Volleyball: Ragin’ Cajuns Begin Stay in Birmingham With a Win

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Volleyball stormed back with a 17-8 set-ending run to prevent UAB from forcing a fifth set and claimed 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 22-25, 25-19) win in the Fight Like Hal Memorial opener at Bartow Arena.

 

The Ragin’ Cajuns (2-10) were stretched into a fourth set, after a 25-22 UAB decision in the third set, and found themselves trailing 11-8 before finding their stride. Louisiana took the lead for good after three straight kills, the first and last from Stacey Reilly, lifted the squad into a 15-14 lead.

 

Leading 21-17, a kill by Chanelle Gardner followed by a block thrown up by Chloe Cordell and Gardner extended the margin to six points and assured the Ragin’ Cajuns that the Blazers (7-6) wouldn’t have the chance to pull off a rally.

 

Louisiana concludes play in the Fight Like Hal Memorial on Friday meeting Memphis (5-4) at 12:30 p.m. and UT Martin (3-9) at 4:30 p.m. The matches are the final ones this season for the Ragin’ Cajuns in pre-conference tournament action.

 

Reilly finished with a team-high 13 kills, reaching double digits for the 11th time in 12 outings this season. The Houston native picked up her 500th career kill on her third score of the second set.

 

Gardner delivered an all-around effort of 12 kills on just 26 swings to go along with seven blocks (1 BS, 6 BA). Hanna Rovira was the third Ragin’ Cajuns to reach double digit kills, turning in 11 kills.

 

Jessica Bartczyszyn dished out 43 of Louisiana’s 45 assists, giving her 40-plus for the eighth time this season. Libero Sydney Davis scooped a match-high 27 digs, tying her career-high figure set last season at Georgia State (Oct. 31, 2015).

 

Head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot earned her 111th win with the Ragin’ Cajuns, moving her into a second place tie with Sherry LeBas on the program’s all-time victories list.

 

The Blazers scored the first point of the match, then the Ragin’ Cajuns reeled off five consecutive points and never looked back in posting a 25-17 win for a 1-0 lead in the match.

 

The second set saw the lead swap hands six times before the Ragin’ Cajuns took command. Gardner posted a kill to knot the score at 10-all, then a Blazers attack error gave Louisiana an 11-10 lead.

 

The Ragin’ Cajuns kept the pressure on as a kill from Reilly and block by Cordell and Gardner increased the advantage to 13-10. After UAB broke Louisiana’s serve, four more unanswered points extended the Ragin’ Cajuns lead to 17-11 and the squad coasted to a 2-0 lead in the match.