Homestand Wraps Up With McNeese Match

LAFAYETTE – Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball completes a five-match homestand on Tuesday with a 6:30 p.m. match against McNeese State at Earl K. Long Gym.

A "Two-for-One Tuesday" promotion is being offered for the match. Fans who purchase one ticket for admission, receive a second ticket free of charge.

The Ragin' Cajuns (1-6) are riding a hot streak on offense during the homestand. Louisiana posted a .245 attack percentage and averaged 12.29 kills per set over the four matches played last week.

Stacey Reilly continues to impress as she is playing at the level of her standout freshman season back in 2014. The junior outside hitter, who is hitting .206 and averaged 3.53 kills per set through the season's first two weeks, has posted a double-double each match so far on the homestand.

Reilly currently ranks fourth in the Sun Belt Conference in kills per set. She is one of just seven players league-wide averaging three kills or more per set.

Senior middle blocker Chanelle Gardner provides the Ragin' Cajuns with a steady hand on offense and shores up the frontline defense. Gardner is attacking at a .417 clip, which ranks second in the SBC, and has already accumulated 30 blocks.

Last week, Gardner surpassed 300 career blocks following a career-high tying performance of eight blocks vs. Northwestern State. The St. Martinville High product joined Kim Rodgers as one of just two players in the rallying scoring era (2001-present) to amass 300 career blocks.

Louisiana's offense is run by setter Jessica Bartczyszyn who ranks fourth in the Sun Belt averaging 9.97 assists per set. The redshirt junior has dished out 40-plus assists in five of the Ragin' Cajuns seven matches.

Chloe Cordell seeks to build on her solid performance that coincided with the start of the homestand as a switch to the right side sparked Cordell to a .232 hitting percentage. She contributed 2.00 kills, 1.94 digs and 0.88 blocks per set over the four matches.

Head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot is one win shy of entering a second place tie with Sherry LeBas on the program's all-time victories list. Currently in her ninth season with the Ragin' Cajuns, Mazeitis-Fontenot has collected 110 victories and trails only LeBas (111) and Wilo Colon (136) on the coaching ledger.

Louisiana enters Tuesday's match with McNeese coming off a 1-3 start to the five-match homestand. The Ragin' Cajuns lost a pair of five-set battles with Northwestern State and Air Force, swept Alabama A&M and fell in four sets to Nicholls State in the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic finale.

SERIES NOTABLES
Louisiana leads all-time series 41-15…Ragin' Cajuns have won four of the last six meetings (all under Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot's guidance)…Teams meet for the second straight season…McNeese posted a straight sets sweep at Memorial Gym in Lake Charles last season…Last met at Earl K. Long Gym on Aug. 31, 2012 with Louisiana claiming a 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-12) triumph…Series dates back to the Ragin' Cajuns initial season of competition in 1976…Programs met each year from 1982-98; only 11 meetings since then.

UP NEXT
Louisiana turns its attention to its final two pre-conference tournaments of the season – the North Texas Invitational (Sept. 9-10) in Denton, Texas and Fight Like Hal Memorial Invitational hosted by UAB (Sept. 15-16) in Birmingham, Ala.

First up is the trip to Denton this weekend for the North Texas Invitational at the Mean Green Volleyball Center. The Ragin' Cajuns will face host-North Texas at 12:30 p.m. and UNCW at 5 p.m. on Friday, then have an early morning bout with Indiana State at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

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Players Mentioned

Jessica Bartczyszyn

Chloe Cordell

Chanelle Gardner

Stacey Reilly

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