University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Balanced Attack Not Enough at Denver
11/8/2009 4:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Guided by the tandem of Emmy Davidsmeyer (14 kills) and Jordan Raines (12 kills), Denver (15-14, 10-5 Sun Belt) posted set victories of 25-15, 26-24 and 25-11.
The Ragin' Cajuns (8-22, 2-13 Sun Belt) were held to a .081 hitting percentage and only 28 kills. Bethany Fogler led the team with seven kills on 15 attempts.
The Pioneers posted 45 kills and a .288 hitting percentage. DU tallied double figures in kills each set and hit above .200 each time which included a .300-plus clip in the first and third sets.
Caroline Dufrene, Mandi Gavin and Ariel Krolikowski each threw down five kills to support Fogler.
Libero Lindsay Brown was held to single digits in digs for the second straight match, as she collected seven. Brown moved within 13 digs of tying Erika Castro's rally scoring era, single-season mark.
DU raced out to an 8-1 lead in the opening set and never looked back. The Pioneers hit .387 and held a 16-7 advantage in kills.
The second set was much closer, as evident by the 11 tied scores and four lead changes.
UL erased a 10-8 deficit with scores on four straight rallies. A kill by Krolikowski followed by an attack error on Raines evened the score. Fogler threw down a kill to give the Ragin' Cajuns an 11-10 lead. The lead was as large as three points, 16-13, following a kill by Lesley Mirarchi.
The Pioneers rattled off four straight points to pull in front 17-16. Gavin posted a kill on the 36th rally to tie the score at 18-all. A kill by Brianna Zimlich gave the hosts the lead again at 19-18.
Down 24-21, a kill by Krolikowski began a 3-0 run for the Cajuns which was finished off with back-to-back attack errors by Davidsmeyer. DU prevented the Cajuns from evening the set when Davidsmeyer threw down a kill on the next rally and Gavin committed a blocking error on the subsequent rally.
A total of 12 attack errors and a -.176 hitting percentage was the downfall for Louisiana in the third and final set. The Cajuns committed attack errors on six consecutive rallies to help DU increase its lead to 9-2 in the opening stages of the set.
A kill by Dufrene cut the Pioneers lead to 13-8, but the outcome was cemented by a 7-1 run which pushed the led to 20-9.
Louisiana travels to Denton, Texas, for a meeting with the North Texas Mean Green on Monday, Nov. 9. The match will begin at 7 p.m.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
