Ragin’ Cajuns announce highly anticipated 2023 Volleyball slate

host 11 regular season matches inside Earl K. Long Gym

LAFAYETTE – Coming off its first postseason appearance in program history, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Volleyball team will host 11 regular season matches inside Earl K. Long Gym during the 2023 season in addition to a challenging non-conference slate that features three road tournaments and a match at LSU, head coach Kristi Gray announced Wednesday (May 24, 2023).

After hosting the Red & White Scrimmage on Aug. 11 and an exhibition at home against Tulane on Aug. 17, the Ragin’ Cajuns hit the road to open the regular season on August 25-27 for the Mississippi State Invitational in Starkville, Mississippi.

Louisiana officially opens the season facing Northwestern State at 3 p.m. on Aug. 25 before taking on Eastern Kentucky on Aug. 26 at 2 p.m. The Cajuns wrap up the opening weekend tournament against host-Mississippi State at 1 p.m. on Aug. 27.

Two days later, the team heads to Houston to face Rice at 6 p.m.

The Ragin’ Cajuns then travel to Lubbock, Texas, for the Texas Tech Invitational, where they will compete against Texas A&M-Commerce on Sept. 1 at 4:30 p.m. On Sept. 2, they will face off against Wyoming at 11:30 a.m. and conclude the day with a match against Texas Tech at 7 p.m.

Following the Texas Tech Invitational, Louisiana travels to Baton Rouge to take on LSU at 11 a.m. on Sept. 6 before taking on Charlotte (Sept. 8; 1 p.m.), North Florida (Sept. 8; 7:30 p.m.) and Texas Southern (Sept. 9; 10 a.m.) at the North Florida Invitational in Jacksonville, Florida.

Making their regular season home debut at E.K. Long Gym, the Ragin’ Cajuns take on Nicholls, New Orleans, and Prairie View A&M in the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic from September 14-16. The team concludes its five-match homestand on Sept. 21 and 22 as it opens up Sun Belt Conference play against Troy.

Throughout SBC play, Louisiana hosts South Alabama (Oct. 13-14), ULM (Oct. 27-28) and App State (Nov. 10-11) and will take on Arkansas State (Sept. 29-30), Texas State (Oct. 6-7), Old Dominion (Oct. 19-20) and Southern Miss (Nov. 2-3) on the road.

The Sun Belt Tournament returns to Foley, Alabama, and will be held Nov. 15-19 at the Foley Sports Tourism Complex.

Louisiana is coming off a 15-13 season, the second under Gray’s guidance, which culminated in the program’s first-ever appearance in a national postseason tournament, taking part in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) in Edinburg, Texas.

During the 2022 season, the Ragin’ Cajuns picked up their signature non-conference win of Gray’s tenure with a straight sets sweep of the SEC’s Alabama at the TCU Horned Frog Invitational in September, were a Top 150 RPI team throughout the season and ranked Top 100 nationally in blocks. The team’s high-energy style of play attracted a single-season total attendance record (6,446) to Earl K. Long Gym.

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