Cajuns Sweep Owls With Strong Effort on Offense

Box Score

The Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team used its offense to overpower Florida Atlantic and offset unforced errors which allowed the Owls to stay within striking distance Friday evening at Earl K. Long Gym.

Louisiana (12-17, 4-9 Sun Belt) went on to post a 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-20) sweep of FAU (3-23, 0-13 Sun Belt) on the strength of a 53-22 advantage in kills and a .209 to 069 edge in hitting percentage.

Lesley Mirarchi and Tonice White combined for 31 (58 percent) of the Cajuns' 53 kills. Mirarchi, coming off tying her season-high in kills at UALR last Sunday, established a new season-high with 18 kills at a .429 clip. White needed only 22 attempts to throw down 13 kills.

Mirarchi reached double figures in kills for the ninth time in 13 Sun Belt Conference matches. Dating back to last Friday, the senior from Plano, Texas, has posted 46 kills over the last 12 sets (3.83 kills per set).

Mirarchi inched closer to surpassing Elizabeth Inman (2005-08) for the career kills mark in the rally scoring era. She currently has 923 kills which trails Inman's standard of 927 by four heading into Sunday's match with FIU.

White finished with a hitting percentage above .400 for the second straight match and ninth time this season.

The Cajuns needed the offensive punch against the Owls as 26 attack errors and nine service errors kept the score close each set of the match. UL's largest lead of the night was five points.

The win also keeps Louisiana in the hunt for a berth in the upcoming Sun Belt Tournament (Nov. 17-19 in Miami). The Cajuns are assured of being no worse than 1-1/2 games behind North Texas with three matches remaining. Pending the outcome of other league matches on Friday night, the squad might be only one game behind UALR and Troy for the final spot.

FAU was led by Thacilli Pereira's eight kills and 11 digs from libero Cintia Nightingale. The Owls never got their offense on track, averaging just 7.3 kills per set and never reaching double figures in a set.

UL fell behind 16-14 in the opening set following a service error, attack error and bad set. The Cajuns then turned up the heat on offense registering eight kills during an 11-4 set-ending run that led to a 25-20 victory.

Leading 21-19, back-to-back kills from Blair Claypoole and Mirarchi and a block thrown up by Mirarchi and White stretched the lead to five points. After the Owls picked up a kill by Darija Sataric, Mirarchi finished off the set with her sixth kill of the opening frame.

The Owls jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set as the Cajuns committed an error on four consecutive rallies. Four kills and a service ace by Mayme Cook helped UL pull into a 6-all tie.

There would be seven more ties before the Cajuns claimed the lead for good at 20-19 on a Mirarchi kill. FAU closed within one point, 24-23, on a Pereira kill. A block by White and Lavinia Tataran secured set point that put UL up 2-0 in the match.

The Owls built a 4-1 lead in the third set aided by Cajuns errors and held that advantage until the hosts used a 5-0 run to erase a 10-8 deficit.

Louisiana later broke a 17-all tie with a Tataran kill. Then during a 7-3 run that completed the sweep Mirarchi and White combined for four kills to finish off the Owls.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Cajuns Sweep Owls With Strong Effort on Offense

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Team Stats

Lesley Mirarchi

Tonice White

Lavinia Tataran

Blair Claypoole

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