As parents flocked to the 757 for football’s parents’ weekend, the ODU Lady Monarchs split matches with the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajun on Thursday and Friday night.
Coming into the match, both teams were floating around .500 as the Lady Monarchs were 9-13 and 1-7 in Sun Belt play. The Ragin’ Cajuns tallied a record of 12-10 overall and 3-5 in conference.
Match 1 was a success for the Lady Monarchs who won 3-1 on Thursday night. ODU initially fell behind early before tying the set at 13. Following this, senior Tessa Mati was able to give the Lady Monarchs the lead with two aces. The Lady Monarchs didn’t look back and took the first set 25-21.
The second set continued similarly as the Lady Monarchs were able to lead early 9-5 and continue their lead to a set 2 win 25-19. Redshirt sophomore LeAnne Lowery sealed the deal with a kill on her way to a double-double performance on the night.
The Ragin’ Cajuns were able to take the third set and avoided being swept on Thursday evening. The Monarchs and Louisiana were neck and neck early, however, the Ragin’ Cajuns were able to extend their lead and take the set 25-19.
ODU responded by taking the fourth set 25-18. The Lady Monarchs led for the majority of the set and dominated defensively, tallying numerous emphatic blocks.
On the evening, the Lady Monarchs controlled the match with their blocking ability, tallying 11 blocks to Louisiana’s five. The win was also thanks to an outstanding performance by Lowery. The New York native tallied a double-double with 11 kills and 10 blocks. Both of these stats are career highs. To supplement this career performance, junior Myah Conway tallied 20 kills, providing a big offensive boost to the cause.
“We executed on a really good level,” said head coach Fred Chao. “We were watching Louisiana play a lot of their matches and they’re really good. I’m over the moon with this win and our performance tonight.”
The second match of the weekend acted as an inverted mirror image of the first as the Ragin’ Cajuns were able to take the match 3-1. The Lady Monarchs fell behind and continued to trail in the first set, giving way to the Cajuns by a score of 25-18.
The second set brought more of the same as the Monarchs fell behind by a dozen early on.. The Monarchs were able to come back within striking distance at 18-13. Unfortunately, the Monarchs came up short in the second set as well and fell 25-21.
ODU was able to copy Louisiana’s performance from Thursday night and won the third set to avoid a sweep. The Monarchs started the match down six at 11-5 before roaring back to tie and then take the set by three at 25-22.
Unfortunately for the Lady Monarchs, they were not able to force a firth set as a review by the officiating crew led to a 25-16 loss in the fourth set. This allowed the Ragin’ Cajuns to take the match 3-1.
When asked about the match, Chao commented, “We had a tough night from a passing standpoint. Louisiana did what they needed to do to knock us off our game. Something that we’ve got to keep looking at is what our stamina looks like for day two.”
The Lady Monarchs spend time at App State before coming back home to take on the Georgia State Panthers on Nov. 2 and 3. Looking ahead to the postseason, the Sun Belt tournament this year will be Nov. 15-19 in Foley, Alabama.
