University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Top UL Monroe 3-1 In Season Opener
8/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Friday, Aug. 29, 2003
LAFAYETTE – Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball posted its fifth straight season-opening victory here Friday evening by taking a hard-earned 3-1 (30-28, 30-19, 28-30, 30-22) victory over in-state rival Louisiana-Monroe in the opening round of the Our Lady of Lourdes SportsCare Volleybal Classic at Earl K. Long Gym.
Sophomore outsider hitter Lesley Tough and true freshman Hope Webre each tallied 13 kills to lead the Cajuns' offensive attack.
As a team, UL Lafayette (1-0) outkilled the Indians 57-48 and had a .149 attack percentage compared to ULM's .094.
Tough posted the Cajuns lone double-double of the match, tallying 12 digs to register her ninth career double-double.
Junior Hollie Girouard had a stellar effort defensively for the Ragin' Cajuns – tallying a team-high 22 digs in her first match since the 2000 season after sitting out the past two seasons.
True freshman Kim Rodgers reached the double-digit mark in kills in her UL Lafayette debut, recording a total of 12 to give the Cajuns three players in the double-figure column for kills.
UL Monroe (0-1) was paced offensively by Lindsey Ehlert who garnered 17 kills. Megan Gloor tacked on 13 kills to give ULM two players with double-digit kills.
Gloor also had 14 digs to give the Indians their lone double-double. Laura Uyeda led all Indians with 22 digs.
The win was the Cajuns 29th in the last 33 matches at Long Gym since the 1999 season. Friday's match marked the first time that a Cajuns team opened the season at home since 1990.
The Cajuns return to action Saturday at 10 a.m., as they take on Alcorn State (0-1). UL Monroe will face Louisiana Tech at Noon and Alcorn State at 4:30 p.m., while UL Lafayette wraps up tournament action at 7 p.m. against La. Tech (1-0).
In game one of the match, the Cajuns took a 2-1 lead on an attack error Ehlert and never trailed the rest of the game. The Indians would trim the lead to 26-25 by reeling off five straight points behind the serve of Darci Mika.
After a Girouard attack error cut the UL Lafayette lead to 29-28, Tami Harvey sealed the win for the Cajuns with a kill on the next serve.
In game two, the Cajuns rallied from a 16-12 deficit and outscored the Indians 13-2 after tying the game 17-17.
Behind the serve of Lesley Tough, UL Lafayette erased a 17-16 deficit and turned it into a 24-17 lead.
Louisiana-Monroe used a rally of its own in the third game to force a fourth one.
Trailing 27-21, after blowing a 13-9 lead earlier in the game, the Indians staged an 8-0 run to take a 29-27 lead. Gloor served six straight points at one point to put the Indians on top.
After a service error by Gloor ended ULM's run, Ashley Williams recorded a kill to give UL Monroe the 30-28 win.
Louisiana-Lafayette led through much of the fourth game and broke open a 12-11 game with an 8-1 run. UL Monroe would pull within four points at 23-19 before a 7-3 Cajuns run ended the match.
-Lourdes SportsCare Classic-
