BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball team’s valiant effort against Southeastern Conference Western Division leader Alabama came up a bit short on Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center as the Tigers were on the losing side of a 15-8, 9-15, 15-13, 15-8 decision.
The loss drops LSU below the .500 mark at 11-12, including a 5-7 conference mark. Alabama improves to 19-6 overall and 9-3 in the SEC.
The turning point in the match came in game three with LSU leading 13-9. The Crimson Tide ran off six consecutive points to take the game and a 2-1 lead in the match.
“I think we gave this match away. We had the match won in game three and let (Alabama) off the hook,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “We relied on people to come through and they didn’t do it. We made too many errors in clutch situations. You can’t give away a lead like we did in game three and expect to win the match.”
The SEC leader in kills, Michele Green, sparked the comeback for Alabama as she hit for eight kills in the game.
Alabama won the match with its defense, racking up 97 digs en route to allowing LSU just a .133 attack percentage. The Crimson Tide also had nine blocks in the match.
“We battled and fought really hard against a good defensive team,” said Flory. “There were a lot of great long rallies. The difference in winning and losing the match was the long rallies and we didn’t win any of them. That means Alabama played better than us.”
Meagan Davis continued her hot play for the Tigers as she hit for a team-high 15 kills and .448 attack percentage. It is the third straight match she has recorded double-digit kills and hit at least .415.
Lauren Cuyler continued her dominance at the net as she notched seven blocks in the four games. With the performance, she ties Florida’s Nicole McCray for the league lead in blocks in SEC matches.
But the performance of the night belonged Erin Price of Alabama. She recorded 14 kills and a .387 attack percentage to go along with 16 digs and dix blocks for the Crimson Tide.
LSU will face Auburn on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.