Lady Panthers fall to EDW

LAFAYETTE — The Louisiana-Lafayette volleyball team will be looking to return home from Jonesboro, Arkansas, with some hardware in tow.

Louisiana-Lafayette is playing in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the first time since 2014, and earned the No. 3 seed, which is the highest seeding in program history. UL-Lafayette (20-10, 13-3) will play the winner of Thursday night’s UTA-Appalachian State first round match. First serve for today’s quarterfinal match will be 5 p.m.

“It’s exciting going into the conference tournament knowing that this doesn’t have to be our last weekend to play,” Ragin’ Cajuns coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot said. “We have a shot to win it.”

A conference tournament championship would just add another mark in the team’s record-breaking season. 

The Cajuns’ 7-0 start in Sun Belt play and its 13 conference victories were both new high water marks for the program. The team’s 20 wins was only the second one since 1990, and Mazeitis-Fontenot became the program’s all-time winningest coach.  The Ragin’ Cajuns started off 7-1 in conference play in the first half before going 6-2 in the second half. The two losses (five sets to Coastal Carolina and three sets to Texas State) in the second half prevented them from claiming the Sun Belt West Division title.

“My husband reminded me this morning that I said I would be happy if we went 6-2 on the back half,” laughed Mazeitis-Fontenot. “I don’t remember every saying that but he says I did. But the fact that we want 6-2 against some amazing teams is awesome. We did fall short of one of our goals which was to win the west but to finish 13-3 and runner-up in the west is a great day in Ragin’ Cajun volleyball.”

The Ragin’ Cajuns have not won a Sun Belt tournament match since 2000. Mazeitis-Fontenot is more than ready for that streak to come to an end.

“This is a history making team so let’s make some more history,” Mazeitis-Fontenot said.