Volleyball Off to Best Start in 20 Years

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Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team picked up a pair of wins on Friday improving their record to 5-1 - the school's best start since 1990.

UL defeated Houston Baptist 3-2 (25-21, 9-25, 22-25, 40-38, 15-10) and Jackson State 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-23) in day one of the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational at Earl K. Long Gym.

The Ragin' Cajuns (5-1) rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win the final two sets against Houston Baptist (2-5). UL picked up their second sweep of the season with the shutout victory over Jackson State (2-3).

UL played their longest extra-point session since the rally era began in 2001. Louisiana stayed alive defeating HBU 40-38 in set four, forcing the decisive tie-breaker set.

Junior Lesley Mirarchi recorded a career day against Houston Baptist as she notched 25 kills in the Cajuns thrilling first match of the day. Mirarchi tallied 23 of her 25 points in the final three sets, including a season-best 10 in set four. The Plano, Texas native was just two points shy of tying the rally era record set by Kim Rodgers. Mirarchi also played strong defensively with five block assists and three digs.

Setter Mandi Gavin tied her season-high of 48 assists and had 13 defensive digs in the contest against the Huskies.

Freshman Taylor Meade notched her third career double-double with 11 kills and 17 digs. Kerrilyn Lazare also notched double-digit kills with 10, while sophomore Blair Claypoole had six block assists.

Kerrilyn Lazare led the Cajuns with 12 kills, two assists and a block assist in the win over the JSU Lady Tigers. Gavin managed 25 assists in the victory, while teammate Lindsay Brown collected a team-best 14 digs.

Mirarchi led the UL defense with four block assists, while collecting seven kills. Sophomore Blair Claypoole anchored six kills in the match.
"This team is a funny group," said Cajuns head coach Heather Mazeitis. "When you think they are done, they surprise you. Our big word of the season is tenacity. We showed that today in our match against Houston Baptist and Jackson State. I am really pleased because they are coming together as a group."

UL will look to capture the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational Championship tomorrow afternoon with a 3:00 p.m. match against in-state foe Nicholls State at Earl K. Long Gym. Live stats and video will be available at RaginCajuns.com.

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Congratulations to volleyball for the good start. The young ladies who left did what they think is best for them and we wish them well. However the current squad has enough bodies to compete and so far the results are better than expected.