The Book 2002-03 UL Lady Cajuns Volleyball

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Louisiana's Lady Cajun Volleyballers left the friendly confines of Lafayette Louisiana, and took a 100 mile trip west to participate in a volleyball tournament at McNeese's LA Memorial Gymnasium.

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Louisianato opens season with back-to-back wins for the first time since 1995

LAKE CHARLES – Louisiana opened the 2002 volleyball season here Friday at the McNeese State Cowgirl Roundup Invitational with a pair of victories over Jackson State and Southern Mississippi.

The Cajuns (2-0) defeated JSU in game one behind the duo of sophomore Stacey Cole and senior Priscilla Lima, who together combined for 32 of Louisiana's 49 team kills in the 3-0 (30-21, 30-22, 30-9) win over the Tigers.

The win came in the first match for new Ragin' Cajuns head coach Becky Madden and kicked off the 2002-03 UL athletic season.

Cole had a team-best 18 kills while Lima chipped in with 14 kills of her own to pace the Cajuns offense. Senior and 2002 preseason All-Sun Belt pick Clarice Laires led the Cajuns defensively with a match-high nine digs while adding six kills.

Louisiana had three players with a hitting percentage over .400 and improved their hitting percentage as a team as each game of the match progressed. sophomore Stacy Liverett had a team-high .600 hitting perentage.

Lafayette native and junior Beth Henson, starting at setter for the first time since her freshman season, recorded 30 assists and four digs while adding three kills. Last season's starting setter Connie Byrnes, limited to action due to a minor shoulder injury, played one game and notched 14 assists.

For the match, Louisiana boasted a hitting percentage of .337 compared to JSU's .049. The Cajuns had 49 kills and 35 digs to the Tigers 21 kills and 27 digs. Madden was pleased with the team's overall play and the fact that she was able to work everyone into the match.

In the second match, Louisiana bounced back from a 2-0 deficit to claim a hard fought 3-2 (29-31, 20-30, 30-23, 30-25, 15-13) victory.

Cole led the Cajuns in kills for the second straight match, recording 16 to go along with 16 digs. Lima and freshman Lesley Tough each recorded 12 kills for the match and were helped offensively by Henson, who added 37 assists in the match to combine for 67 assists for the day.

Louisiana opens the season 2-0 for the first time since Sept. 1, 1995.

The Cajuns will conclude round robin play Saturday with matches against Prairie View at 1 p.m. and McNeese State at 5 p.m.

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Louisiana 3, Jackson State 0

                       1  2  3 

Jackson State (0-2)   21 22  9 

Louisiana (1-0)       30 30 30 



JSU: 

Kills 21 (White 6, Jones, Watkins 5, Richardson 3);

Digs 27 (Gant, Williams 7, Carline 4);

Assists 18 (Carline 10, Gant 6).



Louisiana: 

Kills 49 (Cole 18, Lima 14, Laires 6); 

Digs 35 (Laires 9, Lima 6, Cole 5); 

Assists 46 (Henson 30, Byrnes 14). 



T: 1:05.

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Louisiana 3, Southern Mississippi 2



                         1   2   3   4   5 

Louisiana (2-0)         29  20  30  30  15 

Southern Miss. (1-1)    31  30  23  25  13



Louisiana:

Kills 57 (Cole 16, Lima, Tough 12); 

Digs 96 (Lima 23, Cole, Laires 16); 

Assists 45 (Henson 37, Byrnes 6). 



Southern Miss:

Kills 53 (Bush 19, Files 14, Tribble 12); 

Digs 84 (Bush 19, Olsson 18, Tribble 17); 

Assists 43 (Zane 40).



T: 2:10.

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LAKE CHARLES – The 2002 season has begun on a high note for Louisiana's volleyball squad and new head coach Becky Madden.

For starters, the Ragin' Cajuns are 4-0 to start the season for the first time since 1993. More importantly the team seems to be playing well together and Louisiana ended the weekend with no injuries.

Louisiana (4-0) concluded play here this weekend at the McNeese State Cowgirl Roundup Invitational with yet another pair of victories to claim the tournament championship. The Cajuns downed Prairie View in straight sets (30-18, 30-12, 30-27) in the first match of the day and closed out the tournament with a 3-2 win over the host Cowgirls.

Louisiana took a team-effort approach to defeat PV. The Cajuns had four players register seven or more kills and defensively placed five with at least five digs. Lafayette native Beth Henson, back at her outside hitter slot, led the Cajuns with nine kills and 26 total attacks.

2001 starting setter and Australia native Connie Byrnes made her first start this young season at the setter position, tallying 32 assists to go along with six digs. Preseason All-Sun Belt pick Clarice Laires led UL Lafayette with 13 digs

Louisiana had 11 service aces and ended the match with a team hitting percentage of .121 compared to a -.022 clip for the Panthers (0-4).

