University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Edged by Jacksonville State in Rebel Classic Finale
9/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Friday, Sept. 17, 2004
OXFORD, Miss. – Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team put forth its second straight solid outing here Friday afternoon at the Ole Miss Rebel Classic, but it was the Jacksonville State Gamecocks who escaped with a 3-1 (25-30, 33-31, 30-25, 30-21) victory.
The Ragin' Cajuns (3-10) took the first game of the match behind a .371 hitting percentage and 18-11 advantage in kills. JSU (7-2) bounced back with wins in the next three games to remain unbeaten in tournament play.
Louisiana-Lafayette, coming off of a 3-2 win over Illinois-Chicago earlier in the day to snap a nine-match losing streak, fell victim to the little things in its final match of the tournament at the Gillom Sports Center.
JSU held a 55-54 edge in kills, both teams had 31 attack errors and the Gamecocks outblocked the Cajuns by a mere count of 13-11.
It was UL Lafayette's 14 reception errors and 11 service errors that wound up swinging the momentum over to the Gamecocks side. The difference between the two teams for the entire match was just 11 points.
Hope Webre turned in another solid performance for the Cajuns. Webre notched 14 kills and was tied with Elina Salomaki for the team lead. Webre ended the tournament with 33 kills (2.75 per game) and a .209 attack percentage.
Kim Rodgers put down 11 kills on 15 attempts and committed just one attack error for a match-best .667 hitting percentage. Rodgers put the finishing touches on a stellar performance during the tournament in which she threw down 25 kills on 52 attempts.
Stacy Liverett collected a match-high nine blocks for the Cajuns. As a team, Louisiana-Lafayette reached 11 blocks marking the second straight match, and eighth overall this season, with double-digit blocks.
JSU received 13 kills from Suzi Terrell and a double-double (12 kills, 15 digs) from Abbey Breit.
Each team placed three players in double-digit digs with JSU's Abbey Vierling taking match honors with 19.
Louisiana-Lafayette led from start to finish in the opener.
The Cajuns enjoyed as much as a five point lead before the Gamecocks trimmed the deficit to 20-19. A kill by Kim Rodgers averted JSU's attempt to tie the game and a service ace from Courtney Zimmer and block by Katelynn Stiefel and Rodgers pushed the lead to four points, 23-19.
UL Lafayette was the unlucky loser of the tightly contested second game. The lead changed hands seven times and the score was tied 10 times.
Louisiana-Lafayette stayed alive when an attack error by Terrell knotted the score at 29-29. Following a Gamecock point, the Cajuns staved off game point again with a kill by Salomaki that tied the game 30-30.
The Cajuns took the lead 31-30 off of a bad set by JSU's Annie O'Connor. However, a ball handling error on Stiefel tied the game once more and the Gamecocks took the next two points on a Terrell ace and Breit kill to win 33-31 and even the match 1-1.
JSU squeaked out a 30-25 win in the third game despite the Cajuns holding a 14-13 edge in kills. Three service errors and two reception errors by the Cajuns turned out to be the difference.
In game four, the Gamecocks broke a 10-10 tie with an 8-0 run and led by as many as 11 points late in the game.
UL Lafayette rallied within seven points, 28-21, but a service error by Stiefel and attack error by Jessica Pattison off of a JSU block gave the game and match to the Gamecocks.
The Cajuns finished 1-2 at the Ole Miss Rebel Classic and are now 1-5 on the squad's current 10-match road trip.
Louisiana-Lafayette, finished with in-season tournament play, will now turn its attention to its Sun Belt Conference opener Friday, Sept. 24 at North Texas. The match is set for 7 p.m. at NT's Snake Pit in Denton, Texas.
MATCH SUMMARY
Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Jacksonville
State
Site: Oxford, Miss. (Gillom Sports Center)
Date: Friday, Sept. 17, 2004
Att: 71 Time: 1:49
Jacksonville State 3,
Louisiana-Lafayette 1
1
2 3 4
UL Lafayette (3-10)
30 31 25 21
Jacksonville St. (7-2)
30 33 30 30
Louisiana-Lafayette (3-10) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Webre 14-0-1; Salomaki 14-0-3; Rodgers 11-1-2; Pattison 8-0-4; Liverett 6-0-9; Stiefel 1-1-2; Zimmer 0-2-0; Castro 0-3-0; Totals 54-7-11.0. (Assists) - Stiefel 42. (Dig leaders) - Castro 15; Zimmer 11; Stiefel 11; Girouard 9.
Jacksonville State (7-2) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Terrell 13-3-1; Breit 12-3-6; Weyer 9-1-8; Starck 9-3-0; Moyers 7-0-4; Halbach 3-2-2; Nichols 2-0-0; Withers 0-1-0; O'Connor 0-1-0; Totals 55-14-13.0. (Assists) - Withers 23; O'Connor 22. (Dig leaders) - Vierling 19; Breit 15; Starck 10; O'Connor 9.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
