LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky volleyball team used a stellar offensive performance to defeat LSU on Sunday in Lexington, Ky., 30-24, 30-28, 30-25.
The loss prevented the Tigers from its first 2-0 start in Southeastern Conference play since 1995. LSU is now 4-5 overall and 1-1 in league play. The Wildcats improved to 5-4 and 1-1 in SEC action.
“This is definitely a disappointing loss for us,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “We had a great opportunity to start 2-0 in the conference and get a leg up on the other teams in our division, but we couldn’t capitalize.”
LSU’s inability to block consistently and effectively contributed to the loss. Kentucky became just the second opponent to outblock the Tigers, doing so 8-5.
“We are a physical team,” said Flory. “We have to be a force blocking to be successful and we couldn’t do that today and Kentucky took advantage of that.”
Offensively, four Kentucky players hit for double-figure kills, led by April Barnhorst and Kristen Batt, who each had 12. As a team, the Wildcats recorded 57 kills en route to a .315 hitting percentage.
“You have to give credit to Kentucky offensively. They came out and spread the ball around nicely and really made it difficult on our defense,” Flory stated.
Kyra Lancon paced LSU, which hit .231, for the second time in three matches as she hit for 13 kills and a .375 hitting percentage. Meghan Bedford added 12 kills. Two-time All-SEC performer Meagan Davis turned in her least effective performance in the past two years, recording just five kills while hitting .000.
“We go as Meagan goes and that showed today,” said Flory. “She didn’t have her best game with her today and we couldn’t find enough weapons besides her to get a win.”
In game one, the Wildcats took an early lead at 8-7 and never looked back in taking a 30-24 game victory.
Kentucky rode the play of Barnhorst and Sarah Spinner in the game as the duo combined for 11 kills and a .391 attack percentage. The Wildcats offense was on fire, hitting .383 in the game. Meghan Bedford paced LSU with five kills on just eight attempts.
Early on in game two it was all Kentucky as the Tigers fell into an early 8-3 hole following a five-point run by the Wildcats. The lead hit double-figures at 19-9 before an LSU rally tied the game, 25-25. However, Kentucky responded by scoring five of the next seven points to take the game.
The Wildcat offense cooled off slightly in the game, hitting .283, but that bettered LSU’s .233 clip. Ann Koester and Sissy Canfield each had four kills to pace Kentucky while Lancon’s four kills led the Tigers.
The third stanza was close throughout as no team held a lead larger than five until the end. A trio of serving errors late in the frame plagued the Tigers and allowed Kentucky to take the closely contested game.
Lancon’s five kills led LSU while Batt sparked the Wildcat attack with six kills in the game.