• Box Score (HTML)

LAFAYETTE – The Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball team pulled itself back into the race for the Sun Belt West Division title by capping off a homestand sweep of the Arkansas schools with a convincing 3-0 (25-18, 29-27, 25-20) sweep of UALR Saturday evening at Earl K. Long Gym.

Louisiana (12-11, 4-4 Sun Belt) hit above .200 in each set and used its balanced attack of four players with at least eight kills to offset the Trojans’ top offensive threat and one of the nation’s top leader in kills, Edina Begic.

The Cajuns finished the match with a .246 hitting percentage led by the middle blocking duo of Blair Claypoole and Tonice White who hit .381 and .269, respectively.

UL’s depth paid dividends in defeating the Trojans (9-10, 5-2 Sun Belt). The Cajuns were able to set up five different players with 20-plus attack attempts. By comparison, Begic led UALR with 42 attempts and the next closest attack total was 26 by Eva Xie.

The Cajuns stuck with head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot’s plan of not trying to shut down Begic, but limit her productivity. The UL defense held Begic to 4.00 kills per set and a .095 hitting percentage – her lowest kills tally of the season.

White paced the UL efforts with 11 kills, while Claypoole backed her up with 10 kills on only 21 attempts. It marked the middle blocking duos highest combination of kills since accounting for 21 kills at North Texas (Sept. 22).

Mandi Gavin continued to have a hand in all facets of the game. The senior setter and preseason All-Sun Belt selection posted four kills, 35 assists, six digs and three block assists.

Gavin’s assist total lowered her number needed to reach 3,000 career assists to 25 with the milestone likely coming Tuesday, Oct. 16 in New Orleans.

Libero Caitlyn Auxilien led the defensive effort on the back row with her 19^th double figure digs outing of the season, finishing with a match-high 13. Andrea Hole (12 digs) and Lavinia Tatran (12 digs) also performed well on the back row. The trio, which sees the most time in the back row for UL, accounted for 37 of the squad’s 54 digs.

Begic led the UALR charge with 12 kills over three sets and experienced an inefficient night with eight errors over 42 attempts (.095 hitting percentage). Prior to Saturday’s match, Begic had piled up 145 kills through 26 sets in SBC action (5.58 kills per set).

UALR owns a sizeable advantage in the all-time series (30-6), but the Cajuns have turned the tide the past three seasons. Dating back to 2010, Louisiana has won four of the past five outings with UALR.

UL held the kills advantage each set and ended the night with a 47-39 advantage in that department. The Cajuns hit above .200 for the second straight night and wrapped up the Arkansas homestand averaging 15.00 kills per set (105 kills over seven sets) and a .237 hitting percentage.

Taylor Meade registered three service aces to increase her career total to 122 which surpasses Lindsay Brown (120 aces from 2007-10) for the rally scoring era career lead in aces.

Louisiana steps out of Sun Belt Conference play on Tuesday, Oct. 16 with a match against former Sun Belt rival New Orleans at the Human Performance Center on the UNO campus. First serve is at 7 p.m.

The lead swapped hands twice though the first nine rallies of the opening set. Louisiana erased a 4-3 deficit and took the lead for good with a 5-0 run, capped off by an Auxilien ace, Gavin and Claypoole block and subsequent Claypoole kill.

After the Trojans cut the lead to 14-10 on a Xie kill, the Cajuns started a 6-2 run with a Tatran kill and put the set away. UL solidified the set when kills from White and Claypoole on back-to-back rallies pushed the lead to 20-12.

The Cajuns trio of Claypoole, Tatran and White – who each registered three kills – counterbalanced Begic and Xie combining for nine kills and the team’s four aces proved key.

The Trojans rolled out an 8-3 run to begin the second set. Louisiana’s 20-14 edge in kills allowed the hosts to gradually chip away at the deficit and pull out the triumph after the set was extended past 25 points.

Trailing 24-22, the Cajuns stayed alive following a Tatran kill and block by Gavin and White which tied the score at 24-all. UL fought off set point twice, the last coming after UALR fought off set point with back-to-back scores for a 27-26 lead.

White threw down a kill to knot the score at 27-all, then Adisa Hodzic committed an attack error to provide the Cajuns with a 28-27 lead. On the next rally, Claypoole slammed a kill to the floor between a pair of UALR defenders to cap off the nip-and-tuck set.

The middle frame featured 12 ties, nine lead changes and the two squads combined for 109 attack attempts and 50 digs.

In contrast to Friday’s third set, the Cajuns rode the surge of a .345 hitting percentage to make sure the match wouldn’t be extended past three sets.

UL never trailed in the final stanza, a grab hold of the momentum with a 4-0 run after the Trojans pulled even at 4-all with a Xie kill. Kills from Claypoole and Wiesmann broke the tie and back-to-back Trojans attack errors opened the lead up.

The Cajuns never flinched, even after UALR drew ties at 9-all and 14-all. Following a Cajuns timeout, Gavin stepped up with a kill of an Auxilien serve receive to give UL a 15-14 lead. Leading 17-15, the Cajuns put the Trojans away with four unanswered points.

Kaylee Nemeth’s third attack attempt of the evening resulted in her third kill and moved UL to set and match point. A Hodzic kill delayed the Cajuns celebration, but it was short lived. On the ensuing rally, Begic’s serve sailed far past the end line and gave Louisiana set and match point.

NEWSPAPER BOX SCORE

UALR vs Louisiana (Oct 13, 2012 at Lafayette, La.)

Site: Earl K. Long Gym

Attend: 373   Time: 1:30   

Louisiana def. UALR 25-18, 29-27, 25-20

UALR (9-10, 5-2 Sun Belt) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Begic, Edina 12-2-2; Xie, Eva 9-0-0; Hodzic, Adisa 7-0-3; Souza Moura, Daniele 6-0-2; de Zoete, Marleen 4-0-0; Schaedig, Sawyer 1-0-3; Pepperman, Emily 0-1-0; Wyatt, Allison 0-1-0; Totals 39-4-6.0. (Assists) – de Zoete, Marleen 32. (Dig leaders) – Begic, Edina 13; Souza Moura, Daniele 10; Wyatt, Allison 9

Louisiana (12-11, 4-4 Sun Belt) (Kills-aces-blocks) – White, Tonice 11-0-1; Claypoole, Blair 10-0-3; Tataran, Lavinia 8-1-0; Wiesmann, Kelly 8-0-0; Gavin, Mandi 4-0-3; Nemeth, Kaylee 3-0-0; Hole, Andrea 3-1-0; Meade, Taylor 0-3-0; Auxilien, Caitlyn 0-1-0; Totals 47-6-4.0. (Assists) – Gavin, Mandi 35. (Dig leaders) – Auxilien, Caitlyn 13; Tataran, Lavinia 12; Hole, Andrea 12

— Ragin’ Cajuns —