STARKVILLE, Miss. — The LSU volleyball team snapped a three-match losing streak with a 15-11, 15-13, 12-15, 15-6, victory over Mississippi State on the road Sunday afternoon.
LSU improves to 11-11 overall and 5-6 in the Southeastern Conference. The Bulldogs fell to 14-12, including a 1-10 league mark.
“This is a nice comeback. Any win in the SEC on the road is important.” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “I don’t think this ensured us a spot in the SEC Tournament, but it gives us the opportunity to play our way in at home.”
The Tigers won the match at the net as they blocked back 16 State attacks in just the four games. The Bulldogs outkilled and outdug LSU in a losing effort. The Tigers tough serving, which produced 10 aces, was also crucial in the match.
“Our serving was very good. We did a good job of disrupting their offense with our serves. We have to be a serving and blocking team to be successful and it showed today,” said Flory.
Middle blocker Lauren Cuyler turned in a stellar performance for the Tigers as she hit for a team-high 14 kills to go along with a career-high 11 blocks. Fellow middle blocker Meagan Davis was close behind with 10 kills en route to a .417 attack percentage for the match. She added eight digs.
“I think Cuyler did a great job blocking today. That was very significant in the match,” Flory said. “Meagan was quietly effective as she has been so many times in her career. But she did a nice job for us.”
In game one, LSU relied on stingy defense as the Tigers recorded 18 digs and four blocks and held the Bulldogs to a .043 attack percentage. Individually, Cuyler led the way with four kills and three blocks. Davis was the defensive stopper with five digs.
LSU raced out to a 6-2 lead in game two only to have Mississippi State battle back to take a 13-11 lead. However, the Tigers ran off four unanswered points to take a two-games-to-none lead. Cuyler again paced LSU as she recorded five kills and three blocks in the game. Davis added four kills on just seven attempts as well as two blocks.
Mississippi State looked to rally in game three as the Bulldogs quickly took a 4-0 advantage in the game and led 7-3 at one point. The Tigers fought back to eventually take a 9-8, but could not hold off State as the match was forced to a fourth game.
Game four started close early with the Bulldogs holding a slight 4-3 lead on the beginning. However, LSU recorded 10 unanswered points to put the match away.
LSU will be back home for the first time in three weeks on Friday when it hosts SEC West-leading Alabama at 7 p.m.