In the nightcap, the Ragin' Cajuns outlasted McNeese State (2-2) for a hard-fought 3-2 (21-30, 30-22, 30-20, 22-30, 15-8) win over the Cowgirls. UL dropped the first game of the match only to bounce back and take the next two games. MSU forced the fifth-and-deciding game with their win in the fourth game. The Cajuns took the match with the 15-8 win in the fifth game.

"Coming into the weekend I think we really didn't know how we would play as a team because we came in not having had the chance to scrimmage," Madden said. "The win today against McNeese State and yesterday's win over Southern Mississippi, where we had to rally to win, showed this team what they are capable of as a collective unit.

"I was pleased with how the players responded with one another on the court," Madden added.

Three Cajuns had double-digit kills and Laires led the Cajuns defense with 19 digs as UL withstood 60 Cowgirl kills. MSU was plagued by 20 serve errors. A season-high 14 reception errors by the Cajuns combined with 11 serve errors kept the match close.

Louisiana will return to action next Friday at the Rice Invitational, as they continue their season-opening 18-match road trip with a 7 p.m. match against the host Owls.

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Louisiana 3, Prairie View 0

                       1  2   3 

Louisiana    (3-0)     30 30 30 

Prairie View (0-4)     18 12 27 



Louisiana:

Kills 40 (Henson 9, Cole 8, Laires, Lima 7); 

Digs 39 (Laires 13, Henson 8, Byrnes 6); 

Assists 34 (Byrnes 32).



Prairie View: 

Kills 18 (Reese 5, Davis, Jones 3); 

Digs 29 (Prevost, Reese 6, Stephenson 5); 

Assists 11 (Reese 8).



Time: 1:00.

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Louisiana 3, McNeese State 2

                          1   2   3   4   5 

Louisiana    (4-0)       21  30  30  22  15 

McNeese State (2-2)      30  22  20  30   8



Louisiana: 

Kills 48 (Cole 12, Lima, Laires 11); 

Digs 53 (Laires 19, Henson 11, Byrnes 8); 

Assists 33 (Byrnes 32). 



MSU: Kills 60 (Eppers 18, Brittain 15, Fleury 9); 

Digs 62 (Fleury 15, James 11, Brittain 9); 

Assists 47 (Chapman 24, Brittain 23).



Time: 1:50.

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Becky Madden Era off to a 4-0 start

The University of Louisiana's volleyball team starts the a season 4-0 for first time since 1993.

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Originally posted by NewsCopy
Becky Madden Era off to a 4-0 start

The University of Louisiana's volleyball team starts the a season 4-0 for first time since 1993.

Becky Madden is very impressive. Geaux Lady Cajuns

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ADVERTISER

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - UL Lafayette's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team continues its long road to its first home match this weekend at the McDonald's Texas A&M Verizon Invitational here at G. Rollie White Coliseum.

The Cajuns (4-3) will open tournament play against perennial power and Mountain West Conference member BYU (3-5) at 5 p.m. today. The Cougars began the 2002 season in the AVCA Division I Top 25 poll. They enter the match off a 3-0 (30-26, 31-29, 30-24) win over in-state rival Weber State.

Following today's match, UL will face the host Aggies at 1 p.m. and Sam Houston State at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Today's match will be the first-ever between the Cajuns and Cougars. Though they have no history on the court, they do have one thing in common. Both schools are led by coaches in their first season at the school.

Louisiana coach Becky Madden and her charges will be seeking to snap a skid that began last weekend at the Crowne Plaza/Rice Invitational. The Cajuns are currently riding a three-match losing streak and have lost nine consecutive sets.

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Advertiser-Staff Reports
Posted on September 30, 2002
DENTON, Texas - Maybe the road is finally beginning to wear on the UL Lafayette Ragin' Cajun volleyball team. Or maybe five just isn't the Cajuns' lucky number.

For the second straight match, on the opening weekend of Sun Belt Conference volleyball action, UL Lafayette (6-9, 0-2 SBC) dropped a five-game decision Sunday. This time it was host North Texas escaping with a 3-2 (30-22, 30-19, 20-30, 28-30, 15-9) win.

The Cajuns fell behind 2-0 early in the match, bringing back déjˆ vu of UL Lafayette's last trip to the Snake Pit when they fell behind 2-0 only to win 3-2. However, this time the Cajuns couldn't finish the comeback as they dropped the final game of the match to the Mean Green (7-11, 2-0 SBC) 15-9.

