Volleyball: Cajuns Efficient Attack Overpowers Jackson State
LAFAYETTE – Powered by a season-best .278 team hitting percentage the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball team topped Jackson State 3-1 (25-13, 19-25, 25-17, 25-21) Friday evening in the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic at Earl K. Long Gym.
Louisiana (1-4) hit above .200 in each set of the match and reached double digits in kills each frame.
Chanelle Gardner led the Ragin’ Cajuns with 15 kills on 29 attempts. The St. Martinville product posted a .448 hitting percentage.
Sara Mossakowski, who missed the Texas Tech Invitational due to injury, made her first start of the season. The senior outside hitter contributed 13 kills over 40 attempts while playing all four sets.
The Cajuns’ offensive efficiency took over in the third and fourth sets after Jackson State (0-5) evened the match. Louisiana hit above .300 over the final two frames to outlast the Tigers.
“With a young team, things are always unexpected,” head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot. “I was proud of them sticking together and working through some rough patches for the win.”
Louisiana concludes play in the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic on Saturday with matches against Nicholls State at 12 p.m., and Houston at 4 p.m.
The Ragin’ Cajuns coasted to victory in the opening set. After a kill by Katey Kyle broke JSU’s serve, the squad rode of the serve of Sydney Davis for eight consecutive rallies to open a 19-7 lead.
JSU scored the first five points of the second set, capped off by three straight service errors, and led wire-to-wire in claiming a 25-19 win that evened the match.
The Cajuns took control of the third set after kills from Jessica Bartczyszyn and Mossakowski broke a 10-all tie. Back-to-back JSU attack errors, the latter on a Mossakowski block solo, extended the Louisiana lead to 14-10.
The fourth set featured a similar script, as Louisiana played catchup after the Tigers jumped out to a 9-4 lead. The Cajuns utilized a 5-2 run to trim the JSU lead to 11-9 and remained within two or three points before taking control of the set.
A kill by Julia Pasch forged a 19-all tie, then a service ace from Davis gave Louisiana its first lead at 20-19. JSU scored on the next two rallies to create the fourth tie of the set at 21-21.
Gardner’s fifth kill of the fourth set returned the lead to the Ragin’ Cajuns at 22-21, then the serve of Bartczyszyn led to a JSU attack error, service ace and McKenzie John kill to close out the set and match.
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Matt Hebert
Assistant Sports Information Director
Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns
Office: (337) 482-6330
Cell: (337) 288-6023
@ULRaginCajuns
www.RaginCajuns.com
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