LORMAN, Miss. – The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Volleyball team’s offense became increasingly unstoppable as the match progressed, with hitting efficiency rising sharply each succeeding set, and the result was a 3-0 win (25-20, 25-9, 25-13) over Alcorn on Thursday, September 11 at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
The Ragin’ Cajuns hitting percentage started at .294 in Set 1 then increased to .450 and .647 in Sets 2 and 3, respectively, needing no more than 20 attack attempts over the final two stanzas. The team did not face a deficit in either of the first two sets and the match’s lone two lead changes came early in the final frame.
Louisiana (6-1) won its third straight match in advance of Friday’s visit to SEC-foe Ole Miss and extended the best start of Kristi Gray’s tenure.
Jazmine Gaston scored the first two of her team-leading four kills in Set 1 immediately after checking in and the Cajuns’ early edge grew to 9-3. After Alcorn (0-6) climbed back in, a kill from Chelsea Gilmore ended a back-and-forth trend and made it 16-12.
The Braves collected a three-point spurt to move within a point, but back-to-back miscues by the hosts followed by kills from Gaston and Harley Krause put UL comfortably ahead 20-15.
Cailin Demps scored three quick kills as Set 2 got underway, sparking a set-opening 7-1 run for Louisiana. Alcorn drew close when a run of its own sliced the advantage to 9-8, but the Ragin’ Cajuns wouldn’t relinquish the lead as a kill from Gilmore ignited an 11-0 run that she capped off with an ace and it was 20-8 before the Braves could side out again.
Alcorn grabbed its first lead of the contest early in Set 3 before the UL offense, which scored 12 kills off only 17 swings, took over leading to another runaway victory that ended the night.
Trailing 6-5, it was Krause who evened the score with a kill for the first of three straight kills that gave Louisiana an 8-6 lead. Later it would be four consecutive kills, with three coming off the hands of Gilmore, that continued a scoring run that would reach 10 unanswered points and increase the Cajuns lead to 15-6.
Louisiana improved to 3-1 on its current five-match road trip which concludes on Friday in Oxford at the Gillom Athletic Performance Center with an SECN+ broadcasted match against Ole Miss (3-3).
The Ragin’ Cajuns remained undefeated all-time through 12 matchups with Alcorn. The two programs met on the court for the first time since September 2013.
LEADING THE RAGIN’ CAJUNS
Demps with nine kills, Gilmore with eight kills and Gaston with seven kills combined to account for 24 of Louisiana’s 37 kills. Gilmore hit an impressive .727 on 11 error-free swings while Demps was also error-free hitting .643 on her 14 swings.
The trio's sharpshooting guided the Ragin’ Cajuns to a season-high .423 hitting percentage (37 K, 7 E, 71 TA).
In addition to tying her season-high in kills (8), Gilmore’s performance was punctuated by three aces from the service line.
Libero Kennedy Gustafson led all players in the match with 13 digs, marking her sixth double-digit digs effort in seven outings on the young season.
Setters Ryleigh Garis and Nene Hawkins were equally efficient in directing the flow of offense with the 6-2 attack leaders tallying 16 and 14 assists, respectively.
UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
The Ragin' Cajuns finish their two-day trek into the state of Mississippi and complete a five-match road swing on Friday, September 12 facing Ole Miss in a 6:00 p.m. match at the Gillom Athletic Performance Center in Oxford.
Louisiana makes its season television debut during the match with the Rebels. The action can be seen live on SEC Network Plus (SECN+).
Friday’s contest marks the first meeting with Ole Miss since September 2013 which was also the last time the Ragin’ Cajuns visited Oxford. Louisiana looks for its first win over the Rebels since August 1997.
Following the Ole Miss matchup, the Ragin' Cajuns return home to E.K. Long Gym for the Ragin' Cajuns Classic with matches against Southern and Nicholls set for September 19-20.