University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Rally Past South Alabama to Snap Sun Belt Road Losing Streak
10/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Friday, Oct. 29, 2004
MOBILE, Ala. – Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit here Friday evening to post a 3-2 (25-30, 28-30, 30-28, 30-20, 15-13) victory over South Alabama at Jaguar Gym.
The win snapped the Cajuns' 13-match road losing streak in Sun Belt play and was the squad's first road win in Sun Belt play since defeating South Alabama 3-1 on Nov. 3, 2002.
The win also helped the Cajuns keep pace with North Texas and New Orleans for the eighth and final spot in the upcoming Sun Belt Tournament. Louisiana-Lafayette, improving to 3-7 in conference play, remained one game behind North Texas (4-6 Sun Belt) after the Mean Green bested UNO 3-1.
Elina Salomaki posted a career-high 25 kills to lead the Ragin' Cajuns efforts. Salomaki also had 13 digs as she posted her seventh double-double of the season.
Louisiana-Lafayette (7-18, 3-7 Sun Belt) notched team season-highs for kills (72) and assists (65) as the squad completed the season sweep of the Jaguars and defeated USA for the 16th time in the last 17 meetings.
Erika Castro tallied a career-best 22 digs and with 11 kills picked up her first career double-double. Four other Cajun players joined Castro in double-digit digs including Hollie Girouard who came up with 17 – her fourth straight match with double-digit digs and 10th in the last 11 outings.
Kim Rodgers picked up six blocks (two solo stuffs) as she surpassed the century mark for the season. Rodgers becomes the first player since Clarice Laires in 2001 to reach 100-plus blocks in a season.
Head coach Becky Madden collected her 99th career victory. Madden will make her first attempt at reaching 100 career wins when the Cajuns take on I-10 rival UNO Saturday at 5 p.m. in New Orleans.
Louisiana-Lafayette jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the decisive fifth game before USA (2-17, 1-10 Sun Belt) rallied to tie the game at 13-13. An attack error by Summer Pilgrim gave the Cajuns the lead 14-13 and Salomaki clinched the match on the very next serve when she put down her 25th kill of the match.
It wasn't the first time the Cajuns dodged a potential loss.
In the third game, with USA on top 2-0 in the match, the Cajuns rallied from a 28-25 deficit by claiming the final four points of the game. Four straight Jaguar attacking errors gave UL Lafayette a 29-28 and a Courtney Zimmer service ace clinched the game and swung the momentum in the Cajuns favor.
The recharged Cajuns took a 2-0 lead in game four and never trailed, posting a 30-20 victory to send the match into a fifth game.
Louisiana-Lafayette will finish its 2004 regular season road schedule when the squad visits in-state rival UNO for a 5 p.m. match Saturday, Oct. 30 in the UNO Human Performance Center (HPC) on UNO's main campus.
MATCH SUMMARY
Louisiana-Lafayette at South Alabama
Site: Mobile, Ala. (Jaguar Gym)
Date: Oct 29, 2004 Attend: 181 Time: 2:13
Louisiana-Lafayette 3, South
Alabama 2
1 2 3
4 5
UL Lafayette (7-18, 3-7 Sun Belt)
25 28 30 30 15
South Alabama (2-17, 1-10 Sun Belt) 30 30
28 20 13
Louisiana-Lafayette (7-18, 3-7,SBC) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Salomaki 25-2-0; Webre 13-0-5; Rodgers 11-2-6; Castro 11-2-2; Liverett 9-0-4; Harvey 3-0-1; Zimmer 0-3-0; Totals 72-9-11.0. (Assists) - Harvey 61. (Dig leaders) - Castro 22; Harvey 17; Girouard 17; Salomaki 13; Zimmer 10.
South Alabama (2-17, 1-10 SBC)) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Flarity 16-0-1; Sanders 14-1-3; Swilley 14-0-4; Pilgrim 14-0-5; VanAntwerp 6-2-0; Landa 2-0-2; Courchesne 0-1-0; Totals 66-4-9.0. (Assists) - Landa 52. (Dig leaders) - Courchesne 20; VanAntwerp 16; Flarity 14; Landa 13; Grondin 8.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
