BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball team looks to complete a season sweep over Southeastern Conference foe Alabama at 7 p.m. on Friday in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The Tigers (13-9, 8-5 SEC) downed the Crimson Tide earlier in the year in a tough five-game match in Baton Rouge. Alabama (19-6, 9-4 SEC), the defending SEC Western Division champion, is currently one game ahead of LSU in the conference standings and Friday’s match will likely be for fourth-place in the league.
“There is no doubt that this is a big match,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “Both teams know what is at stake and will come out playing hard. We had a hard fought match against them earlier in the season and I expect Friday to be no different.”
The Crimson Tide has won three straight, and nine of their last 10 in climbing back into the conference race. LSU on the other hand has dropped three of its last four matches after winning 11 of 13 at one point this season.
“This match is huge for us in terms of getting back on the winning track,” noted Flory. “We have played some tough teams in the past couple of weeks and haven’t responded each time out. This is an opportunity for us to regain some momentum heading into the SEC tournament next week.”
Last season, the teams met three times with the Crimson Tide taking both regular-season meetings. LSU rebounded later in the year to pull off an upset over second-seeded Alabama in the first round of the SEC Tournament.
The Tigers will look to its middle blocking duo of Meagan Davis and Lauren Cuyler to shoulder the load. Davis and Cuyler each rank in the top 10 in the SEC in hitting percentage and blocks per game as they are hitting .383 and .381 while averaging 1.22 and 1.35 blocks, respectively.
LSU will also play at Auburn this weekend, taking on the Tigers on Sunday at 7 p.m.