LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Volleyball team spends another weekend in the Hub City as the Ragin' Cajuns host South Alabama in a Sun Belt Conference series at E.K. Long Gym beginning Friday evening.
Louisiana (11-7, 3-5 SBC) and South Alabama (12-7, 7-1 SBC) start the two-match series at 6:00 p.m. on Friday (Oct. 24), then conclude play on Saturday (Oct. 25) in a 1:00 p.m. contest. Friday's contest is being broadcast on ESPN+.
The UL Volleyball program is holding a Camper Reunion on Friday and celebrating Youth Weekend on Saturday.
Admission to all UL Volleyball home matches throughout the season is free and open to the public. Available parking lots can be found on the Volleyball Match Day Parking page [ragincajuns.com].
The Ragin’ Cajuns set aim at a pair of program benchmarks: the squad is one win away from the most home wins recorded in Kristi Gray’s tenure and has the opportunity to break the single-season total attendance for the third time in four years.
Senior opposite hitter Cailin Demps and redshirt freshman outside hitter Grace Sweeney provide the offensive fireworks with 228 and 145 kills, respectively. Freshman Lindsey Henry’s 60 blocks has her on pace to be the first true freshman to lead in blocking since 2013 (Chanelle Gardner) while junior libero Kennedy Gustafson is 32 digs away from her personally reaching 300 digs in a season for the first time.
Louisiana Volleyball hosts South Alabama
Friday-Saturday, Oct. 24-25 | Lafayette, La.
E.K. Long Gym
THE MATCHUPS
Friday, Oct. 24 vs. South Alabama // E.K. Long Gym // 6:00 p.m.
ESPN+ [espn.com] | Live Stats [stats.statbroadcast.com] | Twitter Updates [twitter.com]
Saturday, Oct. 25 vs. South Alabama // E.K. Long Gym // 1:00 p.m.
Live Stats [stats.statbroadcast.com] | Twitter Updates [twitter.com]
SERIES HISTORY
- South Alabama: Louisiana leads, 36-25 | Last match: L, 0-3 on 10/25/2024 in Mobile, Ala.
In Lafayette: Louisiana leads, 18-8 | Sun Belt Matches: Louisiana leads, 25-21
Current Streak: USA +7
SET POINTS
- Louisiana enters the second half of Sun Belt play when the squad faces SBC West leader South Alabama from October 24-25.
- UL is also completing a four-match homestand at E.K. Long.
- The Cajuns seek a change of fortune against the Jaguars, having lost the past seven meetings.
- Louisiana seeks to build upon SBC-play bests of .360 hitting and 12 blocks registered in the Troy series finale victory.
- Currently with seven (7) wins at E.K. Long, the Cajuns have matched the most home wins of Kristi Gray's tenure.
- Louisiana started 6-0 at E.K. Long Gym this season before falling in the App State series finale.
- UL is a crowd of 292 shy of setting a season total attendance record for the third time in the past four seasons.
- Senior opposite Cailin Demps ranks Top 10 in the SBC in kills per set (3.51). She's closing in on 900 career kills, sitting at 869.
- Cailin Demps used 30 kills at Southern Miss to push her season total past 200 a second straight season (currently at 228).
- Outside hitter Grace Sweeney has emerged in SBC play, delivering 77 kills at a rate of 2.66 per set in the first half of play.
- Kennedy Gustafson has had double digits in digs in all eight SBC outings. She ranks Top 5 in league play at 4.28 digs per set.
- Chelsea Gilmore hit .478 vs. Troy, scoring 13 kills in the middle. It was a third straight weekend that she hit .390-plus.
- Freshman Lindsey Henry leads UL with 60 blocks on the season. She's averaging 1.0-plus per set in SBC play (31 blocks in 29 sets).
- The season stats to date show marked improvement in hitting percentage – UL sits at a .252 clip in 2025 (hit .156 in 2024 season).
NUMBERS TO KNEAUX4: UL's balanced offense features four players who have totaled 100-plus kills. The next kill by Marlee Ervin makes its five to hit the century mark.
12: The Cajuns turned in a Sun Belt-play high 12 blocks in last Friday's win over Troy. Lindsey Henry (9 blocks) and Cailin Demps (7 blocks) led the effort.
13: Senior opposite Cailin Demps has scored at least eight kills every match and reached double digits 13 times (7 of 8 SBC matches).
292: Louisiana is on the verge of surpassing the single-season total attendance record of 7,219 set in 2023 – entering the USA series a crowd of 292 shy of the mark.
UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
The Ragin' Cajuns take a road trip, traveling to Jonesboro, Arkansas for a two-match Sun Belt Conference series with Arkansas State at First National Bank Arena from Friday-Saturday, October 31-November 1.
UL and ASU are slated to meet at 6:00 p.m. on Friday (Oct. 31) and 1:00 p.m. on Saturday (Nov. 1). Both matches are being televised on ESPN+.
The series with the Red Wolves continues SBC West division play – the determining factor for conference tournament qualification – which wraps up the following week at E.K. Long against ULM from November 6-7.
FOLLOW THE RAGIN' CAJUNS
Follow the Ragin' Cajuns on Twitter (@RaginCajunsVB [twitter.com]), Facebook (/RaginCajunsVB [facebook.com]) or Instagram (@RaginCajunsVB [instagram.com]) to stay up-to-date on all that is happening with Louisiana Volleyball.
Fans are also encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here [apps.apple.com] for iOS/Apple platforms and here [play.google.com] for Android platforms.
Fans can support the volleyball student-athletes, and invest in the program's future, through The Cajuns Edge Fund (click here [ragincajuns.evenue.net]) to contribute directly to the Louisiana Athletics and Ragin' Cajuns Athletic Foundation's revenue-sharing initiative or by joining the Back Reaux Club (click here [ragincajuns.evenue.net]).