BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball team came up a short against the Southeastern Conference Western division-leading Arkansas Lady Razorbacks on Thursday night in a 15-11, 5-15, 15-13, 15-11, loss.
LSU falls to 14-11 on the year with a 5-5 conference mark. No. 21 Arkansas improves to 19-5, 9-1 in the SEC.
“We didn’t do what we had to to win the match today,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “We missed a great opportunity to get a big win because they didn’t play particularly well.”
Arkansas, with the SEC’s third-best offense, was held to a .205 attack percentage on the evening by LSU. However, the Lady Razorbacks defended LSU to the tune of a .167 attack percentage.
The Tiger defense was led by Meagan Davis’ six blocks and Jennifer Hampton’s career high 22 digs. She was one of four players with double-digit digs on the evening.
The turning point in the match came in game three when LSU, who came back from down 12-5 in the game to force a 13-13 tie, was unable to capitalize on the momentum and dropped the crucial game three.
The Lady Razorbacks six blocks were the key in the keyed the game victory.
Kelly Thompson’s 20 kills led the LSU offense. She added 18 digs and 14 blocks as well.
“Kelly was our go-to player tonight. That is what I have been expecting of her all year and we have finally been able to accomplish that.”
Hampton’s 22 digs led all players and were a part of a double double with 12 kills.
“Jennifer played great defense tonight. For her to have as many digs as she did in the situations we were in and against the hitters she did is quite an accomplishment,” said Flory.
LSU will have a chance to redeem itself on Sunday when it travels to Fayetteville, Ark., for the return match.