University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Volleyball Concludes Homestand Friday
10/25/2007 5:00:00 AM | Volleyball
LAFAYETTE - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team will conclude its six-match homestand Friday night when it welcomes the New Orleans Privateers to the Earl K. Long Gym. Match time is set for 7 p.m.
UL fans can follow the action online with Live Stats on RaginCajuns.com. In addition, fans can watch LIVE streaming video of the game exclusively on Ragin' Station, the Official Broadband Video Channel of the Ragin' Cajuns.
Louisiana (3-24, 2-10 Sun Belt) has lost its last four home matches since opening its homestand with a 3-0 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 8. Earlier this season, New Orleans (12-12, 6-5 Sun Belt) defeated the Ragin' Cajuns 3-1 (27-30, 21-30, 30-28, 26-30) at the Human Performance Center in New Orleans on Oct. 2.
Last weekend, the Cajuns dropped a pair of matches to the Sun Belt Conference's first- and second-place teams. UL challenged the first-place Western Kentucky Lady Toppers in all three games before falling 3-0 on Friday, Oct. 20. The following night, second-place Middle Tennessee held off the Cajuns 3-0.
Louisiana, which has played the last four matches without the services of freshman points leader Amie Goodwin (Tucson, Ariz.), has benefited from the recent solid play of junior outside hitter Elizabeth Inman (Fort Worth, Texas) and freshman middle blocker Caroline Dufrene (Lake Charles, La.). In the Cajuns' last match, Inman took over the team kills lead, surpassing Goodwin. Inman has 302 kills in 26 matches, averaging 3.25 kills per game. Dufrene is currently third on the team with 131 kills and 1.66 kills per game. The freshman is also second on the team with 64 total blocks.
During the Cajuns' current homestand, Dufrene has tallied a team-best 52 kills and 16 total blocks, while leading the team in total points (61.0) during that stretch.
Senior libero Erika Castro (San Antonio, Texas), who leads the team with 388 digs at a 4.56 dig-per-game pace, needs eight digs to move into second place on the school's all-time list. Castro, who currently has 1,480 career defensive stops, trails Gina Calegari (1,487) by seven digs.
In this season's earlier meeting, UNO's Lindsey Boler led all players with a match-high 18 kills, while Dobrilla Kovacevic and Lindsey Loyd added 14 and 12 kills, respectively. Kaley Hubbard was the fourth Privateer in double figures, tallying 10 kills. Boler leads UNO with 305 kills through 24 matches, while averaging 3.55 kills per game. Loyd and Kovacevic are second and third on the team with 287 and 214 kills, respectively. Defensively, Nicky Valenti paces the Privateers with 399 digs, averaging 4.43 digs per game.
UNO has lost two of its last three matches. Saturday, the Privateers shocked Western Kentucky 3-2, dropping the previously undefeated Lady Toppers into a first-place tie with Middle Tennessee in the East Division. Since defeating the Cajuns on Oct. 2, UNO has since won four of its last six matches.
New Orleans holds a 43-31 all-time series advantage and has won the last five meetings. UL's last victory in the series came on Oct. 30, 2003, at Earl K. Long Gym.
Following Friday's home tilt with the UNO Privateers, Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns will head north to Monroe, La., to face the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks Sunday at 5 p.m.
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