University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Friday, October 6
San Marcos, Texas
6:00 p.m.
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
11-8, 2-3SBC
1
at
3
Texas State
10-6, 3-2SBC
1
2
3
4
F
Louisiana
12
18
25
22
1
Texas State
25
25
17
25
3
Bobcats Hold On and Edge Out Cajuns
10/6/2023 9:49:00 PM | Volleyball
Louisiana has near miss of opportunity to post reverse sweep in Texas State series opener
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball team's charge to force a winner-take-all fifth set with Texas State on Friday, October 6 at Strahan Arena fell just short, after the host-Bobcats scored the final four points of the night to close out the match in four sets by a 3-1 (25-12, 25-18, 17-25, 25-22) count.
Louisiana (11-8, 2-3 Sun Belt) had Texas State (10-6, 3-2 Sun Belt) backed into a corner, holding a 30-17 edge in kills during the storm back in the attempt to draw even after dropping the first two sets.
The Cajuns were closing in on evening the match after Mya Wilson's kill provided a 22-21 lead in Set 4. However, the Bobcats came up with a last-second momentum flip getting a kill from Samantha Wunsch and block solo from KJ Johnson to take the lead.
Texas State then turned to Wunsch coming out of a pair of Louisiana timeouts for kills that helped the hosts escape the scare of having to fight off a potential reverse sweep.
UL narrowly missed out on recovering from a slow start that proved to be the team's Achilles – the Cajuns committing nearly as many attack errors (14) as they had kills (16) over the first two sets of play.
Louisiana found its footing after intermission, doubling up the Bobcats 16-8 in kills to get on the board and was ahead 14-9 in kills in Set 4 before the hosts set-and match-ending 4-0 spurt.
The two teams entered the night tied for third in the Sun Belt West Division. The Cajuns will have an opportunity on Saturday to draw even with the Bobcats once again.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bobcats built their 2-0 match lead by breaking away from a 9-all tie in Set 1 with a 14-0 surge and later closing Set 2 with a 6-2 run after a Cajuns block from Kara Barnes and Siena DeCambra closed the deficit to 19-16.
It was Louisiana coming up with the big run in Set 3 to get on the board. Sparked by the swing of freshman Abby Cunningham, who scored three kills, and the service of Mio Yamamoto, who picked up two aces along the way, the Cajuns rolled off a 10-0 run to erased a 16-13 deficit.
In the fourth set, UL jumped ahead 9-6 after a combo block from DeCambra and Cami Hicks though that's the largest lead the visitors could manage as TXST kept crawling back. Later it was an ace served by Kennedy Gustafson and a kill from Barnes that kept the Cajuns ahead at 18-16, only to have the Bobcats score three straight points to start the seesaw action to the finish line.
The two teams played through 15 ties, the last on Wunsch's kill that began the critical ending run, and eight lead changes with the final one coming on Johnson's block that gave the Bobcats the lead for good.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Barnes paced Louisiana's offensive efforts with 10 kills off 23 swings on .261 hitting. She also tied for the team-lead with three blocks, those stuffs bringing her to her 300th career block as she become just the fifth Cajun in the rally scoring era to reach the mark.
Cunningham was the game-changer for UL in the comeback attempt, netting nine kills over the final two stanzas (9 K, 3 E, 16 TA).
Wilson, who like Barnes had a hand in three blocks, joined Hicks and Shyia Richardson in producing seven kills.
Yamamoto led all players with her match-high 23 digs, scooping at least five digs in each of the first three frames as she led UL to a 60-54 advantage over TXST. She also served up three aces and handed out three assists.
DeCambra assisted on 36 of Louisiana's 46 kills and added five digs and three blocks to her stat line.
UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
The Ragin' Cajuns will seek to gain a split in the Sun Belt Conference series with Texas State on Saturday, October 7 when the two squads meet at 2:00 p.m. inside Strahan Arena in San Marcos, Texas.
The series finale is set to stream live on ESPN+ while live stats can be accessed at CajunStats.com.
Saturday's contest brings an end to Louisiana's current four-match road swing. It'll be the 15th match out of 20 overall away from home for the Cajuns whose next matches at E.K. Long Gym are set for Friday-Saturday, October 13-14 vs. South Alabama.
