Shreveport – The Centenary volleyball team split a pair of non-conference matches on Saturday to close the "Country Cajun Classic" as the Ladies fell 3-1 to Texas A&M University-Texarkana and recorded a 3-0 sweep over Belhaven University at the Gold Dome.

The Ladies (2-2) split a pair of matches on Friday to open their regular season, defeating Millsaps 3-1 and dropping a 3-0 decision to Howard Payne. The tournament consisted of 14 matches covering two days and also featured Rhodes College and McMurry University.

Match one recap: Texas A&M University-Texarkana 3 Centenary 1

The Eagles (7-5) recorded a 25-23 victory in set one, posted an identical 25-23 win in set two before the Ladies posted a 25-18 win in set three. TAMU-T then closed out the match with a 25-15 win in the fourth set.

Centenary tallied 72 digs, 41 kills, 38 assists, and six service aces while TAMU-T finished with 76 digs, 47 kills, 45 assists, and 13 aces. For Ladies finished with 10+ digs with junior OH/DS Kiara Liedy (Sugar Land, Texas) leading the way with 16. Senior MB/OH Robin Lemelle (Liberty, Texas) had 14, sophomore DS/L Daly Nagot (Benton, La.) tallied 12, and sophomore S Meadow Smith (Mansfield, Texas) had 11 along with four kills and an ace.

Junior MB Elizabeth Canady (League City, Texas) led the Ladies in kills with 10 and Smith had a match-high 35 assists. Junior RS Jaylin St. Martin (New Orleans, La.) had nine digs, six kills, and one ace. Lemelle added four kills and one ace and freshman MB Bailee Henderson (Monroe, La.) had seven kills. Freshman MB/OH Reign McArthur (Midlothian, Texas) added three digs and two kills, freshman RS/S Victoria Larson (Royse City, Texas) had six kills and two digs, and freshman OH/DS Mackenzie Haley (Orange, Texas) had two kills and a dig.

The Ladies' largest lead in set one was 16-12 but seven-straight points gave the Eagles a 19-16 edge. Centenary answered with a 4-0 run to go ahead 20-19, but a 6-3 finish clinched the set for the Eagles. Centenary held a 23-20 edge in set two following a back and forth period but TAMU-T scored the final five points to win the set.

The third set was another tightly-contested battle which was tied at 17-17 and then the Ladies ran away down the stretch to win 25-18. The Eagles came out hot in set four and held a 5-1 lead but the Ladies cut their deficit to 7-6. The Eagles scored six-straight points to take a 13-6 lead and seven points was as close as the Maroon and White got the remainder of the set as the Eagles clinched the match with a 25-25 mark.

Match two recap: Centenary 3 Belhaven 0

The Ladies earned their second sweep of the tournament with a dominant win over the Blazers. Centenary took set one (25-20) and then won sets two and three by identical 25-14 scores. Centenary hit .333 in the first set with just three service errors compared to 12 kills in 27 total attacks.

Centenary finished with 45 digs, 33 kills, 31 assists, and seven aces while Belhaven totaled 39 digs, 25 kills, 21 assists, and two aces. The Blazers' best hitting % was in the first set (.233) with five errors and 12 kills in 30 total attacks. Meadow Smith had a match-high 26 assists and added eight digs, two kills, and one ace. Kiara Liedy had a team-high 12 digs with an ace and an assist.

Bailee Henderson and Elizabeth Canady each had seven kills, and Mackenzie Haley had five kills, five digs, and an assist. Daly Nagot had an impressive performance with a match-high four aces, seven digs, and a kill. Jaylin St. Martin tallied six digs and Victoria Larson finished with a team-best eight kills, two digs, and two assists. Reign McArthur chipped in three kills, a pair of digs, and an ace.

Set one was competitive early, tied 8-8 until the Ladies went on a run to take a 20-12 lead and win 25-20. Set two was a breeze for Centenary as the Maroon and White jumped out to a comfortable 11-1 advantage and led 22-10 before clinching its first of consecutive 25-14 wins. Set three followed a similar pattern, as the Ladies held leads of 11-1 and 22-10.

The Ladies remain at home next week as they face Wiley College (0-4) in a non-conference contest on Wednesday set for 6 p.m. in the Gold Dome.

"Country Cajun Classic" All-Tournament Team:  

Centenary: Meadow Smith

Belhaven: Ellie Jones

TXAMT: Katherine Toftemark

Millsaps: Anna Capezzera

McMurry: Jaycee Dinkins

Howard Payne: Rylee McAlexander

Rhodes: Yzzi Dsamou

See the complete Ladies' schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/wvball/2023-24/schedule

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