LAFAYETTE, La. — With an offense that was dialed in and pinpoint service the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Volleyball team completed a series sweep of ULM with a 3-0 win (25-11, 25-16, 25-20) on Senior Day at E.K. Long Gym on Friday, Nov. 7.

The Ragin’ Cajuns (14-10, 6-8 SBC) began the contest scoring 27 kills without error through the first 45 swings to effectively chase the visiting Warhawks (10-18, 1-13 SBC away). Louisiana finished with 41 kills against only four errors over 99 total swings for a .374 match hitting percentage.

Led by six service aces from Grace Sweeney, the Ragin’ Cajuns recorded 10 aces as part of a tough service that led to several scoring runs and a 79.6 percent success rate at siding out.

Sweeney netted five aces in the first set alone for the first of the key serving runs she’d tally throughout the contest. Her first set toughness at the service line combined with five kills on exactly five swings from Jamzine Gaston led UL to the sizeable set victory to start the day.

Senior opposite hitter Cailin Demps took charge the final two sets, producing 11 of the 14 kills she posted in the contest to carry the Ragin’ Cajuns to the finish line.

It was Sweeney’s service that broke up a 10-8 score in Set 2 and sent UL onto a commanding match lead. After Marlee Ervin won service back with a kill, Sweeney served up six straight winners to expand the lead to 17-8.

Louisiana’s defense rounded up its match-best of 19 digs in Set 3 as part of a defensive effort that pressured ULM into eight attack errors in the frame, keeping the lead from changes hands again after a combo block from Demps and Lindsey Henry provided a 3-2 lead.

The Warhawks’ defense found a second wind itself in the final stanza, forcing the Ragin’ Cajuns to take a match-high 43 swings in the frame lending to a lead of no larger than five points. ULM made a late push an ace capping off a 3-0 mini-run that trimmed Louisiana’s lead to 22-19.

Fittingly it was the senior Demps who scored match point in her final contest at E.K. Long Gym – her sixth score of the final frame.

Gaston with nine kills, Erin with six kills, Chelsea Gilmore with five kills and Henry with four kills joined Demps in evenly spreading out the offense. The defense was evenly spread out as well, with Sweeney’s seven digs topping a group of eight Cajuns with multiple digs.

UL had the only four blocks in the match, each one involving the hands of Henry.

With the win Louisiana continued to add pressure to Troy as the race for the fifth and final conference tournament spot from the SBC West Division heads down to the wire. The Ragin’ Cajuns hold the tiebreaker over the Trojans and would grab the bid with at least one Troy loss to Southern Miss.

UL defeated ULM for the 16th consecutive meeting, a streak that dates back to the 2019 season. The Ragin’ Cajuns hold a 37-5 lead over the Warhawks in the SBC era of the series which began back in 2006.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
Louisiana concludes the 2025 regular season with a trip to Statesboro, Georgia for a two-match series at Hanner Fieldhouse against Sun Belt East foe Georgia Southern from Thursday-Friday, Nov. 13-14.

First serve between the Ragin’ Cajuns and Eagles is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. (CST) both nights. The matches are being broadcast on ESPN+ with live stats available at CajunStats.StatBroadcast.com.

The Ragin’ Cajuns are visiting Statesboro for the first time since Oct. 2019.

Louisiana and Georgia Southern split the season series last Nov. at E.K. Long Gym, the Ragin’ Cajuns walking off on Senior Night with a Siena DeCambra service ace.

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