NEW ORLEANS — Powerful hitting by Kyra Lancon and strong blocking by Cara Causey led the LSU volleyball team past UNO, 30-23, 30-28, 30-28, in the New Orleans Arena on Tuesday night.
The Tigers (9-4) return to Southeastern Conference action at home on Friday against Kentucky at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. New Orleans falls to 7-10 on the year after losing to LSU for the second time this season.
“We are fortunate to come away with a win tonight,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “A win is a win, but it is hard to win when you have uncharacteristically poor performances from your more consistent players.”
Jennifer Hampton led the Tigers with 14 kills and 15 digs, despite hitting just .045 from the floor. Lancon turned in her best performance of the season with 13 kills, while hitting at a .375 clip.
Causey also recorded double figures with 10 kills and tied the season-high with seven blocks as the Tigers recorded nine blocks in the match. Jenny Greco had 15 digs for the Tigers, while Rachel Vogt added five blocks.
“I thought Kyra did a great job for us tonight. Cara Causey did some great things early and really set the tone for our team to open the match. They did a good job adjusting to her later on and we did not counteract that.”
Hood led the Tigers past the Privateers in the first game. With LSU leading 18-14, a pair of kills and an ace by Hood combined with two attacking errors by UNO improved the Tiger lead to seven, 22-15.
The Privateers put together a rally on poor hitting by LSU to cut into the Tiger lead, 22-19. Kyra Lancon came alive to spark LSU with three kills, helping the Tigers take the game, 30-23.
In the second game, UNO came out and controlled the points early, scoring eight points on kills and giving up four points on errors. With the Privateers leading 9-8, the Tigers took control and used a 14-8 run to take a five-point lead, their largest of the game.
UNO edged back in the game with scrappy play, poking everything over the net and the LSU did not answer. The Privateers cut the Tiger lead to one, 24-23 but a pair of key blocks by Rachel Vogt and Cara Causey and a hitting error by UNO opened the lead to four points.
The Privateers would not go away, however, fighting back to tie the game at 28 before a kill by Katie Kubena and an attacking error by UNO gave LSU the win, 30-28.
The Tigers came out and were out of rhythm to start the third game with Beth Cowley at setter for the first time this season. Falling behind 11-7, LSU began to put it together and scored seven straight to take a 14-11 lead.
“It was also good to get some playing time for Beth Cowley in the third game,” said Flory. “I thought she did a great job of running our offense.”
After UNO tied the game at 15, LSU build a three-point lead, 20-17 and held that lead until a Privateer rally tied the game at 24. With the game against tied at 28, the Tigers got a kill by Hampton and one by Lancon to seal the win.