BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball team will face it’s toughest test of the season on Friday night when it faces 10th-ranked Florida in Gainesville, Fla., at 7 p.m. EDT.
The Gators (15-3, 7-0 Southeastern Conference) have won nine consecutive matches, seven of which have been in SEC play. The Tigers (10-8, 4-3) are riding a three-match win streak of their own.
“Florida is the toughest road match in the SEC,” said LSU coach Fran Flory of the challenge her team faces on Friday. “But it will be a great opportunity for us. We will have to step to the next level to be able to beat them.”
Dating back to 1991, the Gators have only lost two regular-season conference matches, one coming to LSU in that 1991. However, this years Florida team has three new starters from last season’s NCAA South Regional Final team.
“They are young. They give you some points that a typical Florida team hasn’t in the past,” said Florida. “As far as level of play, they are not what they were last year, but they are head-and-shoulders better in terms of athletically than they ever have been.”
In LSU’s two other matches against teams currently ranked in the top 20 (Santa Clara, Wisconsin), LSU has competed well, yet have been unable to get over the hump that comes with beating a top team.
“I think our team believes we can beat these teams. For us to truly understand and have faith in what we are trying to accomplish, we have to knock somebody off,” noted Flory. “Certainly everyone wants to knock off Florida in the SEC.”
The Tigers will count on current SEC Player of the Week Meghan Bedford to continue her hot play and lead them in the match against the Gators.
“I hope Meghan Bedford can carry the load for us,” Flory said. “I think part of her success in the past two weeks is that people haven’t expected it of her. Now they will be keying stopping her. If she can take another step up and be that effective against people that are geared up to stop her, then she is going to be a factor in the SEC for a long time.”
With the emergence of Bedford in the past few weeks, it has helped to balance the Tiger offense as it has put up impressive offensive numbers in the past few matches.
“The key will be for us to maintain our balance on offense. We can’t only set Meghan. We need to have our middles involved in the offense.”
LSU will also face Georgia on the road trip as it meets the Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. EDT.