MONROE, La. - The ULM volleyball team made history Sunday
afternoon after defeating in-state and Sun Belt Conference rival UL-Lafayette
in a five-set thriller 3-2 (30-28, 25-21, 21-25, 23-25, 15-10) in the ULM
Activity Center. With the victory the Warhawks win both matches against the
Ragin' Cajuns and earn their third conference win of the season, marking the
first time in program history ULM (9-7, 3-3 SBC) has won three Sun Belt matches
in a single year.
Zuzana Markova earned her fifth double-double of the season
with a match-high 19 kills at a .366 clip and a team-high 29 assists, finishing
just two digs shy of a triple-double. Meghan McCoy also picked up a
double-double with 26 assists and 10 digs to give her her ninth double-double of
the season and fifth-straight.
Mahogany Dilonga had a career-best-tying 13 kills, equaling her
previous performance against UL-Lafayette last week in which she set that mark.
Marcela Urbina, the current Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week, broke her
career-high in digs by three with a match-best 28. Samantha Morse and Blanca
Ocana also reached double digits in digs with 14 and 13, respectively, while
Tetitana Sukach had 13 digs.
After dropping two games-straight, the Warhawks took
complete control of the start of the fifth set with a 7-1 run capped by
back-to-back Ocana kills. UL-Lafayette quickly came back with a 7-2 run
including four-straight points to pull within one 9-8. A kill by Ocana sparked
a four-point spree and ULM never looked back, allowing just two more kills by
UL-Lafayette before ending the set with a 15-10 win.
The match started with an extended first set in which
UL-Lafayette (9-13, 1-5 SBC) took the biggest lead 15-12 before Markova evened
up the score with a kill and back-to-back aces. ULM fought to stay within two
points and knotted the score again on a Ragin' Cajun attack error 22-22. Six
ties and five lead changes ensued and UL-Lafayette was at game point 28-27 when
ULM scored four-straight points to win the set 30-28.
The second set remained close again until the 10-10 mark
when the Warhawks used a 6-2 run to take a 16-12 advantage. UL-Lafayette
answered with a 5-2 streak to close the gap 18-17 until ULM used three separate
sprees of three points to set itself up for game point 24-20, each team scoring
once more to end the set 25-21.
UL-Lafayette found its rhythm in the third set, only
allowing ULM to take the lead twice in the beginning before gaining a 7-4
advantage. The Warhawks tied the score 10-10 with kills by Dilonga, Morse and
Ocana and forced four more ties until the Ragin' Cajuns used back-to-back White
kills to take a 21-18 lead. UL-Lafayette grabbed a final 4-3 run to win the set
25-21.
The Warhawks led the fourth set 7-4 until a kill by Lavinia Tataran
and two attack errors evened the score 7-7. UL-Lafayette took advantage with an
8-4 run capped by three-straight kills to grab the lead 15-11 and maintained
until kills by Markova and Ocana sparked a four-point spree to knot the score
20-20. Another tie followed 23-23 until two final Ragin' Cajun kills ended the
set in their favor 25-23.
UL-Lafayette had two players with double-doubles, including
Mandi Gavin with a match-best 57 assists and 23 digs and Tataran with 13 kills
and 17 digs. Tonice White led the offense with 17 kills while Lesley Mirarchi
and Kaylee Nemeth had 12 and 11, respectively. Caitlin Auxilien also had 16 digs.
ULM hits the road for two Sun Belt matches next weekend as
it looks for another series sweep against North Texas at 7 p.m. before seeking
revenge at Denver Sunday at 1 p.m.
