BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball team looks to extend its winning streak to seven when it faces 19th-ranked South Carolina on Sunday in Columbia, S.C.
The Tigers (10-5, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) are fresh off a 3-0 victory over Rice on Friday while the Lady Gamecocks fell to Arkansas in tough fashion, 3-1, on Friday.
Recently, LSU has been on a roll having won eight of its last nine, including six straight.
The run has led LSU to a 5-1 Southeastern Conference mark, its best since 1992.
“South Carolina is a very, very good team,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “But I feel like we match up with them well and we have played enough good teams this year that we won’t be intimidated by them.”
LSU will look to its offense to carry it past South Carolina. The Tigers rank third in the SEC in hitting percentage, at .283. Leading the charge for LSU will be outside hitters Meghan Bedford, Jennifer Hampton and Kyra Lancon.
Bedford has been the most efficient of the group, hitting .237 on the year while averaging 3.15 kills/game. Hampton leads LSU with 3.32 kills/game en route to a .178 hitting percentage. Lancon has come on lately for a 3.14 kills/game and a .220 clip.
Setter Katie Kubena has been crucial to the Tigers offensive prowess, distributing the ball for 12.76 assists/game in conference action, which is second best in the SEC.
South Carolina is paced by a trio of All-SEC performers in Cally Plummer, Sam Alban and Berna Dwyer.
Plummer is among the top 10 in the conference in kills and service aces while Alban’s .355 hitting percentage places her eighth in the league. Dwyer, a two-time all-conference choice, is hitting .247 with 2.22 kills/game.