BATON ROUGE — After falling to Arkansas in their Southeastern Conference opener on Wednesday, the Tiger volleyball team will be looking to rebound and even their league record against Tennessee on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Fox Sports will be on hand for the match, which will be televised tape delayed on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in Baton Rouge on cable channel 37. Fans are encouraged to come out early to enjoy the “Orange Spike Tailgate Party” at the Assembly Center featuring “Spike the Vols” cups and orange drinks.
“This is an important match for us,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We are one of only four teams that will have a home match televised this season. This should be an exciting match for the fans to enjoy. We really need for everyone to come out and show their support the team.
“After losing to Arkansas on Wednesday, it’s even more important now for us to come away with a win. We don’t want to put ourselves in an 0-2 hole in the SEC. Tennessee is a very good team, but one that we were successful against on the road last season.”
The Tigers (7-4, 0-1 SEC) took the first game against Arkansas, but the Lady’Backs rallied to win three straight to take the match from LSU. The Lady Vols (10-2) will be opening SEC play against the Tigers after defeating Appalachian State last Sunday, 3-0.
In typical fashion this season, LSU came out on fire to win the first game against Arkansas. The Tiger have not lost a first game this season, winning by an average of eight points. The Lady’Backs came back to dominate the second game, however, to even the match at a game apiece.
The third game remained even through most of the game. With the score tied at 28, Arkansas scored two straight points to take the one-game advantage.
The Lady’Backs used a 14-0 run in the fourth game to turn a two-point deficit into a 12-point lead. The Tigers rallied to cut the Arkansas lead to three points, 26-23, but in the end could not overcome the Lady’Back advantage, dropping the game and match.
Senior Katie Kubena became just the third player in LSU history to reach 3,000 career assists as she recorded 39 assists against the Lady’Backs. For her career, she now has 3,028 assists, behind only Dani Reis with 6,379 and Lauren O’Connor with 3,740.
LSU holds a 22-13 overall series advantage over Tennessee. The Tigers are also 9-3 against the Lady Vols in Baton Rouge, but has dropped two-straight to Tennessee at home. LSU defeated the Lady Vols, 3-1, to open SEC play last season in Knoxville, Tenn., ending a five-match Tennessee winning streak over the Tigers.
LSU will return to action on Tuesday, Oct. 1 against UNO at the New Orleans Arena at 7 p.m. The match is one of several that UNO is playing in the arena to prepare for the upcoming NCAA Final Four that will be played in the New Orleans Arena in December.