Sunday, October 30

A-State Volleyball Downs ULM on Senior Day
JONESBORO, Ark. (10/30/11) – The Arkansas State volleyball team defeated Louisiana-Monroe 27-25, 24-26, 25-8, 25-14 on senior day at the HPESS Facility.

The win also gave A-State a perfect 8-0 record at home this season, marking the first time an ASU volleyball team has gone undefeated at home since 2004.

Arkansas State (19-7, 10-2 SBC) battled with the Warkhawks in the first two before settling in the final two to come away with the 3-1 victory. ASU jumped out to an 11-6 lead in the first set, but ULM fought back to close the gap to 23-22 late in the set. Taylor Szypulski setup a set point at 24-22, but the Warhawks (9-13, 3-9) fought off the next two points to tie the score at 24-24.

Jasmine Terry gave ASU a 25-24 lead on the next point but ULM again fought off the set point and tied the score at 25-25. Terry again put ASU ahead with a kill on the next point and an attacking error from ULM gave ASU a 27-25 victory.

FIU Sweeps South Alabama for Fifth-Straight Win
MIAMI (Oct. 30, 2011) - The FIU volleyball squad picked up its fifth-straight victory on Sunday afternoon as the Panthers defeated Sun Belt Conference foe South Alabama by a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-20) score at U.S. Century Bank Arena. With the win, FIU improves to 16-7 (8-4 SBC) while South Alabama falls to 8-15 (3-8 SBC).

The first set saw a kill by junior Marija Prsa give FIU an 18-16 lead, but South Alabama countered with a kill of its own and a Panther attack error knotted the score at 18-18. The teams then traded points and a violation call on FIU gave the Jaguars a 20-19 lead before a kill from the right side by senior Andrea Lakovic once again brought up a tie at 20-20.

South Alabama would then tally a pair of points before a kill by senior Sabrina Gonzalez brought FIU to within one at 22-21. The Jaguars retaliated with a kill and junior Jovana Bjelica countered with a score of her own to put the score at 23-22. A pair of Jaguar attack errors would then put the Panthers in set-point position at 24-23, and a final Panther point gave FIU a 25-23 set win and a 1-0 lead for the match.

Cajuns Take Down UALR in Five Sets
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - In their final road match of the 2011 season the Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball team kept their Sun Belt Tournament chances alive with a five-set victory over UALR at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, Ark.

Louisiana-Lafayette (11-17, 3-9 Sun Belt) fought off 29 ties and 10 lead changes to claim a 39-37 victory in the second set and avoid a 2-0 deficit in the match. The Cajuns then posted decisive victories in the fourth and fifth sets by counts of 25-14 and 15-8 to claim the match over the Trojans (10-16, 5-7 Sun Belt). 

With the win the Cajuns pulled within 1-1/2 games of North Texas (14-15, 5-8 Sun Belt) for the eighth and final spot in the upcoming SBC Tournament. Louisiana has homecourt advantage coming down the stretch as the season’s final four matches are scheduled for Earl K. Long Gym including a meeting with UALR in the season finale. 

The Cajuns hit .342 in the fourth set and never trailed on the way to forcing the decisive fifth set. UL took control after a kill by Lavinia Tataran broke a 2-all tie and points on the next four rallies stretched the advantage to 7-2.