Volleyball Set to Open Play in Evenly Matched SBC Tournament

Contact: Matt Hebert

Weekly UL Volleyball Update (PDF) | Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot Media Luncheon Video

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team is set to make the program's ninth appearance in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, and the second in the past three seasons, here on Thursday when they take on Troy at 12 p.m. inside E.A. Diddle Arena on the Western Kentucky University campus.

All quarterfinal and semifinal matches will all be aired for FREE on SunBeltSports.org. Live stats will also be available on SunBeltSports.org for all matches.

Thursday's match marks the first for Louisiana (16-15) against Sun Belt competition in nearly two weeks. The Cajuns finished league play on Nov. 4 and due to an unbalanced number of teams in the league this season had a “bye' during the final weekend of competition.

Louisiana enters the Sun Belt Tournament coming off a straight sets sweep of UNO in the regular season finale last Wednesday. The Cajuns used a 43-19 advantage in kills and limited the Privateers to a .021 hitting percentage to bring an end to a three-match losing streak. The Ragin' Cajuns had a balanced attack – as was the norm all season long – with three hitters posting eight or more kills led by Lavinia Tataran's team-best 11 kills and .259 hitting percentage.

The Ragin' Cajuns seek their first SBC Tournament win since the 2001 event in Denver. That year Chris Campbell's squad downed UALR 3-1 (30-23, 26-30, 30-27, 30-17) on Nov. 15, 2001 in the quarterfinal round.

Louisiana is 4-9 all-time in the SBC Tournament with previous appearances in 1991, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2010.

Head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot is the first coach to lead the Ragin' Cajuns to multiple Sun Belt Tournaments since Chris Campbell made three straight appearances from 1999-2001. In 2010, then her third season at the helm, she led UL to the event held in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

The Cajuns claimed this season's lone meeting with Troy back on Saturday, Oct. 20 by a 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 26-24) count. Louisiana took a 9:30 a.m., match at Satrtain Hall in Troy, Ala., that day behind 2012 All-Sun Belt Conference selection Mandi Gavin who passed out 53 assists and 12 total digs for her then-seventh double-double and fellow senior Blair Claypoole who landed a team-best 13 kills.

The victory over Troy that day enabled the Cajuns to match their season-best win streak and four and halted the Trojans streak of four straight wins. Louisiana used a powerful offensive attack (16.25 kills per set) and strong defensive presence (12 blocks and 19.5 digs per set).

The Cajuns offense features five attackers with 200-plus kills led by Lavinia Tataran's 308. Joining Tataran above 200 kills is Blair Claypoole (273), Kelly Wiesmann (236), Andrea Hole (224) and Tonice White (224).

The Ragin' Cajuns sported the fourth-most efficient offense amongst SBC members this season, averaging 12.95 kills per set. Troy was right behind the Cajuns, coming in fifth with an average of 12.77 kills per set.

Gavin's career assists total stands at 3,287 which is the third-highest total in program history. Gavin has accrued 1,103 assists this season which is 61 shy of her personal single-season best 1,164 set in 2010.

Libero Caitlyn Auxilien has posted double figures in digs 26 times in 31 matches in 2012 and with 469 digs enters the SBC Tournament on the verge of becoming only the fifth player in school history to amass 500 digs in a single season.

Claypoole has been the Cajuns' most consistent hitter all season long, , sporting a season hitting percentage of .270, hitting above .250 in a match 21 times in 30 appearances. She finished the conference slate reaching double digits in kills in seven of the last eight matches.

Louisiana leads the Sun Belt in service aces (159). UL has a quintet of players with 20-plus aces – Andrea Hole (32), Taylor Meade (32), Mandi Gavin (31), Lavinia Tataran (28) and Caitlyn Auxilien (21).

Defense could play a key factor in the matchup. Both the Trojans and Ragin' Cajuns are near the top of the league in opponents' hitting percentage, ranking third and fourth respectively. Opponents hit a meager .168 against Troy and .181 off of Louisiana.

Against Sun Belt foes, the Trojans had two players average over 3.00 kills per set. Blair Winston (3.58) and Kayla Pickart (3.28) sit in fifth and eighth in the conference in kills per set as Troy was the only team with two players averaging over 3.00 kills per set in league matches.

Junior setter Alexandra Alexander led the conference with 11.20 assists per set in conference play. She topped the 40-assist mark eight times in 15 matches and the 50-assist mark three times.

Junior libero Courtney Cohen broke her own single-season school record in Troy's win over Florida Atlantic as she moved her dig total in 2012 to 527 digs, breaking her mark of 525 from last season. Cohen leads the Sun Belt with a 4.62 digs per set average.

The 2012 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship is slated for Nov. 15-17, at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky. The semifinals will be held Friday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. with the championship match starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17. The championship match will available nationally on ESPN3.

The winner of the tournament earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. All matches will be streamed for free on www.sunbeltsports.org.

SET POINTS: The Ragin' Cajuns posted 11 straight sets sweeps in 2012…Only twice was the squad swept in Sun Belt play…Keep an eye on the first set, as Louisiana sported a sparkling 23-8 record in opening sets in 2012…UL enters the SBC Tournament having won the first set in 10 of the last 12 outings…The Cajuns' 47 wins dating back to 2010 mark the best three-year stretch of victories since 48 wins were recorded from 1997-99…One more victory assures the Cajuns of a winning season for the second time in the past three years (went 17-16 in 2010)...Blair Claypoole ranks second on the Cajuns in kills (265, 2.37 per set) having posted double digits in 12 matches and is the leading blocker with 90 blocks (18 solo)…Lavinia Tataran's team-best 308 kills place her with Lesley Mirarchi (364 in 2010 and 302 in 2011) as the most recent Cajuns to post 300-plus kills…Over the final three weekends of Sun Belt play, Caitlyn Auxilien averaged 4.04 digs per set…Auxilien Ranked Top 5 on the Cajuns squad in service aces with 20 and her season serve percentage was 96.5 percent (only 16 errors in 463 service attempts)…Mandi Gavin has dished out 30-plus assists 20 times in 30 matches and ranks Top 10 in Sun Belt in service aces and assists…Gavin was awarded All-Sun Belt second team honors during the pre-tournament banquet held at the Harbaugh Club inside L.T. Smith Stadium on the Western Kentucky University campus.

2012 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship Schedule of Events
Thursday, November 15
MATCH 1 – 12:00 p.m. CT – No. 7 Louisiana vs. No. 2 Troy
MATCH 2 – 2:30 p.m. CT – No. 6 Middle Tennessee vs. No. 3 North Texas
MATCH 3 – 5:00 p.m. CT – No. 8 FIU at No. 1 WKU
MATCH 4 – 7:30 p.m. CT – No. 5 Arkansas State vs. No. 4 UALR

Friday, November 16
MATCH 5 – 4:00 p.m. CT - Match 1 Winner vs. Match 2 Winner
MATCH 6 – 6:30 p.m. CT - Match 3 Winner vs. Match 4 Winner

Championship Saturday, November 17
MATCH 7 – 1:00 p.m. CT - Match 5 Winner vs. Match 6 Winner

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Volleyball Set to Open Play in Evenly Matched SBC Tournament

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