BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball team fell in the Tiger Classic in five tough games, 15-13, 15-13, 12-15, 12-15, 15-10, to Arkansas State on Friday night in the Tigers home opener.
The match, which lasted for 2 hours and 26 minutes, went back and forth as the Lady Indians jumped out to a two-game lead in the match after holding off LSU (3-4) in each. In each game, Arkansas State (7-2) hit for at least a .220 average while the Tigers could only manage a .180 clip.
However, coming back from the intermission between games two and three, a determined LSU team came up big defensively registering 32 digs in each game while allowing only a .104 and a .063 attack percentage as the Tigers rallied to knot the match at two games a piece.
However, in the rally-scoring game five, the Lady Indians were able to put the offense back together enough to escape the Pete Maravich Assembly Center with a victory.
LSU, which recorded 112 digs on the night for the fourth best performance in LSU history, was led defensively by defensive specialist Jenny Greco who had a match-high 23 digs. Outside hitter Jennifer Hampton notched 21 digs to go with her 13 kills, giving her a double-double for the second time in three matches. Middle blocker also picked up her second double-double of the season with a team-high 17 kills and a career-high 18 digs.
Arkansas State was led by five players with double-digit kills, three of whom recorded double-doubles on the night, Shauna Standart, Susanne Snipes and Nikki Guerra.
In the first match of the evening, Texas Tech held Southeastern Louisiana without a point in the first game en route to a 15-0, 15-13, 15-9, victory. Melissa McGehee led the Red Raiders with 14 kills and 18 digs while Mandy Withrow paced the Lady Lions with 14 kills and 17 digs, both team highs.
The round-robin action continues on Saturday with Arkansas State meeting Texas Tech at 10 a.m. and LSU facing Southeastern Louisiana in an All-Louisiana face off. The night session begins at 5 p.m. with Arkansas State and Southeastern Louisiana meeing. LSU and Texas Tech will square off in the night cap beginning at 7 p.m.