BATON ROUGE — Freshman Kyra Lancon hit for 23 kills to lead the LSU volleyball team to a 34-32, 23-30, 30-21, 28-30, 15-12, victory over defending Southeastern Conference Western Division champion Alabama on Sunday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
With the win LSU (6-5, 3-1 SEC) continued its best start in league play since 1995, when the Tigers also began 3-1. Alabama (8-4, 2-2 SEC) dropped its second straight SEC match after beginning the conference slate with a pair of wins.
“It’s nice to beat Alabama in the regular season,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “This win helps us keep pace with Arkansas and pretty much control our own destiny in the SEC West race.”
The Tigers were on the brink of closing out the match in the fourth game, holding a 27-23 lead. However, the Crimson Tide refused to go away, scoring seven of the next eight points and forcing the deciding game.
In the fifth frame LSU turned to Lancon, who had four of her 23 kills in the game, to put away the Alabama.
“Kyra had a nice day. She became our go-to player at the end,” said Flory. “I told the team in the fifth game that we were going to try to set Kyra every chance we got and she responded to that challenge.
“I was happy that we were able to come back from losing the fourth game the way we did. I think we did a good job of controlling the fifth game and making plays to win it. We have worked hard on controlling the outcome of matches and today we did that.”
The LSU offense, which recorded a .263 hitting percentage, was anything but a one-woman show as three other players finished with double-figures in kills. Jennifer Hampton had 18 while Meghan Bedford and Meagan Davis ended up with 14 and 10, respectively.
“Bedford started well but became less of a factor as the match went on,” said Flory. “But I thought our outside hitters did a nice job and that is what we have to have happen to be successful.”
Alabama featured a two players with more than 20 kills as Erin Heffner and Jennifer Bibber both broke the plateau. Heffner’s 25 led all players while Bibber was just behind with 24.
The Tigers held the Crimson Tide to a .195 attack percentage with solid defense, recording a season-high 90 digs. Bedford, Katie Kubena and Lyndsey Benson led the way with 16 each while Jenny Greco and Davis had 15 and 14, respectively. Kubena also had 59 assists as she ran the LSU offense to near perfection.
“For us to have five players with double-digits in digs is a great statement for our defense, especially when you consider that our best defensive player, Jennifer Hampton, wasn’t one of them.”
Alabama established themselves early in the match and held a 27-22 lead in game one. Behind the blocking of Davis and Lauren Cuyler, the Tigers stormed back to tie it at 28-28 before battling for a 34-32 game victory.
Alabama answered right away by taking a closely contested game two. The Crimson Tide lead was just two, 23-21, until a four-point run broke the game open. LSU owned game three, taking a 19-10 lead midway through the stanza and coasting to the win, which put the Tigers up 2-1.
LSU returns to action on Friday when it faces Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., at 7 p.m.