The loss not only spoiled a valiant comeback effort by coach Becky Madden's charges, it also overshadowed a career-high 23-kill performance by sophomore outside hitter Stacey Cole.
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Dan McDonald / Staff Writer
Posted on October 14, 2002
LAFAYETTE - Credit hard-earned experience, or credit the home court.

Or maybe, credit UL's volleyball team with finding the consistency that had been lacking in a season-opening 17-match road swing.

Whatever the reason, the Ragin' Cajuns apparently chose this weekend to post two of their best performances of the year, the most recent a dominating 30-19, 30-15, 30-18 win over Sun Belt Conference rival New Orleans Sunday at Earl K. Long Gym.

"We knew we were capable of playing like this," said coach Becky Madden. "We lost some close five-game matches on the road, and playing all those road games wears you down. These couple of wins shows what we're capable of."

The Cajuns certainly showed that, exploding from a 16-16 tie midway through the first game and scoring 19 of the match's next 22 points - a streak pretty much unheard of in rally scoring.

"We've played that well," Madden said of the Sunday win, "but only in spots. The last two matches, we've really cut down our errors and we've passed the ball well."

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[RaginRash]

Those volleyball chicks are HOT!

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LAFAYETTE - Louisiana's Lady Cajun volleyball team made a strong statement to the rest of the Sun Belt Conference here Friday night at Earl K. Long Gym.

The statement: the Cajuns are going to be a factor in the league's stretch run and will be a team to contend with at the conference tournament.

UL (13-12, 7-4) registered its biggest conference victory to date this season with a sound 3-0 (30-20, 30-26, 30-25) sweep of SBC West Division leader New Mexico State (20-6, 10-2).

The win was the fourth straight for the Cajuns and seventh in their last eight since a 0-3 start to the SBC slate. Louisiana remains undefeated at home this season and has now won 26 of its last 28 matches at Long Gym since the 1999 season.

Three Cajuns posted double-figure kills with Priscilla Lima leading the way with 14. Clarice Laires had 13 kills along with 14 digs while freshman Lesley Tough had 11 kills and 11 digs, giving the Cajuns two players with double-doubles.

Laires picked up her third straight double-double and attacked above .400 for the third consecutive match and raised her team-best season attack percentage to. 259. Tough notched her fourth straight double-double and her fifth straight match with double-digit kills.

UL out-killed NMSU 55-35, out-dug the Aggies 54-46, had a 49-34 assists advantage and had a team hitting percentage of .248 compared to just .123 for NMSU. The Aggies had entered the match as the SBC's top hitting team, attacking at a .256 clip.

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LAFAYETTE - New day, new opponent. Same venue, same result.

Louisiana's Lady Cajun volleyball team remained undefeated at home this season and ran their season-long winning streak to five matches with a 3-0 (30-16, 30-18, 30-24) pounding of an overmatched Denver Pioneer squad here Sunday afternoon at Earl K. Long Gym in front of 270 fans on Parent's Day.

The Ragin' Cajuns (14-12, 8-4 Sun Belt) extended their streak of straight set sweeps at Long Gym this season to five matches and have now won 15 consecutive games within the friendly confines. It was UL Lafayette's 27th win in the last 29 matches at Long Gym since the 1999 season.

The Cajuns have now won eight of their last nine matches since a 0-3 start to the SBC slate.

More importantly, Louisiana moves ahead of Arkansas-Little Rock for the No. 4 seed in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament to be held Nov. 21-23 in Miami. Depending on the outcome of the New Mexico State-North Texas match, the Cajuns could be only 1/2-game behind NT for the No. 3 seed.

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LAFAYETTE – Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team has hit the home stretch of the 2002 regular season. They've also arrived at the most critical part of the season.

Fortunately for them, they will have the advantage of playing at home.

The Ragin' Cajuns (14-12, 8-4 Sun Belt) enter the final weekend of Sun Belt Conference action only one-half game behind North Texas for the third seed in the upcoming SBC Tournament being held Nov. 21-23 in Miami.

Those two teams will meet on Sunday, Nov. 17 in the Cajuns home finale, possibly with the third seed on the line.

But in order to be in that position, the Cajuns must take care of business Friday night against Middle Tennessee (16-13, 7-6 Sun Belt) at 7 p.m. in Earl K. Long Gym. NT faces Western Kentucky at home in Denton, Texas on Friday.

The good news for UL is that WKU has yet to lose a match in SBC play this season and NT has lost its last three matches. Equally as important, the Cajuns have yet to lose at home this season in both games (15) and matches (5).

Either way you look at it, Friday's match with MT is a must-win for Louisiana if they hope to capture the third seed and avoid Western Kentucky until the SBC Tournament championship match.

If previous performance is any indication, UL is in great shape heading into this weekend's action.

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