Setting a standard: DeCambra flourishing with Ragin’ Cajuns | News, Sports, Jobs

The junior setter for the University of Louisiana women’s volleyball team did indeed lead the NCAA Division I ranks at the time and she is still among the national leaders, checking in at 18th in total assists (769) and 51st in assists per set (9.99) in statistics on NCAA.com on Monday.

“So, I was actually in the library, I was walking with one of my teammates and I saw the (social media) post and I was, like, ‘Is this for real? Are you joking?’ “ DeCambra said last week via Zoom. “Because it said nation, so I searched it up on NCAA and looked at all the stats and I saw my name and I was, like, what the … yeah.

“I was so shocked and my teammates were next to me and they were screaming, ‘Oh my god, in the nation.’ It was just a really good feeling.”

The Baldwin High School graduate is enjoying her time with the Ragin’ Cajuns — she is currently third in total assists and assists per set in the Sun Belt Conference.

Siena DeCambra celebrates a point during Louisiana’s win over Prairie View A&M on Sept. 16.

While going back and forth over her four college seasons between 5-1 and 6-2 offenses, she has become a team leader as the lone setter most of the time this season for UL, which is 12-10 overall and 3-5 in the West division of the Sun Belt.

“I don’t know how to put it into words, but I guess it’s just how we’ve been playing, everybody’s been busting their butts, trying to get up every ball for me to put up a good set, which makes me really confident when I’m setting and running my offense so that my hitters can hit the ball,” DeCambra said. “So, I think everybody is just doing a great job to just do good. Really fun, super fun.”

DeCambra played her first season of college volleyball for Odessa (Texas) Junior College and when her coach there, Kristi Gray, was named the new coach for UL, DeCambra’s volleyball journey made its way to Lafayette, La., too.

DeCambra led Odessa in assists in leading the Wranglers to a sixth-place finish in the 2021 JC national tournament and she hasn’t slowed down.

In her 2021 COVID season with the Ragin’ Cajuns, she led the team and finished in the top five in assists in the Sun Belt Conference. Last season in a primarily 6-2 attack where assists are shared among two setters, she still piled up 506 assists.

Louisiana setter Siena DeCambra sets the ball in front of middle Kara Barnes during a win over New Orleans on Sept. 15.

“Siena has run a 5-1 for the majority of this season, there’s only been a couple times that we’ve switched to a 6-2,” Gray said. “Just seeing her grow in these four years as a player and a person, I mean it’s been fun to watch her. And she’s done a phenomenal job. I think she’s had the most growth just in this season and you never know what they’re capable of until you put them in that position.

“Since Siena’s played for me, she’s always run a 6-2 up until this year and she has done a great job in this 5-1 position, just running the court.”

Last season DeCambra ran the 6-2 plan with junior Reta Kotaman, who is from, Budapest, Hungary, and is now playing professionally in Europe.

“Everybody can get in a groove and a flow when you do run that 5-1 and I think that’s been most beneficial for us because Siena has done a great job with it,” Gray said. “As a volleyball player just in these last few months we’ve seen a lot of growth because she has been put in a position to where she is running the offense by herself and I think she’s done a great job with that. Not everybody can handle running a 5-1 from a physical and mental standpoint.”

Gray would at times like more vocal leadership from her setter, but DeCambra’s poise on the court speaks for itself.

“She’s done a great job, numbers have proven that,” Gray said. “Siena has grown a lot as a person as well — she’s still very quiet at times, but she’s just a peaceful person to be around.”

DeCambra admits, “I’m still really quiet at times, but I’ve gotten really better at it and having conversations with people and being more social and I think it’s helped me in a way to become more of a leader on the court.”

Two Maui teammates who played with DeCambra at Odessa are still playing college volleyball — libero Nanna Inouye is at Chaminade and outside hitter Lyric Love is at Jacksonville University. All three are starters.

“We still comment on our social media posts, like, when we see us accomplishing big things, we’ll reach out to each other and say, ‘OMG, congratulations, like, you’re doing so good, hope you’re doing well,’ but other than that I haven’t really seen them in person in a while,” DeCambra said. “But I do really miss them. It’s nice to see that Hawaii people can just play wherever they want throughout the nation and still make such a big impact in the volleyball world.”

DeCambra has chosen to use her final season of eligibility next year before she plans to go to beauty school to be an esthetician. Her sister Jayla, who played at Hawaii Pacific, is now a hair stylist on Maui.

“I actually decided when I came back in the summer that I’m going to be taking my fifth year here, so she’s going to have me for one last year,” DeCambra said with an eye towards Gray.

Lafayette, La., is not that different than Wailuku where DeCambra grew up, she said. Crawfish is her favorite Louisiana food, though she does miss the food back home.

“I’m really comfortable, it’s not that much of a difference, just that there’s no beaches,” she said. “The food, but the food is still good. So, it’s not that much of a change and everybody here is really nice and just easy to talk to.”

* Robert Collias is at [email protected].