Volleyball Preview: at Southern Miss

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball at Southern Miss
Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017
Reed Green Coliseum • Hattiesburg, Miss.

Match 3: Louisiana (1-1) at Southern Miss (3-1)
Wednesday, Aug. 30 • 6 p.m. (CDT) • Reed Green Coliseum • Hattiesburg, Miss.
Series: Louisiana leads 23-10
Last Meeting: 9/5/14 at Earl K. Long Gym – Louisiana W, 3-1 (25-19, 15-25, 25-15, 25-19)
Live Stats | Live Video ($)

Rosters: Louisiana | Southern Miss
Schedules: Louisiana | Southern Miss
Season Stats: Louisiana | Southern Miss
Ragin' Cajuns Twitter: @RaginCajunsVB
Opponent's Twitter: @SouthernMissVB

SETTING THE SCENE
The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball team begins the second week of competition in the 2017 season with a midweek match against Southern Miss on Wednesday, Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. inside Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg, Miss.

The Ragin' Cajuns (1-1) kicked off the 2017 campaign last Friday with a doubleheader split against Tulane at Earl K. Long Gym. The matchup with the Green Wave was set up after the scheduled trip to the I-10 Cardinals Classic in San Antonio was canceled by the expected impact of Hurricane Harvey.

Nia Antoine (Jr., MB, Lafayette, La.) provides a solid attack from the middle, carrying a .375 hitting percentage following 18 kills off 37 swings against Tulane. Preseason All-Sun Belt pick Stacey Reilly (Sr., OH, Houston, Texas) fuels the scoring on the outside and is coming off a 19-kill showing in the season-opening twinbill.

Dree'Ana Abram (So., MB, Marshall, Texas) has shown she can offer a strong presence in the front row. The sophomore middle blocker threw up career-high numbers in block solos (4) and total blocks (6) in the opening match with the Green Wave and ended the day with 10 total.

Senior setter and Preseason All-Sun Belt choice Jessica Bartczyszyn is directing the offense for the third straight season. She averaged 10.72 assists per set last Friday.

Louisiana also has a veteran presence at libero in junior Sydney Davis who is coming off a 500-plus dig campaign. Davis posted double digits in both matches with Tulane, finishing with 32 (4.57 digs/set).

Four freshmen made their collegiate debut in the Tulane doubleheader: Julia Angelo, Avery Breaux (Scott, La./St. Thomas More HS), Lexi Hebert (Lafayette, La./Teurlings Catholic HS) and Hali Wisnoskie. The trio of Angelo, Breaux and Hebert handed back row duties while Wisnoskie offered a glimpse of a powerful swing she bring to the right side.

The Golden Eagles are coming off a 3-1 season-opening weekend in the Southern Miss Invitational held in Hattiesburg. USM hit .311 in the event and was led by Chandler Marshall who posted a team-best 49 kills on a .324 hitting percentage. Junior setter Sarah Bell totaled 180 assists, posted a .412 hitting percentage and scooped 37 digs landing her Conference USA Setter of the Week honors.

THE SERIES
- Louisiana and Southern Miss have met 33 previous times with the Ragin' Cajuns owning 23 victories. The vast majority of the matchups occurred between 1980 and 1994.
- The Ragin' Cajuns and Golden Eagles last met in Hattiesburg back on Sept. 20, 2004 in the Forrest General SportsCare Classic. USM won the match in straight sets.
- Louisiana and Southern Miss last squared off in September 2014 on the opening day of the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic at Earl K. Long Gym. The match, which the Cajuns won in four sets, was the fourth between the programs in the Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot era (2008-present).

NOTEWORTHY
LEADERS OF THE PACK: Louisiana exited the season-opening weekend ranked first in the Sun Belt Conference in digs at an average of 17.7 per set.

GREAT START: One of the Ragin' Cajuns' goals for the season is to have the top defense in the Sun Belt. Already the squad is one of the top units in the league, leading in digs (17.7 digs/set) and ranking Top 5 in opponent hitting percentage (.214) and blocks (2.43 blocks/set).

PILING UP NUMBERS: Stacey Reilly pushed her career digs total over the 900-mark with 22 during Friday's action against Tulane. She currently owns 913 career digs. Reilly is on pace to become the program's first outside hitter to reach 1,000 digs playing an entire career in the rally scoring era.

SETTING HER PLACE IN HISTORY: Senior setter Jessica Bartczyszyn dished out 72 assists on Friday, increasing her career total to 1,857 which passes Beth Henson for fourth place on the program's rally scoring era career charts.

SUPER SENIOR: Setter Jessica Bartczyszyn is not your normal senior…she's a graduate student. Bartczyszyn received her bachelor's degree in English last spring. She's now pursuing a career in nursing.

SISTER, SISTER: Outside hitter Stacey Reilly has a special companion to share her senior season with. Her sister, Katie Zimmerman, joined the Ragin' Cajuns coaching staff in June. Katie played collegiately at Wichita State (indoor) and South Carolina (beach). The sister tandem is together as Stacey chases the program's rally scoring era career record for kills and attempts to join Chanelle Gardner as the only individual to play an entire career under the rally format and reach 1,000 kills.

VETERAN ATMOSPHERE: After spending the past two seasons nurturing and developing a young squad, head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot has experience on her side in 2017. The Ragin' Cajuns returned all but one starter and 13 players from last season. The program's current roster features 10 upperclassmen.

COACH MAZEITIS-FONTENOT'S THOUGHTS
On the season-opening doubleheader vs. Tulane: "There were some positives in what we were able to accomplish on Friday. Would I like to have gone 2-0…of course. But I think we learned a whole lot more from the second match. So we'll take those lessons and apply them moving forward."

On the importance of playing after cancellation of trip to San Antonio: "It became very important for me to put something together. Our players were glad they had the opportunity to compete against someone other than ourselves."

UP NEXT
The Ragin' Cajuns return to Earl K. Long Gym for the annual Sawyer Camillo Memorial Volleyball Classic set for Friday-Saturday, Sept. 1-2. The tournament field includes Houston Baptist, Jacksonville State, Mississippi Valley and Nicholls.

Louisiana begins play in the event on Friday with a 2 p.m. match vs. Houston Baptist and 6 p.m. match with Nicholls. A complete schedule of matches can be found at RaginCajuns.com/SawyerCamilloClassic.

FOLLOW THE RAGIN' CAJUNS
For more information on Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball, as well as all of Ragin' Cajuns Athletics, visit RaginCajuns.com. Fans can also follow along with the team on Facebook (/ULVolleyball), Twitter (@RaginCajunsVB) and Instagram (@RaginCajunsVB).

#GeauxCajuns

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dree'Ana Abram

Julia Angelo

Nia Antoine

Jessica Bartczyszyn

Avery Breaux

Sydney Davis

Chanelle Gardner

Chanelle Gardner

Lexi Hebert

Stacey Reilly

Hali Wisnoskie

Footer

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics