Volleyball Starts Sun Belt Play With Georgia Trip

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball Opens Sun Belt Play in Georgia
Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 at Georgia Southern | 5:30 p.m. (CDT) | Statesboro, Ga.
Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 at Georgia State | 5 p.m. (CDT) | Atlanta, Ga.

Match 14: Louisiana (6-7, 0-0 Sun Belt) at Georgia Southern (2-7, 0-0 Sun Belt)
Friday, Sept. 22 • 5:30 p.m. (CDT) • Hanner Fieldhouse (3,897) • Statesboro, Ga.
Series: Georgia Southern leads 3-1
Last Meeting: 9/24/16 at Earl K. Long Gym – Georgia Southern W, 3-2 (25-11, 25-21, 28-30, 22-25, 23-21)
Live Stats | Live Video

Match 15: Louisiana (6-7, 0-0 Sun Belt) at Georgia State (6-7, 0-0 Sun Belt)
Saturday, Sept. 23 • 5 p.m. (CDT) • GSU Sports Arena (3,854) • Atlanta, Ga.
Series: Louisiana leads 4-3
Last Meeting: 9/23/2016 at Earl K. Long Gym – Louisiana W, 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-11)
Live Stats | Live Video ($)

Rosters: Louisiana | Georgia Southern | Georgia State
Schedules: Louisiana | Georgia Southern | Georgia State
Season Stats: Louisiana | Georgia Southern | Georgia State
Ragin' Cajuns Twitter: @RaginCajunsVB
Opponents' Twitter: @GSAthletics_VB | @GeorgiaStateVB

SETTING THE SCENE
The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball team kicks off Sun Belt Conference play Friday-
Saturday, Sept. 22-23 on the Georgia road trip. The Cajuns meet Georgia Southern in Statesboro on Friday at 5:30 p.m. (CDT), then travel to Atlanta to face Georgia State on Saturday at 5 p.m. (CDT).

The trip brings to a close a string of three straight weekends away from Earl K. Long Gym. Louisiana participated in tournaments at Rice and Chicago State the previous two weekends.

Louisiana is set to begin its 27th season of competition in the Sun Belt Conference. They begin league play against Georgia Southern and Georgia State a second straight season. Last season, the Ragin' Cajuns swept the Panthers and lost a hard-fought five-set match to the Eagles at Earl K. Long Gym.

Driving the offense for the Ragin' Cajuns is senior outside hitter Stacey Reilly (2.90 kills/set) and reigning Sun Belt Freshman of the Week Hali Wisnoskie (2.89 kills/set). Reilly has produced double digits kills nine times and Wisnoskie has done so in six of the past nine outings.

Louisiana has one of the SBC's top defensive units thanks to the blocking efforts of Dree'Ana Abram (45 blocks) and Nia Antoine (39 blocks) and the back row coverage of libero Sydney Davis (226 digs). The Cajuns ranks Top 3 league-wide in both statistical categories.

Graduate senior setter Jessica Bartczyszyn has directed Louisiana to a .212 season hitting percentage. She averages 9.40 assists per set and is the lone setter in the conference to hand out 50-plus helpers twice this season.

Head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot takes her program to Statesboro for the first time since October 2014. The Ragin' Cajuns make their fourth trip overall to the GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, but it's the first visit since October 2015.

NOTEWORTHY
HARD WORK PAYS OFF: The last three weeks the Ragin' Cajuns have had at least one representative on the list of weekly player of the week winners chosen by the Sun Belt's head coaches. The most recent honorees were libero Sydney Davis who was awarded Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors and freshman outside hitter Hali Wisonskie who was named the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Week for matches played Sept. 11-17

TWICE WOULD BE NICE: The Ragin' Cajuns topped Georgia State in their Sun Belt opener a year ago. A win over Friday would mark consecutive victorious SBC openers for the first time since 1997-98.

