BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball, 11-12 on the year, team looks to climb back to the .500 mark when it faces Auburn in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Tigers are coming off a hard-fought 15-8, 9-15, 15-13, 15-8 loss to Alabama in which LSU had every opportunity to win, but was unable to capitalize. Auburn (12-13, 2-9 Southeastern Conference) is fresh off a 15-9, 15-9, 15-11 loss to defending SEC Western Division champion Arkansas, its fourth straight loss.
“Both teams are coming off tough losses on Friday night, so the key to the match will be which team can regroup the best and be prepared to play,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “Auburn has a lot of good players that can hurt you in different ways. Trying to contain them offensively will be a huge factor in determining the outcome of this match.”
The top player for the visiting Tigers will be outside hitter Jaunelle Hamilton, who blistered LSU for 19 kills, 18 digs and seven blocks the teams meeting earlier this season, which LSU won in five games.
Middle blocker Lauren Cuyler will attempt to shut down the explosive Hamilton. Cuyler is averaging 1.55 blocks/game in SEC matches, which is atop the league, despite the fact that she did not move to middle blocker until three matches into the conference season.
Offensively, the Tigers will counter with middle blocker Meagan Davis, who has been on a tear in her past three matches. Davis has hit for double-digit kills en route to a .417 attack percentage or better in that stretch. At Auburn earlier in the year, she notched 16 kills while hitting .536.