Louisiana Looks to Control Destiny on Arkansas Swing

Contact: Matt Hebert

Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot Media Luncheon Video

JONESBORO, Ark. – The Ragin' Cajuns volleyball team wraps up Sun Belt Conference action this weekend on the Arkansas road swing which opens here Friday evening at the Convocation Center.

Louisiana (15-13, 6-6 Sun Belt) meets Arkansas State (16-11, 6-5 Sun Belt) in a 7 p.m., match on Friday. On Sunday, the Cajuns are in Little Rock to meet UALR in the 2012 SBC finale at the Jack Stephens Center.

UL enters the weekend controlling its own destiny in the race for the Sun Belt West title. The Cajuns are facing the two teams they trail by a half game and 1-1/2 games, respectively, and having already won the season's previous matchup with both teams, have an opportunity to secure the head-to-head tiebreakers.

Louisiana also seeks to improve its position in the race for seeding in the upcoming Sun Belt Tournament (Nov. 15-17 in Bowling Green, Ky.). The Cajuns head into the weekend tied for the No. 7 seed with Middle Tennessee, but are only 2-1/2 games behind Troy for the tournament's No. 2 seed.

UL goes for the sweep of both ASU and UALR (11-12, 7-4 Sun Belt) on the road trip. The Ragin' Cajuns defeated the Red Wolves 3-1 (25-20, 25-16, 19-25, 25-21) and swept the Trojans 3-0 (25-18, 29-27, 25-20) at Earl K. Long Gym the weekend of Oct. 12-13.

There's also the chance that the Ragin' Cajuns can finish with a winning Sun Belt mark for the first time since 2002 (9-5 that season). UL needs wins in both matchups to accomplish the feat.

Live coverage of both matches is available at RaginCajuns.com.

Following the weekend trip, the Cajuns return home for the regular season finale on Wednesday, Nov. 7 against New Orleans at Earl K. Long Gym. First serve vs. UNO is set for 7 p.m.

Louisiana has posted eight wins away from Earl K. Long Gym, having won two of the past three road outings. UL's 46 wins, dating back to 2010, mark the best three-year stretch of victories since exactly 46 were posted by Chris Campbell's teams from 1999 through 2001.

UL is coming off a split of the UL-Monroe/North Texas homestand, sweeping the Warhawks and coming up short in another five-set thriller against North Texas. The Ragin' Cajuns and Mean Green played 10 sets in the season's two meetings combined with the two matchups featuring a combined 80 ties and 36 lead changes.

Louisiana is 4-2 thus far in SBC West play, going 3-1 in the first half of division battles. The Ragin' Cajuns started the second round of divisional matchups against UL-Monroe and NT last weekend.

Blair Claypoole reached double digits in kills for the sixth straight match and 11th time in 2012 with 14 on Sunday against the Mean Green. During the streak, Claypoole is averaging 3.05 kills per set and hitting .304.

Senior setter Mandi Gavin posted her ninth double-double and nearly had a triple-double against North Texas, tallying nine kills, 45 assists and 13 digs.

Gavin surpassed Lisa Bordes into third place in school history in career assists moving to 3,180 with the weekend's action against UL-Monroe and North Texas. Gavin is also four assists short of reaching 1,000 assists in a season for the second time in her career (has 996 actual leading into this week's action).

With Tonice White and Andrea Hole moving over 200 kills for the season, UL now has five players with 200-plus kills.

Lavinia Tataran is 22 kills shy of joining Lesley Mirarchi (364 in 2010 and 302 in 2011) as the most recent Cajuns to notch 300 kills in a season.

Libero Caitlyn Auxilien moved past 400 digs last weekend, joining Lindsay Brown and Erika Castro as the others in the rally scoring era to surpass 400 digs in a single season. Auxilien has reached double figures in digs in 23 of the squad's 28 matches.

Arkansas State is playing its final home match of the 2012 season. ASU?will honor its five seniors,?Taylor Coughlin, Amanda Chaparro, Kelsie Hodges, Jasmine Terry and Allison?Kearney, in a ceremony after the match on Friday night.

Senior setter Allison Kearney is coming off her 14^th double-double of the season in Sunday's five-set loss to UALR. ASU ranks second in the Sun Belt Conference with 13.89 kills per set and second in assists at 12.97 assists per set.

UALR is coming off a stunning five-set win in Jonesboro on Sunday to earn the season split with the Red Wolves. Eva Xie and Adisa Hodzic matched career highs with 21 and 17 kills, respectively. Edina Begic added the double-double with 13 kills and 16 digs while Marleen de Zoete added the double dip with 53 assists and 10 digs.

Dating back to 2010, UL has won four of the last five matches against the Trojans including a 3-2 (13-25, 39-37, 25-27, 25-14, 15-8) win last season at Jack Stephens Center.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Louisiana Looks to Control Destiny on Arkansas Swing

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