University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Rosa, FIU Too Much For Cajuns
11/2/2008 5:00:00 AM | Volleyball
LAFAYETTE ? Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns volleyball ended a weekend in Florida with a 3-1 loss to Florida International on Sunday afternoon, by scores of 25-21, 11-25, 19-25 and 15-25.
The Cajuns dropped to 6-18 overall and 3-11 in the Sun Belt with the loss. After opening the match with a 25-21 win in the first set, UL had trouble keeping the pressure up on the Golden Panthers, who own an SBC-best 13-1 conference record to go with a 23-4 overall record.
“I think we kind of shell-shocked (Florida International) at first, and then they started to play a little bit,” head coach Heather Mazeitis said. “But I think that's probably the best we've played in about two weeks.”
Despite the recent troubles, Mazeitis says that there's still a lot of volleyball to play.
“We've got four big matches left and I think we're going to do very well against those teams, and hopefully make the conference tournament if that door is still open to us.”
Amie Goodwin headlined the offensive efforts of UL, striking for 12 kills in 32 attempts with four errors, for a team-leading .250 hitting percentage.
Lesley Mirarchi earned second-billing on the offense with nine kills in 30 attempts and also assisted on two blocks.
The defense was once again led by Lindsay Brown, who picked up 15 digs, though her usual spot at the top of the service ace list was stolen by Kendra Hall, as she found the floor on four serves.
That defensive effort proved effective, as the Ragin' Cajuns held the Sun Belt Conference's Preseason Player of the Year and current SBC leader in kills Yarimar Rosa to 14 kills or 3.5 per set, whereas she had been averaging 5.3 per set.
Louisiana takes the week off before returning to action in Earl K. Long Gym for the first time in two weeks. They host Denver on Friday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m., and North Texas on Sunday, Nov. 9, at 2 p.m.
-www.ragincajuns.com-
