Dree’Ana Abram is a 21-year-old, 6 feet 2 inches senior middle blocker for the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball team. Since becoming a part of the team, she has had a highly accomplished career.

Before becoming a Ragin’ Cajun, she attended high school in Marshall, Texas, where she was an all-district honoree each of her final two seasons. Specifically, her senior season, she was named a first-team all-district selection and named the team’s MVP. Her 153 kills and 30 blocks were a big contribution to that.

Abram has played volleyball for a while, but she chose the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for specific reasons.

“I really loved the atmosphere and felt I fit in well with my teammates and coaches,” Abram said.

Abram started her freshman season for Louisiana in 2016, competing in 18 matches and starting in five. During the time, she was the lone freshman who received significant playing time.

She played the middle blocker and outside hitter position. Her most notable match was against Houston where she had a season-high three blocks and three kills.

Having played a lot in the freshman season gave Abram a lot of experience. As a sophomore, she played in 32 matches. This was her first full season as a starting middle blocker.

She aided Louisiana with 100-plus blocks, becoming the first Ragin’ Cajun to do so since 2014. With that, she ranked top 100 nationally in total blocks and was one of only six players to average 1.00 blocks per set in the Sun Belt Conference.

Her highlight was a match with 10 blocks against Troy. On the offensive side with kills, she provided 239 and ranked top 10 in the SBC with a .325 hitting percentage in conference play. She made it to the All-Sun Belt First Team and All-Louisiana Second Team during this season as well.

These feats take a lot of hard work and dedication. The team has to practice heavily for their games. Abram described her favorite part of practice:

“My favorite part of practice is playing six on six because I love how competitive we get,” Abram said.

In her 2018 season, as a junior, Abram made the All-Sun Belt First Team again and surpassed 200 kills and 100 blocks once again. And so far in the 2019 season, she has already had an impressive season.

As a senior, Abram expressed the differences from past seasons.

“I feel what’s different is I’m bringing more of a leadership role compared to last seasons, which I’m taking on very well and I enjoy,” Abram said.

The season is a quarter of the way through. Louisiana recently played Northern Arizona, Liberty and Florida in the Gators Invitational Tournament and will play Texas State next on Sept. 27.

The Texas State match will be the first in the SBC for the season, and consequently, “Texas State is the game I’m most excited for,” Abram said.

She also gave her opinion on how well she thinks the season is going so far.

“I feel the season so far is going great. We added new techniques to our play and have improved in a short amount of time,” Abram said.

Off the court, she is an exercise science major. Be on the lookout for more accomplishments from Abram throughout the season.