Ragin' Cajuns Set to Spend Weekend on East Coast

CONWAY, S.C. – Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball will spend the weekend on the East Coast, playing the first half of an October-ending four-match road trip.

The Ragin' Cajuns (7-15, 3-4 Sun Belt) are in the Carolinas to face Coastal Carolina (15-4, 6-1 Sun Belt) on Friday at 5:30 p.m. (CDT) in Conway, S.C., and Appalachian State (2-18, 0-7 Sun Belt) on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. (CDT) on ESPN3 in Boone, N.C.

Head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot's squad is on the road for the first time since making the Sun Belt's Arkansas road trip Sept. 30-Oct 1.

This weekend's matches are the lone meetings this season between Louisiana, a member of the Sun Belt's West Division, and Coastal Carolina and App State from the Sun Belt's East Division.

The Ragin' Cajuns seek to snap a two-match losing streak after closing out a recent four-match homestand last weekend falling to Arkansas State in straight sets and Little Rock in five at Earl K. Long Gym.

Friday's match at Coastal Carolina closes the first half of Sun Belt play, while the second half begins Sunday at App State. With nine matches remaining in the regular season Louisiana stands in fifth place in the SBC West, but sits only a half game out of fourth and one game from third place.

Chanelle Gardner hit .385 in both matches last weekend, upping her season hitting percentage to .355 and returning to second place in the SBC. Coastal's Annayka Legros is the conference's leader with a .408 percentage.

Gardner has the opportunity this weekend to take over as the Ragin' Cajuns' rally scoring era career kills leader. At 936 career kills, the St. Martinville HS product sits in second place in the rally era trailing Lesley Mirarchi's 953 kills for top billing.

Two of the Sun Belt's top offensive threats will be showcased in Conway. The Chanticleers' Leah Hardeman ranks third at 3.68 kills per set and the Ragin' Cajuns' Stacey Reilly is right behind in fourth place at 3.43 kills per set.

Reilly, who has landed double digits in kills 17 times through 22 matches, ranks Top 50 nationally in total kills at 298. She's expected to eclipse 300 kills for the first time in her career.

Louisiana has begun to find balance in its offense since Sun Belt play began. In SBC matches, four players are averaging above 2.00 kills per set: Reilly (3.28 kills/set), Gardner (2.87 kills/set), Nia Antoine (2.32 kills/set) and Chloe Cordell (2.31 kills/set).

As a team, the Ragin' Cajuns are hitting .210 in SBC play and averaging 12.28 kills per set. The final hitting percentage has been above .200 in five of seven league outings.

The back row defense, led by libero Sydney Davis who averages 5.45 digs per set in SBC matches, has raised Louisiana's dig average in conference play above 17 digs per set. Hannah Henry and McKenzie John have also played a key role, combining to average 4.08 digs per set through 32 sets played since joining the rotation on a full-time basis four weeks ago.

Coastal Carolina brings a five-match win streak into Friday's matchup. The Chanticleers lead the Sun Belt in both hitting percentage (.255) and opponents hitting percentage (.160).

Hardeman's 3.68 kills per set and Legros' .408 hitting percentage pace the Coastal offense. Sara Boothe leads the team with 373 assists and is averaging 5.83 per set, while Kate Federico has posted 5.00 assists per set with 325 on the year.
Defensively, Carla Cahill has collected 228 digs with 3.51 per set.

App State is in a rebuilding year after losing three All-Sun Belt Conference performers in setter Paige Brown and outside hitters Emily Corrigan and Jess Keller. The Mountaineers, who host ULM on Friday, enter the weekend on a 17-match losing streak.

Freshman Emma Longley is currently 49th in the nation in kills per set (4.00) and also 35th nationally in total kills (312), leading the Sun Belt in both categories. Freshman Amanda Krahl leads the team with 8.02 assists per set and fellow freshman Kennedy Wilson is the team leader in digs (202) posting 2.62 digs per set.

Coach Mazeitis-Fontenot's Thoughts
"Coastal obviously has a very good team – they're one of the top teams in our conference. Looking at App State, although their record isn't indicative of who they are, we still have to go from sea level and up into the mountains. It's an interesting road trip that we'll be on.

Last weekend, the team played really hard against Arkansas State and for a lot of that match we were very disciplined. We did some new things in that match – different defenses that we've never done before – and they responded very well.

There's a ton of conference play left. What I want the girls to understand is that we can't leave anything unfinished. I felt like last Sunday vs. Little Rock we left it unfinished. We have to go in and demonstrate that we can control the match, like we did in the first two sets, and finish it."

Series Notables
Coastal Carolina: Chanticleers won the lone prior meeting, claiming a four-set victory on Sept. 10, 2004 at the Clemson Big Orange Bash…First meeting on either team's home court…Coastal Carolina is in its first season as a Sun Belt Conference member.

Appalachian State: Mountaineers have won the last three matchups…App State swept the season series last year…Louisiana is 0-3 at the Holmes Center in Boone…Series began with Appalachian State's entry into the Sun Belt Conference in 2014…Cajuns and Mountaineers split a pair of meetings that season, with the home team winning each time.

Up Next
Louisiana will be in Texas next weekend for the back half of the four-match road trip. The Ragin' Cajuns visit Texas State for a match in San Marcos on Friday (Oct. 28) then travel to Arlington on Saturday (Oct. 29) for a meeting with UT Arlington.

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Players Mentioned

Nia Antoine

Chloe Cordell

Sydney Davis

Chanelle Gardner

Hannah Henry

McKenzie John

Stacey Reilly