Arkansas State volleyball took on the Ragin’ Cajuns in their first conference play away from home court, winning the first match before picking up their first loss in the next.

The first match opened with much of what Red Wolves fans had come to expect after their blowout wins against the University of Louisiana-Monroe (University of Louisiana Monroe). A-State’s offense slammed kill after kill through Louisiana’s defense, making quick work of the first match. But hidden behind this impressive offense was a defense that could not quite keep up. Although the set was won 25-16, future sets would not be nearly as easy.

Louisiana fought fire with fire in the second set, showing their offensive pressure. A-State’s attackers refused to back down, but their defense wasn’t enough to stop the Cajuns’ offensive momentum. Outpacing the Red Wolves offense, Louisiana took the second set 25-19.

Louisiana started the third set strong, securing a 7-2 lead before A-State called for a timeout. After some intense back-and-forth, A-State closed the gap to 20-20. Louisiana fought hard to protect their lead but struggled against A-State’s defense, which clamped up in crunch time. A-State secured a narrow 27-25 victory with their defense helping to take back the lead at 2-1.

As the offenses began to die down on both sides late in the match, both teams’ defenses showed up majorly. Both teams picked up four blocks in this set, totaling the most of any set. With the Red Wolves’ offense exhausted, they relied on their defense to outplay the Cajuns and win the final set 25-21, taking the match with a 3-1 victory.

A-State’s defensive play was a far cry from the impressive performance that they showed in their first matches of conference play. Both their digging and blocking game were significantly poorer, and although their standout players such as libero Mia Maloney and middle blocker Haley Glunz showed consistent play, they didn’t have their support.

Conversely, A-State’s offense was as powerful as ever. Setter Erin Madigan put up 29 assists and outside hitter Kaitlin Whitlock slammed 17 kills.

A-State started strong again in the second match, both offensively and defensively. Blocks and kills once again defined the Red Wolves’ play, bringing them a swift 25-18 victory in the first set.

Bouncing back from a rough opening, the Cajuns fired back hard in the second. An early 4-0 scoring run gave them an early 5-1 lead. However, A-State took it almost instantly with four kills and a block. Combined with a Louisiana service error, the Red Wolves took the lead 7-6. As the set progressed, the Cajuns’ offense started outpacing A-State and ultimately led Louisiana to a 25-21 victory in set two.

A-State held a narrow lead throughout the third set before Louisiana closed this gap with a 5-0 scoring run, temporarily securing a lead of 20-19. A-State took back the set with four kills and two aces, finishing set three with a 25-22 win.

A-State opened the fourth set with a 5-0 lead, which they kept and extended to 20-13. Despite the match being basically over, Louisiana propelled themselves back into the game with a scoring run of 5-1, closing the gap from seven to three in an instant.

This momentum was temporarily lost due to a Cajun service error and a block by A-State. Louisiana got a spark of life with a 6-0 scoring run that won them the set with 25-23 result.

Despite losing the fourth set with a late Cajun run, A-State started strong in set five with a 4-1 lead. But just like the previous sets, A-State couldn’t defend this lead and lost the set 12-15 to Louisiana.

Despite receiving their first conference loss of the year, the Red Wolves played a great game. They proved to be beyond good at establishing early leads and clearly have an explosive offense, but lack the defensive support to keep these leads against tougher opponents.

This defensive weakness needs to be overcome before Oct. 9-10 when they return home and face the Sun Belt Conference West Division leader South Alabama, leaving no room for error in their upcoming slate of games.

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