University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Dominance of South Alabama Continues
11/3/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sunday, Nov. 3, 2002
MOBILE, Ala. – The Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns volleyball squad finished off a strong weekend here Sunday at Jaguar Gym with a 3-1 (19-30, 30-19, 30-27, 30-22) win over Sun Belt Conference West Division rival South Alabama, spoiling the Jaguars Senior Day festivities.
The Cajuns (12-12, 6-4 Sun Belt) evened their overall season record with the win and won their third straight road match and sixth in their last seven matches overall. Louisiana-Lafayette extended its winning streak over the Jags to 13 straight and swept the season series from their counterparts.
With the win, the Cajuns moved into a fifth place tie with Middle Tennessee in the race for SBC Tournament seeding. The Cajuns trail fourth place Arkansas-Little Rock (11-11, 7-4 SBC) by one-half game in the standings. UL Lafayette also kept alive its slim chances at a Sun Belt West Division championship.
Louisiana-Lafayette had four players tally double-digit kills with senior middle blocker Priscilla Lima leading the way with 24. Stacey Cole and Clarice Laires each recorded 15 kills while Lesley Tough rounded out the quartet with 11 kills.
Laires had another stellar performance on the court, attacking at a .500 clip. She had 15 kills and made only two errors on 26 total attempts. She finished the weekend with 30 kills on 45 total attacks with only four errors for an attack percentage of .578. She had her second double-double of the weekend Sunday, giving her six for the season.
The Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, native reached yet another career milestone when she tallied her 10th dig of the match. With that dig, Laires picked up the 1,000th dig of her career. She now has 1,000-plus kills and digs in her four-year stay at UL Lafayette.
Freshman Lesley Tough had her third straight double-double, tallying 10 digs to go along with her 11 kills.
As a team, the Cajuns attacked above .300 for the second straight match and posted 70-plus kills for the second straight match also. UL Lafayette had a .314 attack percentage and 70 kills while committing only 17 errors on 169 total attacks.
Louisiana-Lafayette fell behind early in the match eventually dropping game one 30-19. USA jumped out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back in taking just their fifth game over the Cajuns since 1995.
In game two the Cajuns began to turn the tide. After falling behind 8-5 in the early stages of the game, the Cajuns would string together eight straight points to gain a 13-8 lead. After USA trimmed the lead to 14-11, the Cajuns finished off the game with a 16-8 run to even the match at 1-1.
UL Lafayette withstood Jaguar rallies in the third and fourth games to seal the victory. In the third game of the match, USA closed to within 28-27 after the Cajuns held a firm 27-19 lead. USA ran out of fuel and the Ragin' Cajuns ended the threat with two straight points. In game four, Louisiana-Lafayette broke open an 11-11 tie with a 10-0 run to key their win.
USA (5-17, 0-12 SBC) remained winless in league play with the loss. Holly Miller claimed a milestone of her own as she became the fifth player at USA to reach the 1,000 kill mark. Miller led the Jags with 17 kills.
Louisiana-Lafayette will close out the 2002 regular season with four consecutive home matches beginning Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. against SBC West Division leader New Mexico State (20-5, 10-1 SBC). The Cajuns will look to avenge a 3-0 loss to NMSU in Las Cruces, N.M. earlier this season.
MATCH SUMMARY
Louisiana-Lafayette at South Alabama
Site: Mobile, Ala. (Jaugar
Gym) Date: Sunday, Nov. 3, 2002
UL Lafayette 3, New Orleans 2
1 2 3 4
UL Lafayette (12-12, 6-4 SBC) 19 30 30 30
South Alabama (5-17, 0-12 SBC)
30 19 27 22
UL Lafayette: Kills 70 (Lima
24, Cole, Laires 15, Tough 11); Digs 56 (Laires 15, Tough 10, Henson 9); Assists
62 (Henson 59).
USA: Kills 47
(Miller 17, Chidester 12, Courchesne. McQuirter 5); Digs 58 (Grondin 15,
Chidester 11, Courchesne, Landa 8); Assists 39 (Grondin, Landa 16).
A: 145 T: 1:45
-Ragin' Cajuns-
