University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
UL Hosts Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday
9/6/2010 7:32:00 PM | Volleyball
Louisiana volleyball hosts its first mid-week contest of the 2010 season on Tuesday, Sept. 7, taking on Southeastern Louisiana at 7 p.m. in Earl K. Long Gym.
UL (6-1) is off to the program's best start since 1990 and won their first regular season tournament title since 2002 after an unblemished 3-0 weekend to secure the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational championship.
Louisiana evaded a loss to Houston Baptist after facing match point on seven different occasions in set four of the contest. The Cajuns eventually snagged a 40-38 win in set four, the longest since the rally era began. UL won the match, 3-2, with a 15-10 victory in the fifth set.
UL picked up their second straight sets sweep of the season with a 3-0 win over Jackson State and claimed the tournament title 3-1 over in-state foe Nicholls State.
Lesley Mirarchi claimed tournament MVP honors with her outstanding performance of 48 kills and 14 total blocks on the weekend. Mirarchi tallied a career-best 25 kills in the team's thrilling, 3-2, win over Houston Baptist Friday afternoon. So far this season, Mirarchi has thrown down 86 kills (3.07 k/set) and posted 23 blocks (0.82 p/set).
Middle Blocker Kerrilyn Lazare continued her breakout season with 30 kills and seven blocks on the weekend, earning All-Tournament designation.
Taylor Meade, a freshman from Coppell, Texas, picked up All-Tournament recognition with 25 kills, including her fourth double-double of the year with 10 kills and 13 digs on Saturday against Nicholls State.
Defensive stalwart Lindsay Brown is just 83 digs away from moving into third place all-time for digs in the UL record books. Through 28 sets played this season, Brown has collected 147 digs (5.25 p/set) for a total of 1,405 career digs. She moved into fourth place at the SHSU Invitational (Aug. 27-28) and could potentially pass Gina Calegari's (1995-1998) mark of 1,487 next weekend.
Southeastern Louisiana is 5-3 on the season and comes to Earl K. Long gym with a two-match win streak. The Lady Lions picked up victories over Alabama A&M and Alabama State at the South Alabama Jaguar Classic in Mobile, Ala.
Senior Allison Jones leads SLU with 63 kills for an average of 2.25 kills per set.
Live stats and video of the match will be available online at RaginCajuns.com.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
