KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The LSU volleyball team will begin its Southeastern Conference schedule on Friday when it travels to Knoxville, Tenn., for a clash with the Tennessee Lady Vols at 6 p.m. CDT.
The Tigers (3-4) will be looking to break out of a slump against the Lady Vols, having fallen to them in the teams’ past five meetings. They will also be trying to break their streak of having lost five consecutive SEC openers.
The Tigers are fresh off a 3-0 win over in-state rival UL-Lafayette on Tuesday in which redshirt freshman Kyra Lancon had her break-out game with 12 kills.
The Lady Vols are coming off a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to Louisville, which was also played on Tuesday. Tennessee was up two-games-to-one before falling to the Cardinals.
Leading the way for LSU will be two-time All-SEC selection Meagan Davis, who leads the team in hitting percentage at .434 while ranking second on the squad in kills per game and blocks per game with 2.9 and 1.1, respectively.
Junior defensive specialist Jenny Greco should spark the defense, as she notched double-figures in digs in four of the past five matches. She led the squad in four of those matches.
Senior Meghan Bedford will be looking to build on her eight-kill, eight-dig and eight-block performance against ULL on Tuesday. Last season, she lit up the Lady Vols for 24 kills, while contributing nine digs and six blocks.
After traveling to Knoxville by bus, the Tigers will bus to Lexington, Ky., for a 1 p.m. CDT Sunday match before taking the 15-hour ride back to Baton Rouge and arriving in the early hours of Monday morning.