Homestanding @RaginCajunsVB Enters Sun Belt Conference Play

LAFAYETTE – Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball spends the opening weekend of Sun Belt Conference play at Earl K. Long Gym hosting West division foes UT Arlington and Texas State.

Louisiana (8-6) meets UTA on Friday with first serve set for 6:30 p.m. The weekend concludes at Noon on Sunday against Texas State.

The Ragin' Cajuns concluded non-conference play last weekend in San Diego, capturing a winning mark following a five-set win over San Diego State in the finale of the SDSU/USD Challenge.

The weekend set with the Mavericks (6-4) and Bobcats (9-5) begins an eight-week stretch of Sun Belt Conference matches which runs through the end of the regular season (Nov. 11).

Louisiana is back in the friendly confines of E.K. Long Gym for the first time since hosting the Sawyer Camillo Classic. Last season, the Ragin' Cajuns posted a 6-1 mark in home SBC matches.

Fans can follow all of 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 15: Louisiana (8-6) vs. UT Arlington (6-4)
Friday, Sept. 21 • 6:30 p.m. (CDT) • Earl K. Long Gym (1,121) • Lafayette, La.
Series: UT Arlington leads 15-3
Last Meeting: 11/12/2017 in Arlington, Texas – Louisiana W, 3-1 (25-19, 26-28, 25-22, 25-20)
Live Video | Live Stats

Match 16: Louisiana (8-6) vs. Texas State (9-5)
Sunday, Sept. 23 • 12 p.m. (CDT) • Earl K. Long Gym (1,121) • Lafayette, La.
Series: Texas State leads 14-1
Last Meeting: 11/18/2017 in Jonesboro, Ark. – Texas State W, 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-22, 25-14)
Live Video | Live Stats

PROMOTIONS
Friday – Hot 107.9 Block Party

Free and open to the public beginning at 4:30 p.m. on the E.K. Long Gym lawn
Music entertainment provided by Hot 107.9
Tailgate-themed games, including a volleyball court, and concessions
Giveaways include Hot 107.9 t-shirts, Ragin' Cajuns Store gift cards and items from attendance sponsor I Love Kick Boxing

Sunday – Daddy-Daughter Day

Interactive activities throughout the match including a themed intermission contest
Photo area in E.K. Long Gym lobby
Playing court open post-match for dads and daughters to spend time together
Attendance sponsor I Love Kick Boxing offering a Girl Power seminar

ABOUT LOUISIANA
Louisiana returned 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 added a talented group of eight newcomers headlined by freshmen Kelsey Bennett (5-11, OH, Allen, Texas) and Desiree Johnson (5-11, RS, Forney, Texas) who have been inserted into the rotation. Louisiana is utilizing a 6-2 offense for the first time in the Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot era with setters Avery Breaux and Milayne Danna directing the offense.

SET POINTS

Louisiana begins its 28th season of competition in the Sun Belt Conference.
For the first time since the 2014 season, Louisiana posted a winning non-conference mark (8-6).
The Ragin' Cajuns are 3-1 at Earl K. Long Gym this season, hitting at a .284 percentage and averaging 13.4 kills per set.
Hali Wisnoskie enters the weekend six kills shy of her 500th career tally. The sophomore outside hitter is averaging a career-best 3.24 kills per set.
Freshman right side hitter Desiree Johnson has surpassed five kills in each of the last eight matches (dates back to Sept. 1 vs. Houston). Johnson reached double digits for the first time in her career last Saturday, netting 10 kills in the win over San Diego State.
Libero Sydney Davis ranks 14th among active Division I players in career digs with 1,705.
Sydney Davis is closing in on the program's rally scoring era career digs record. She trails the current record holder, Lindsay Brown (1,863 digs), by 158 digs.
Setters Avery Breaux and Milayne Danna are both coming off their season-high tally in assists, handing out 30 and 26, respectively, at San Diego State.
Louisiana sports a balanced offense, with five different players averaging at least 1.80 kills per set. The Ragin' Cajuns have hit.200 or above in 10 of the 14 matches so far this season.

COACH MAZEITIS-FONTENOT'S THOUGHTS
On being back at Earl K. Long Gym
"It'll help our team a lot. Being at home sleeping in your own bed, being around what's comfortable.

Things can slow down for them a little bit when we're at home. That's what's nice because when we're on the road it's 'hey it's time to eat,' "we need to go practice,' 'we need to go do this.' At home it's nice because it just slows down a little bit."

On areas of focus heading into conference play
"Offensive production is what we need to work on right now. Defensively we are consistently killing it, literally. We did get out-dug against USC, but other than that we out-dug every opponent last weekend, or very, very similar.

It's important that we increase our offensive production. Some of that has to do with the tempo of our offense, and some of it has to do with our serve receive being great and then being a little bit off and being great and so on. All of that is what we focused on this week."

UP NEXT
Louisiana is scheduled to travel to face Coastal Carolina and Appalachian State in the squad's first road Sun Belt matches of the season the weekend of Sept. 28-30. The matchup with the Chanticleers is set for Friday followed by the contest with the Mountaineers on Sunday.

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 -

Homestanding @RaginCajunsVB Enters Sun Belt Conference Play

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dree'Ana Abram

Kelsey Bennett

Avery Breaux

Milayne Danna

Sydney Davis

Desiree Johnson

Hali Wisnoskie

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University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

Homestanding @RaginCajunsVB Enters Sun Belt Conference Play

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dree'Ana Abram

Kelsey Bennett

Avery Breaux

Milayne Danna

Sydney Davis

Desiree Johnson

Hali Wisnoskie

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