PRESS RELEASE
LAFAYETTE – Continued precise hitting led the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Volleyball squad to a straight sets sweep (25-15, 25-19, 25-13) of Georgia Southern on Saturday at Earl K. Long Gym.
A night after hitting .299 in a win over Georgia State, the Ragin’ Cajuns (12-12, 4-6 Sun Belt) dialed their attacking up another notch with a .365 percentage against the Eagles. As a result, Louisiana would break open each set midway through with lengthy scoring runs.
With the win, Louisiana completed a weekend Sun Belt Conference sweep which positions the squad for a run at a berth in the league’s postseason tournament.
Saturday’s performance capped off a dominant weekend that saw the Ragin’ Cajuns record a .325 hitting percentage (96 K, 18 E, 240 TA), 13.71 kills per set and 19.14 digs per set.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Louisiana recorded 15 kills and hit .400-plus in both of the first two sets to grab a commanding lead.
The Ragin’ Cajuns took the lead for good in the first set after four consecutive kills from four different players opened an 8-5 advantage. It was a 7-1 run, the final four points coming from a pair of Hali Wisnoskie kills and Nia Antoine blocks, which allowed Louisiana to break open a 12-10 edge.
An 8-2 spurt midway through the second frame increased the Ragin’ Cajuns lead to 19-12. The Eagles (8-16, 2-7 Sun Belt) threatened by scoring five unanswered points to trim the deficit to two. The 2-0 match lead was secured after Dree’Ana Abram ended the visitors scoring spree with a kill, then after an attack error Wisnoskie landed a kill and Hanna Rovira scored an ace to stretch the lead to 23-17.
A block solo from Lauren Reichard gave Georgia Southern the lead (8-7) in the third set, albeit for a brief moment. Three straight kills – off the hands of Antoine, Abram and Rovira – returned the lead to Louisiana. The decisive blow would be four straight kills, three which came from Desiree Johnson, extended the lead to 17-9.
LEADING THE RAGIN’ CAJUNS
The offensive production was spread amongst six players who tallied at least five kills. Leading the way was Wisnoskie with nine kills, Johnson who had eight kills on 14 swings and Abram’s eight kills off 16 swings.
Freshman Tia Smith, making just her second appearance in Sun Belt play, had another strong showing, producing five kills and five blocks (3 BS, 2 BA).
Libero Sydney Davis collected a match-high 16 digs to increase her rally scoring era record total to 1,888. Rovira hit double digits in digs a second straight night, tallying 10.
Smith’s five blocks led the way while Antoine posted four of her own (1 BS, 3 BA). Avery Breaux reached 20 assists for the seventh time in 10 SBC outings, finishing with a match-high 23 assists.
UP NEXT
Louisiana heads west to Texas for Sun Belt West Division rematches with Texas State and UT Arlington. The Ragin’ Cajuns will be in San Marcos on Friday, Oct. 26 and in Arlington on Saturday, Oct. 27. First serve for both matches is at 6:30 p.m.
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