The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s volleyball season came to an end Friday, Nov. 15 in a 3–1 victory over the Georgia Southern Eagles.
In a press conference held Nov. 11, before the week’s final series opener, Head Coach Kristi Gray summed up the season, crediting the team with great toughness in spite of some of the big losses the season brought.
“I think there’s something to be said for winning seven out of eight five-set matches throughout the year,” Gray said. “I think just for us, being so young and inexperienced, it’s there, that winning mentality. We gotta continue to figure out what that is moving forward.”
Friday’s game served as the team’s Senior Night, and Gray was quick to honor her graduating class, but stressed that this final pair of games was also a good test for who will have the opportunity to step into starting roles next season.
“Honoring our seniors, we have five this year. Looking forward to honoring them the best we can Thursday, Friday,” Gray said. “Yes we are honoring them, we do play a really good Georgia Southern team, but we are looking at things for the future for us.”
Speaking about how the Cajuns were viewed as a major upset threat to the Eagles, Gray recounted that a conference coach had called Louisiana a scary team in that aspect.
“The way that he had said it, it was a compliment. We are very capable of turning it on and going and beating opponents,” Gray said. “The other side of it is we are so young that sometimes we get the other end of it, but if we come out and play well I think it can be a very good match.”
The first game of the series served as the Cajuns’ black-out game and saw the Eagles’ talents on full display, nearly doubling the Cajuns in total kills and shutting them out 3–0.
The Eagles displayed great accuracy on attacks, scoring on over 28% of their attempts while committing fewer errors than the Cajuns all match.
Junior hitter Cailin Demps led the Cajuns in total points for the match with 9.5 on very high attempt volume. Gray singled out Demps as a future leader for the team next season.
“I think Cailin Demps is gonna be the best one for that. She’s not really a vocal leader. She came in and it wasn’t a role that she expected to have,” Gray said.
“She has a great voice and we know that she is capable of taking on that role and there are glimpses of it that she has, but I think that she is going to be a very, very strong leader for us moving forward.”
In the Friday night game, the Cajuns came out with a ton of urgency, showing up the Eagles in two razor-close sets before closing out the match with a 25–16 fourth set.
The Cajuns forwards played with a lot of intensity, with Demps and fellow junior hitter Lauryn Hill combining for 78 kill attempts. Senior Cami Hicks and freshman Chelsea Gilmore also stepped up and contributed on offense throughout the match.
On the match point, Cajuns senior hitter Siena DeCambra checked into the game to serve, and serve she did, scoring a winning ace on the final play of her collegiate career.
In finishing with a 5–9 conference record, the Cajuns missed out on a trip to the Sun Belt Conference Championship tournament, but Gray emphasized that the season result shouldn’t diminish the senior class’ overall legacy in the program.
“As a coach, you get so fixated and lost in watching film and seeing what you need to do to improve, just because of the way that our season has gone with the adversity and the record and all of that, but it shouldn’t overshadow what these seniors have done for us,” Gray said.
“What they’ve accomplished from day one of us as a staff getting here, just completely turning over this program. You can see what they’ve done to build it within the community, within the conference, and I think that’s something to be said for, what they’ve done for us, and so I’m very grateful for them for that.”