BATON ROUGE — In the first match of a crucial Southeastern Conference weekend for the LSU volleyball team, the Tigers dropped a hard fought match to the Auburn Tigers 15-11, 15-11, 9-15, 15-13.
“I think we fought really hard,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “But we made errors at key times and gave away great opportunities. I liked our fight and our intensity.”
The win propels Auburn (13-6, 3-3 SEC) into sole possession of second in the SEC Western division while dropping LSU (10-10, 2-4) into a third place tie with Sunday’s opponent Alabama. Auburn narrowly out-hit and out-blocked the home-standing Tigers in the contest. The visitors hit for a .242 attack percentage while holding LSU to .214. Auburn also held the blocking advantage 12-8.
LSU was led by freshman Jennifer Hampton who led the team in kills with 20 and in digs with a career high 19.
Senior Kelly Thompson recorded her third double-double of the year with 17 kills and 12 digs. Thompson led the team with five blocks.
Meagan Davis continued her hot streak as she hit for 12 kills en route to a .360 attack percentage. Davis has now hit at least .333 in nine straight matches.
The visiting Tigers took control of the match early in game one and held off a late LSU charge to win the game. Auburn out-hit the home-standing Tigers .244 to .083 in the telling statistic of the game.
“I think the difference was we came out tentatively and they came out aggressively and we were constantly fighting back instead of playing ahead and we are not a team that needs to do that,” said Flory.
LSU took an early lead in game two only to see it erased by quickly by Auburn. As the game progressed, Brooke McCarley’s seven kills sparked the Auburn offense to victory and a two-game lead.
“We took control of the match in the middle, but we allowed them to take control right back and that got us in a dog fight. The person who was going to execute in the end was going to win,” said Flory.
In game four, each team came out firing and posted their best hitting percentages of the game: .288 for Auburn and .294 for LSU. Tied at 13-13, Auburn stepped up and took control for the final two points to earn the win.
“They did a better job after the 10-point mark in game four than we did and that is why they got the win.”
LSU will face Alabama on Sunday afternoon in the PMAC at 2 p.m.