IT'S A WINNER: The Ragin' Cajuns finished the season with a winning record in two of the three tournaments they competed in: 3-1 in Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic (Sept. 1-2) and 2-1 in Chicago State Invitational (Sept. 15-16).

THE WIZ KID: Freshman outside hitter Hali Wisnoskie has hit above .400 in three of the last four matches. Last weekend in Chicago, she tallied a team-high tying 33 kills – the third straight weekend leading the squad in kills. She recorded a hitting percentage above .400 in both of the matches she reached double digit kills (12 vs. Chicago State/16 vs. EMU).

MILESTONE MOMENT: Stacey Reilly picked up her 1,000th career dig during the Chicago State match. She became the first Ragin' Cajuns outside hitter to reach the mark in the rally scoring era (2001-present).

CHASING ANTOHER MILESTONE: Stacey Reilly's 33 kills last weekend in Chicago increased her career tally to 868. Already having reached 1,000 career digs, she's steadily working her way to a 1,000-1,000 career.

BACK ROW PATROL: Libero Sydney Davis covered nearly every inch of the back row in Chicago. Davis scooped 20-plus digs twice, highlighted by a season-high 27 vs. Chicago State, on the way to piling up 70 and averaging 6.36 digs per set during the Chi-State Invitational.

FINE-TUNED HITTING: The Ragin' Cajuns are one of only four teams in the Sun Belt Conference hitting above .200. The squad ranks fourth with a .212 season percentage.

IT STARTS WITH DEFENSE: One of the Ragin' Cajuns' goals for the season is to have the top defense in the Sun Belt. After four weeks, the team leads in digs (16.35/set) and sits third in blocks (2.29/set).

CONSISTENT SOURCE: A season ago, Stacey Reilly proved to be a go-to source for offense, reaching double digits in kills 23 times. She enters the Sun Belt-opening weekend having produced double digits in kills in eight of the past 10 matches. Throughout her career, the Houston native has produced double digit kills 37 times.

SUPER SENIOR: Setter Jessica Bartczyszyn is not your normal senior…she's a graduate student. Bartczyszyn received her bachelor's degree in English last spring. She's now pursuing a career in nursing.

SISTER, SISTER: Outside hitter Stacey Reilly has a special companion to share her senior season with. Her sister, Katie Zimmerman, joined the Ragin' Cajuns coaching staff in June. Katie played collegiately at Wichita State (indoor) and South Carolina (beach).

VETERAN ATMOSPHERE: After spending the past two seasons nurturing and developing a young squad, head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot has experience on her side in 2017. The Ragin' Cajuns returned all but one starter and 13 players from last season. The program's current roster features nine upperclassmen.

UP NEXT
Louisiana returns to Earl K. Long Gym for the first time in four weeks and hosts the Sun Belt's Arkansas schools Friday-Saturday, Sept. 29-30. The Ragin' Cajuns face Arkansas State in the Sun Belt home opener on Friday, then battle Little Rock on Saturday. Both matches are set to begin at 6:30 p.m.

There will be a block party on the gym's lawn on Friday prior to the ASU match headlined by a free concert performed by Geno Delafose and French Rocking Boogie from 4:30-6:00 p.m.

FOLLOW THE RAGIN' CAJUNS
For more information on Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball, as well as all of Ragin' Cajuns Athletics, visit RaginCajuns.com. Fans can also follow along with the team on Facebook (/ULVolleyball), Twitter (@RaginCajunsVB) and Instagram (@RaginCajunsVB).

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Volleyball Starts Sun Belt Play With Georgia Trip

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Players Mentioned

Dree'Ana Abram

Nia Antoine

Jessica Bartczyszyn

Sydney Davis

Stacey Reilly

Hali Wisnoskie

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University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

Volleyball Starts Sun Belt Play With Georgia Trip

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dree'Ana Abram

Nia Antoine

Jessica Bartczyszyn

Sydney Davis

Stacey Reilly

Hali Wisnoskie

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