@RaginCajunsVB Opens 2018 Season at Tulane I-10 Challenge

NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball opens the 2018 season Friday-Saturday, Aug. 24-25 competing in Tulane's I-10 Challenge at Devlin Fieldhouse.

Louisiana begins play in the event on Friday facing Incarnate Word at 4 p.m. The Ragin' Cajuns return to the court on Saturday for matches with UTEP at 10 a.m. and host-Tulane at 7 p.m.

The Ragin' Cajuns, seeking to build upon last season's 20-win campaign, are entering the 11th season of head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot's tenure.

Fans can follow the action by accessing the live stats and live video links at RaginCajuns.com/VBschedule and with updates posted on the team's Twitter account (@RaginCajunsVB).

THE MATCHES
Match 1: Louisiana vs. Incarnate Word
Friday, Aug. 24 • 4 p.m. (CDT) • Devlin Fieldhouse (3,600) • New Orleans, La.
Series: UIW leads 1-0
Last Meeting: 9/30/88 in Marshall, Texas – Incarnate Word W, 2-1 (9-15, 19-17, 15-10)
Live Stats

Match 2: Louisiana vs. UTEP
Saturday, Aug. 25 • 10 a.m. (CDT) • Devlin Fieldhouse (3,600) • New Orleans, La.
Series: First Meeting
Live Stats

Match 3: Louisiana at Tulane
Saturday, Aug. 25 • 7 p.m. (CDT) • Devlin Fieldhouse (5,750) • New Orleans, La.
Series: Tulane leads 40-8
Last Meeting: 8/25/17 at Earl K. Long Gym – Tulane W, 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-15)
Video ($) | Live Stats

ABOUT LOUISIANA
Louisiana returns five starters from the 2017 season highlighted by three returning All-Sun Belt Conference performers in middle blocker Dree'Ana Abram, libero Sydney Davis and 2017 SBC Freshman of the Year Hali Wisnoskie.

The Ragin' Cajuns have a talented group of eight newcomers debuting in the 2018 season, headlined by transfer setter Gemma Cantone (Incarnate Word) and freshmen Kelsey Bennett (5-11, OH, Allen, Texas), Desiree Johnson (5-11, RS, Forney, Texas) and Tia Smith (6-2, MB, Houston, Texas).

2017 REWIND
The Ragin' Cajuns (21-11, 13-3 SBC in 2017) turned in the program's finest season of the Sun Belt Conference era (1991-present). During the 2017 season, the squad raced out to a school-record 7-0 start in league play, posted the first winning conference mark since 2002 and set the school record for conference wins. The reward was the program's highest seed ever (No. 3) in the SBC Tournament.

Head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot became Louisiana's all-time winningest coach, increasing her program-standard tally to 140 victories. Hali Wisnoskie became the first Ragin' Cajun to win Sun Belt Freshman of the Year honors since 1998 and she represented Louisiana on the AVCA All-Midwest Region team.

SET POINTS

The Ragin' Cajuns are beginning the 43rd season in program history.
Louisiana makes its first appearance at Devlin Fieldhouse since Sept. 9, 2003 when the Ragin' Cajuns and Green Wave met in a midweek match.
The I-10 Challenge participants are in the second year of a four-year agreement in which each institution hosts the season-opening event. Last year's edition was to be hosted by Incarnate Word, however impending inclement weather associated with Hurricane Harvey canceled the tournament.
For the first time since 2015 the Ragin' Cajuns will have a new starting setter. All-Sun Belt performer and three-year starter Jessica Bartczyszyn completed her career in 2017.
Libero Sydney Davis is 13 digs away from collecting her 1,500th career tally. She enters the season 377 digs away from becoming the career leader in the rally scoring era and 557 digs away from the program's all-time record.
Louisiana enters the 2018 season armed with five returning starters which includes the team's kills (Hali Wisnoskie), blocks (Dree'Ana Abram) and digs (Sydney Davis) leader from 2017.

COACH MAZEITIS-FONTENOT'S THOUGHTS
Looking back on last Saturday's exhibition vs. Houston Baptist
"We were ready to see another team across the net. I saw some really bright spots, but the most important thing I saw were areas we could vastly improve upon which is great as it tells us where we need to focus our energy."

On the start of the regular season
"There's a big jump that's going to happen. It will be exciting when it occurs. I can see flashes of some really fun stuff developing. My hope for this weekend is that those flashes that I saw last Saturday (of some really great play) begin to show up more consistently.

If there's anything I'm looking for out of this weekend it would be to increase our consistency, both offensively and defensively. We just need to make the easy look easy and the hard look easy as well."

Looking back on preseason camp
"I felt we accomplished a lot in a very short amount of time. It feels as though we're further along into the season than we actually are. That is because our veterans came in ready to go, in shape, both mentally and physically, and therefore we started much further forward than we have in a long time.

We didn't have to go back re-teach which allowed us to start what felt like a few weeks ahead. That had a tremendous impact on how much we were able to cover and implement into our offense and defense."

UP NEXT
Louisiana opens the home portion of its 2018 schedule at Earl K. Long Gym over Labor Day weekend, hosting the annual Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic Friday-Saturday, Aug. 31-Sept. 1. For a complete list of matches visit Tournament Central.

FOLLOW THE RAGIN' CAJUNS
Follow the Ragin' Cajuns on Twitter (@RaginCajunsVB), Facebook (/RaginCajunsVB) or Instagram (@RaginCajunsVB) to stay up-to-date on all that is happening with Louisiana Volleyball.

- www.RaginCajuns.com -

@RaginCajunsVB Opens 2018 Season at Tulane I-10 Challenge

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dree'Ana Abram

Jessica Bartczyszyn

Kelsey Bennett

Gemma Cantone

Sydney Davis

Desiree Johnson

Tia Jade Smith

Hali Wisnoskie

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University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

@RaginCajunsVB Opens 2018 Season at Tulane I-10 Challenge

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dree'Ana Abram

Jessica Bartczyszyn

Kelsey Bennett

Gemma Cantone

Sydney Davis

Desiree Johnson

Tia Jade Smith

Hali Wisnoskie

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