled with a .423 hitting percentage in the final set to wrap up the victory.

The Cajuns snapped an eight-match losing streak, overall, and recorded their first home win of the 2009 season.

Mandi Gavin and Bethany Fogler paced the frontline defense with five and four blocks, respectively. Gavin added seven kills, her third straight outing with at least seven kills.

Three UL players reached double figures in digs led by Amanda Cune's 15. Lindsay Brown collected 10 digs to extend her streak of consecutive matches with double figures to nine.

The Warhawks were led by Stephanie Wardach's 13 kills and .233 hitting percentage. Mari O'Neal backed her up with 11 kills. The top digger for UL Monroe was Lacey Dietlin with 12.

The Cajuns played from behind for first half of the opening set. Trailing 13-12, the hosts took the lead with a Goodwin kill and attack error by Dietlin. After the Warhawks pulled even at 14-all, UL scored on three straight rallies to jump ahead for good.

After UL Monroe closed the deficit to three points at 21-18 after a kill by Dietlin, Louisiana scored on four of the next five rallies. The final two points were service aces by Goodwin.

Louisiana's defense held the Warhawks to a .000 percentage in the second set and the team was vaulted ahead on the strength of four blocks.

Leading 10-8, the Cajuns scored on five of the next six rallies to open a 15-9 edge. Up 17-11, the Cajuns put away the Warhawks when Dietlin committed a service error, Fogler threw down a kill and then a pair of blocks was thrown up on Wardach attack attempts.

Louisiana would have finished off the visitors in three sets if not for a -.030 (9 kills, 10 errors, 33 attempts) hitting percentage in the third set. The Warhawks countered with 13 kills and a .212 percentage.

UL left little doubt in the fourth set, breaking a 3-all tie with a Goodwin kill. Then leading 8-6, scores on three straight rallies put UL Monroe on the edge. Duferene capped off the rally with one of her six kills in the set.

Dufrene was the catalyst that helped UL close out the Warhawks in the end. Up 21-14, she threw down two kills to give the Cajuns 23 points. Two rallies later she posted her sixth kill of the set to create set and match point.

Fogler and Ariel Krolikowski jumped up and blocked an attack attempt by Marissa Davis on the ensuing serve to end the set at 25-15 and give the Cajuns the match victory.

The win was the Cajuns' sixth straight over Louisiana-Monroe. Louisiana is now 6-1 against UL Monroe in Sun Belt play.

Head Coach Heather Mazeitis picked up her 248th career victory moving her within two of 250.

Louisiana returns to the road for three consecutive matches. First up is the Arkansas road swing which brings UL to Jonesboro for a meeting with Arkansas State on Friday at 7 p.m., and Little Rock on Sunday for a match with UALR at 3 p.m. The final leg of the trip is in New Orleans on Tuesday, Oct. 20 against the Privateers.

The next match at Earl K. Long Gym is set for Friday, Oct. 23 as the Ragin' Cajuns welcome Middle Tennessee for a 5 p.m. match.

UL SI

[snote]

kudo's and i know it must have been a grand time.. happy for each one of you girls..
anyone wearing red shoes? (smiles)

Louisiana posted the biggest win to date of the Heather Mazeitis Era, besting Sun Belt West leader New Orleans in five sets on the road Tuesday evening. Bethany Fogler led the way with 17 kills, .343 hitting percentage and seven blocks

ps. thanks matthew for the heads up..

[NewsCopy]

  Lindsay Brown (center) is quickly moving up the career digs charts at Louisiana. She enters this weekend needing only 20 to join the program's all-time career Top 5 and 33 to become only the fifth player to reach 1,200 in a career.

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball libero Lindsay Brown is quickly becoming one of the top defensive players in program history.
The Yorba Linda, Calif., native came to Louisiana as an outside hitter and then switched to libero as a sophomore in the 2008 season.

What she's done has been nothing short of impressive as she has tallied at least 300 digs each season in her career and is currently putting the finishing touches on her second consecutive season with 400-plus digs.

Earlier this season, she became only the second player in the rally scoring era (Erika Castro the other) to surpass 1,000 career digs.

Now she's only 20 digs shy of cracking the all-time program career Top 5.

Brown enters this weekend's matches against Florida Atlantic and FIU with 1,167 career digs. With 21 more, she will pass Priscilla Lima (1,187) into fifth place and put herself on the doorstep of becoming only the fifth player in program history to reach 1,200 career digs.

Brown's track record has placed her on pace to finish with the most career digs in the rally scoring era (currently 1,589 by Erika Castro). This season, she has reached double figures in digs in 24 of the Cajuns' 27 matches and reached 20-plus seven times including her career-best 32 vs. North Texas.

Dating to last season, Brown has posted double figures in digs in 37 of her past 41 appearances on the court.

Career marks are not the only records that Brown is on the verge of reaching. She's preparing to etch her name into the single-season records also.

She has 445 digs this season which surpasses her previous best of 405 set last season.

The rally era best for digs in a season is 497 (Erika Castro in 2007), while the overall program single-season mark is 599 set by Jennifer Autry (1990).

Brown is on pace to finish with 543 which would mark only the fifth 500-plus digs season ever in program history and first since Gina Calegari posted 549 in 1997, and give her the rally scoring era single-season record.

UL Volleyball All-Time Career Digs Top 5
1. 2,043 Nia Kiggundu 1993-96
2. 1,589 Erika Castro 2004-07
3. 1,487 Gina Calegari 1995-98
4. 1,313 Annette Carney 1988-91
5. 1,187 Priscilla Lima 1999-02
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1,167 Lindsay Brown 2007-present

UL Volleyball All-Time Single-Season Digs Top 5
1. 599 Jennifer Autry 1990
2. 566 Nia Kiggundu 1995
3. 564 Nia Kiggundu 1996
4. 549 Gina Calegari 1997
5. 497 Erika Castro 2007
497 Alisa Smith 1985
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445 Lindsay Brown 2009

UL SI

[NewsCopy]

  Friday's match will be a "Think Pink" game in support of breast cancer research. For a small donation fans will be given pink ribbons to show their support in "digging for a cure" research; proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team wraps up a four-match homestand this weekend when they take on Florida Atlantic and FIU on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Friday's match with FAU (5-16, 3-9 Sun Belt) is scheduled for 7 p.m., at Earl K. Long Gym. The Cajuns (8-19, 2-10 Sun Belt) and FIU will serve it up at 1 p.m., Sunday afternoon.

Friday's match will be a "Think Pink" game in support of breast cancer research. For a small donation fans will be given pink ribbons to show their support in "digging for a cure" research; proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Pink t-shirts will be sold. Prior to the playing of the national anthem, a moment of silence will be held in memory of those who lost their battle against breast cancer.

Between the second and third sets, fans will have chance to win one of five pink shirts during the "Serving It Up" contest as well as a chance to win a Little Caesar's coupon. Prior to the start of the third set, names of family members from the UL and FAU volleyball teams impacted by breast cancer will be read.

The Cajuns' Lindsay Brown is only 20 digs shy of breaking into the program's all-time career Top 5 for digs. She has 445 this season and has recorded double digit digs 24 times.

Meanwhile, Kendra Hall will eclipse Erika Castro for most career sets played in the rally scoring era. Hall enters this weekend having played in 402 sets in her career. Hall has played in the second-most sets in the rally scoring era and joins Castro as the only players to reach 400-plus career sets.

In Sun Belt play, Ariel Krolikowski leads the squad with a 2.42 kills per set average while Bethany Fogler has picked up 55 blocks and averages 1.22 blocks per set. Krolikowski was the first Cajuns player to reach 100 kills in SBC play and is only 21 digs shy of reaching 300 for the season.

Dating back to Oct. 9 at South Alabama, Mandi Gavin has posted at least six kills in each match which included a stretch of seven straight matches with at least seven kills.

Amie Goodwin has 248 kills this season, leaving her just 52 shy of reaching 300 for the second time in her career (340 as a freshman in 2007).

The Ragin' Cajuns are 2-1 all-time against FAU and 7-6 all-time against FIU.

Florida Atlantic is led by Krystena Castro who hit .370 in three matches last week, raising her season average to .296. Christina Wallinger has had double-digit kills in five of her eight matches since being cleared to play, including a high of 21 last Tuesday vs. Florida Gulf Coast.

Joanne Marras Tate leads FAU in assists with 458. The top digger for the Owls is Cintia Nightingale with 219 over 69 sets.

FIU is coming off its sixth consecutive unbeaten weekend on Friday and Saturday as the Panthers knocked off UALR and Arkansas State. The FIU defense held the opposition to a combined attack percentage of .144 on the weekend and out-dug the competition 128-120. This is the best start in school history for the Panthers, who've won 14 straight matches.

FIU is led by Yarimar Rosa, who leads the SBC in average kills per set with 5.00. She has 200 kills on the season. Meanwhile, Natalia Valentin leads the league in assists per set at 12.12. She has 945 on the season.

FIU freshman Jovana Bjelica recorded a double-double in both matches on the weekend as she secured 13 kills and 19 digs in a five-set win over UALR.

The Golden Panthers will play matches at New Orleans (Friday) and Louisiana-Monroe (Saturday) before making the trip to Lafayette.

Following this weekend's matches, the Ragin' Cajuns will have only one home match remaining. That match will be held Friday, Nov. 13 against New Orleans.

UL SI