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.
Fans are also encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here for iOS/Apple platforms and here for Android platforms.
Louisiana (11-8, 2-3 Sun Belt) had Texas State (10-6, 3-2 Sun Belt) backed into a corner, holding a 30-17 edge in kills during the storm back in the attempt to draw even after dropping the first two sets.
The Cajuns were closing in on evening the match after Mya Wilson's kill provided a 22-21 lead in Set 4. However, the Bobcats came up with a last-second momentum flip getting a kill from Samantha Wunsch and block solo from KJ Johnson to take the lead.
Texas State then turned to Wunsch coming out of a pair of Louisiana timeouts for kills that helped the hosts escape the scare of having to fight off a potential reverse sweep.
UL narrowly missed out on recovering from a slow start that proved to be the team's Achilles – the Cajuns committing nearly as many attack errors (14) as they had kills (16) over the first two sets of play.
Louisiana found its footing after intermission, doubling up the Bobcats 16-8 in kills to get on the board and was ahead 14-9 in kills in Set 4 before the hosts set-and match-ending 4-0 spurt.
The two teams entered the night tied for third in the Sun Belt West Division. The Cajuns will have an opportunity on Saturday to draw even with the Bobcats once again.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bobcats built their 2-0 match lead by breaking away from a 9-all tie in Set 1 with a 14-0 surge and later closing Set 2 with a 6-2 run after a Cajuns block from Kara Barnes and Siena DeCambra closed the deficit to 19-16.
It was Louisiana coming up with the big run in Set 3 to get on the board. Sparked by the swing of freshman Abby Cunningham, who scored three kills, and the service of Mio Yamamoto, who picked up two aces along the way, the Cajuns rolled off a 10-0 run to erased a 16-13 deficit.
In the fourth set, UL jumped ahead 9-6 after a combo block from DeCambra and Cami Hicks though that's the largest lead the visitors could manage as TXST kept crawling back. Later it was an ace served by Kennedy Gustafson and a kill from Barnes that kept the Cajuns ahead at 18-16, only to have the Bobcats score three straight points to start the seesaw action to the finish line.
The two teams played through 15 ties, the last on Wunsch's kill that began the critical ending run, and eight lead changes with the final one coming on Johnson's block that gave the Bobcats the lead for good.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Barnes paced Louisiana's offensive efforts with 10 kills off 23 swings on .261 hitting. She also tied for the team-lead with three blocks, those stuffs bringing her to her 300th career block as she become just the fifth Cajun in the rally scoring era to reach the mark.
Cunningham was the game-changer for UL in the comeback attempt, netting nine kills over the final two stanzas (9 K, 3 E, 16 TA).
Wilson, who like Barnes had a hand in three blocks, joined Hicks and Shyia Richardson in producing seven kills.
Yamamoto led all players with her match-high 23 digs, scooping at least five digs in each of the first three frames as she led UL to a 60-54 advantage over TXST. She also served up three aces and handed out three assists.
DeCambra assisted on 36 of Louisiana's 46 kills and added five digs and three blocks to her stat line.
UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
The Ragin' Cajuns will seek to gain a split in the Sun Belt Conference series with Texas State on Saturday, October 7 when the two squads meet at 2:00 p.m. inside Strahan Arena in San Marcos, Texas.
The series finale is set to stream live on ESPN+ while live stats can be accessed at CajunStats.com.
Saturday's contest brings an end to Louisiana's current four-match road swing. It'll be the 15th match out of 20 overall away from home for the Cajuns whose next matches at E.K. Long Gym are set for Friday-Saturday, October 13-14 vs. South Alabama.
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.
Fans are also encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here for iOS/Apple platforms and here for Android platforms.
- www.RaginCajuns.com -
Team Stats
UL
TXST
Kills
46
46
Errors
27
16
Attempts
135
126
Hitting %
.141
.238
Points
57.0
64.0
Assists
42
44
Aces
5
5
Blocks
6.0
13.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
MB
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
DS
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballOPP
/ Volleyball
L
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