University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Victorious In Home Opener
10/11/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Friday, Oct. 11, 2002
LAFAYETTE – Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team kicked off their home season in style here Friday night at Earl K. Long Gym with a 3-0 (30-22, 30-18, 30-22) win over Sun Belt West Division rival South Alabama.
The win snapped a five-match losing streak for the Cajuns (7-11, 1-3 Sun Belt) overall and extended their winning streak against USA to 12 games dating back to 1995. The win also moved the Cajuns into the win column in Sun Belt Conference action.
Senior middle blocker Priscilla Lima led all Cajuns with 17 kills on 33 attacks while fellow senior Clarice Laires had a team-best .619 attack percentage (14 kills, 1 error, 21 attacks).
UL Lafayette's team attack percentage never dipped below .300 in a game and the Cajuns outhit the Jaguars .311 to .153 for the entire match. The Cajuns had 10 service aces, led by Stacey Cole's four, two of which came down the stretch in the deciding third game of the match
Selena Chidester's eight kills led USA (5-9, 0-4). The Jaguars dropped their fourth straight overall.
UL Lafayette jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in game one off the serve of Lesley Tough. USA would fight back to even things at 9-9 before UL Lafayette went on an 11-5 run to take a 20-14 lead. The Cajuns never looked back in taking game one 30-22.
In game two, both teams went back-and-forth until the Cajuns took a 5-4 lead on a Cole kill from an Angela Gattis block error. UL Lafayette went on a 4-1 run to take a 9-5 lead. The Jaguars cut the deficit to 12-10 on a Lima attack error.
The Cajuns would use a 13-2 run to push the advantage to 25-13. The closest the Jaguars would get was nine points at 27-18. After a Chidester attack error gave UL Lafayette a 28-18 lead, back-to-back kills from Tough and Lima clinched the second game for the Cajuns.
The third game was nip-and-tuck with points going both ways. The largest advantage the Cajuns could muster was five points at 10-5. After USA pulled within two at 17-15, the Cajuns used a 9-4 run to pull ahead 26-19. Cole's key service aces would push the lead to 28-19. Lima ended the match with a kill five serves later.
UL Lafayette will return to action Sunday with a 1 p.m. match against I-10 rival New Orleans.
MATCH SUMMARY
South Alabama at Louisiana-Lafayette
Site: Lafayette, La. (Earl K. Long Gym) Date: Friday, Oct. 11,
2002
UL Lafayette 3, South Alabama 0
1 2 3
South Alabama (5-9, 0-4 SBC) 22 18 22
UL Lafayette (7-11, 1-3 SBC) 30 30 30
USA: Kills 35 (Chidester 8, Courchesne 7, Miller 6); Digs 47 (Grondin
10, Miller 9, Stejskal 7); Assists 34 (Grondin 15, Landa 13).
UL Lafayette: Kills 60 (Lima 17, Laires 14, Tough 10); Digs 54 (Cole 13,
Henson 12, Laires, Lima 8); Assists 56 (Henson 50).
A: 221 T: 1:24
-Ragin' Cajuns-
