Ragin' Cajuns Set for Homecoming Weekend Matches

LAFAYETTE – Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball returns to Earl K. Long Gym for a pair of matches during UL Lafayette's Homecoming Weekend.

The Ragin' Cajuns (8-18, 4-7 Sun Belt) begin Homecoming Weekend by facing Troy (8-21, 2-10 Sun Belt) on Friday at 6:30 p.m., followed by South Alabama (14-11, 5-7 Sun Belt) on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. to conclude the weekend.

In between the two matches, an alumni match will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday prior to the Homecoming parade. Fans are invited to attend and watch the parade with the team.

Beginning this weekend, the Ragin' Cajuns play four of their final five regular season matches at Earl K. Long Gym. A midweek trip to ULM comes on Tuesday, then the squad returns to EKL for matches Nov. 11-12 with UT Arlington and Texas State to conclude the regular season.

The home-laden stretch comes at the right time, as the stretch run in the competition for a Sun Belt Tournament spot heats up. The Ragin' Cajuns are part of a group of four teams vying for the final three spots in the tournament. The group includes: South Alabama (5-7), Georgia State (5-7), Georgia Southern (4-7) and Louisiana (4-7).

The Ragin' Cajuns, who completed a four-match road trip last weekend, are back at Earl K. Long Gym for the first time since Oct. 16.

Louisiana is coming off of a pair of hard-fought matches on the Sun Belt's Texas swing. The Ragin' Cajuns pushed SBC West contender Texas State to five sets in San Marcos, then grabbed early leads in each set at UT Arlington before the Mavericks rallied.

Senior middle blocker Chanelle Gardner heads into the final stretch of her collegiate career. The St. Martinville product became the Ragin' Cajuns' rally scoring era career kills leader last weekend, pushing her career kills total to 960 which surpasses Lesley Mirarchi's 953 kills which had stood as the rally era standard since 2011.

Gardner, along with Mirarchi and Elizabeth Inman (927 kills), are the only three to surpass 900 kills under the rally scoring format. She has at minimum five matches remaining to attempt to become the first in the era to reach 1,000 kills.

Stacey Reilly, who has produced double digit kills in 20 of 26 matches, leads Louisiana's offense with 3.31 kills per set. She remains on pace to become the first individual to average above 3.00 kills per set since Amie Goodwin and Inman did so in 2007.

Nia Antoine has become an added dimension to the Ragin' Cajuns offense the past three weeks. During that time frame, she's landed double digit kills in four of the past five matches averaging a team-best 3.05 kills per set on a .285 hitting percentage.

Setter Jessica Bartczyszyn and libero Sydney Davis are both enjoying stellar seasons. Bartczyszyn enters the weekend only 27 assists shy of 1,000 and ranks Top 30 nationally in total assists with 973. Davis, who has generated a new personal-best digs total this season, has reached the 400-dig mark for the first time in her career (currently 424) and is on pace to surpass 500 digs.

Louisiana's offense, which averages right at 12 kills per set for the season, has been at its best at Earl K. Long Gym. The Ragin' Cajuns are producing 12.33 kills per set and hitting .232 on their home court. The team has hit above .200 in all but two of the 11 matches at EKL so far this season.

Troy, which snapped a 16-match losing streak with a win over South Alabama last Tuesday, is paced offensively by the duo of Sara Landis (2.38 kills per set) and Symone Shaw (2.07 kills/set). Reina Terry directs the offense at an average of 7.45 assists per set, while Alisha Hinrichs (3.29 digs per set) and Bethany Cullity (2.72 digs/set) lead the charge on the back row.

South Alabama went 1-2 last week with losses to Troy and Coastal Carolina and a win over Appalachian State. The Jaguars rank third in the SBC in hitting percentage (.232), and are fourth in assists per set (11.69) and kills per set (12.45). Mechell Daniel, who ranks 10th in the SBC in kills per set at 2.73, is the team's leading threat on offense.

Coach Mazeitis-Fontenot's Thoughts
"Going into this weekend, we have to take care of business…that's what it's all about. This team knows how to fight. Hopefully over these next five matches, four of them being at home, will get us to the conference tournament where I think anything is possible for our team because I feel every team is beatable.

We need to stay consistent in passing. We have an incredible offense and that comes from our serve receive. When that breaks down, we as a unit break down. That's what happened against Texas State – we broke down in that area and it became much more difficult to run our offense."

Series Notables
Troy: Series tied, 10-10…Louisiana has won three of the last four matchups at E.K. Long…Teams have alternated season sweeps the past two seasons, with Louisiana taking both meetings in 2014 and Troy coming out victorious twice in 2015…Series became a regular occurrence when Troy joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2005… The Trojans hold an 9-6 edge in regular season SBC matches.

South Alabama: Ragin' Cajuns hold a commanding 31-16 series lead…South Alabama has won six of the past seven meetings and holds an 8-4 series edge over the last 11 seasons…Ragin' Cajuns' five-set win in Mobile on Nov. 7, 2014, snapped the Jaguars' five-match series win streak and landed Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot her 100th win as Cajuns head coach…Jags have won the last two meetings at E.K. Long (Cajuns last win came on Sept. 26, 2010).

Up Next
The Ragin' Cajuns play their final road match of the regular season on Tuesday, traveling to Monroe to face ULM in a 6:30 p.m. match at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

Next weekend, Louisiana concludes the regular season with matches against UT Arlington (Friday) and Texas State (Saturday).

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Players Mentioned

Nia Antoine

Jessica Bartczyszyn

Sydney Davis

Chanelle Gardner

Stacey Reilly