Cajuns Set to Conclude Regular Season, Honor Gardner

LAFAYETTE – Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball concludes the 2016 regular season with a pair of Sun Belt Conference matches at Earl K. Long Gym this weekend.

The Ragin' Cajuns (10-19, 6-8 Sun Belt) face UT Arlington (14-15, 8-6 Sun Belt) on Friday and finish the weekend against Texas State (18-11, 11-3 Sun Belt) on Saturday. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Louisiana is celebrating Senior Weekend and will honor its lone senior, Chanelle Gardner. A post-match ceremony will be held on Saturday to celebrate Gardner's accomplishments.

The Ragin' Cajuns enter the weekend coming off a five-set win at ULM on Tuesday, which kept the squad's Sun Belt Tournament hopes alive. Stacey Reilly recorded a team-high 15 kills while Gardner and Chloe Cordell added 13 kills as Louisiana collected the triumph.

Louisiana faces UT Arlington and Texas State for the second time. The Ragin' Cajuns made the Texas swing two weeks ago and came away 0-2. The Bobcats rallied to claim a hard-fought, five-set match in San Marcos on Oct. 28 and the Mavericks took advantage of a tired Ragin' Cajuns squad to claim a sweep in Arlington on Oct. 29.

Gardner, the program's rally scoring era career kills leader, enters her final weekend at Earl K. Long Gym needing 17 kills to reach 1,000 in her career. She would become the first Ragin' Cajun to reach 1,000 in the rally era.

Reilly enters the weekend riding a string of six consecutive matches with double digit kills. The Ragin' Cajuns leader on offense, averaging 3.28 kills per set, Reilly has produced double digits in 23 of 29 matches.

With 15 digs at ULM on Tuesday, Reilly registered her team-leading 17th double-double. She has recorded a 300-300 season in kills (374) and digs (326).

Nia Antoine has supplied nearly three kills per set and is hitting .285 the past four weeks. Cordell and Katherine Young have backed up Reilly at the outside hitter slots.

Setter Jessica Bartczyszyn, who has posted the first 1,000-assist season of her career, ranks third in the SBC in assists per set (9.42). Bartczyszyn has 1,083 total assists, placing her within 54 of the rally scoring era single-season Top 5 list.

Libero Sydney Davis has scooped 471 digs (4.10/set) and also aims for a Ragin' Cajuns rally scoring era milestone. If she can reach 500 by the completion of Saturday's match, she would join Lindsay Brown and Caitlyn Auxilien as players to reach the mark under the rally format.

UT Arlington has won three of its last four matches, including a five-set win over Little Rock in its last match on Sunday. The Mavericks has had a strong season from Qiana Canete, who leads the club with 2.93 kills per set, while adding 3.63 digs per set. Senior setter Cassidy Wheeler has led the team with 7.57 assists per set and freshman libero Taylor Murata owns a club-high 4.18 digs per set.

Texas State, which plays at ULM on Friday, enters the weekend on a two-match losing streak after dropping both matches of the Arkansas road swing last week. The Bobcats are led by the quartet of Kelsey Weynand (2.81 kills/set), Jaliyah Bolden (2.62 kills/set), Lauren Kirch (2.36 kills/set) and Megan Porter (2.29 kills/set) who each average above two kills per set.

The Ragin' Cajuns are playing for a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament set for Friday-Sunday, Nov. 18-20 in Arlington at the College Park Center. With the Top 4 teams from each division qualifying, Louisiana needs a pair of wins to remain in the picture.

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Players Mentioned

Nia Antoine

Jessica Bartczyszyn

Chloe Cordell

Sydney Davis

Chanelle Gardner

Stacey Reilly

Katherine Young