BATON ROGUE — After dominating Centenary, 30-23, 30-16, 30-14, in their season opener, the LSU volleyball team fell, 30-21, 30-23, 30-23, to Virginia in the final match of the opening day of the Tiger Classic at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Friday.
The Tigers will conclude the tournament with a match against UAB at 1 p.m. on Saturday immediately following the 11 a.m. match between Virginia and Centenary. UAB posted a 1-1 record on the first day of the tournament, dropping a 3-0 decision to Virginia before sweeping Centenary, 3-0, in the nightcap.
Admission to the tournament is free to the public and fans are encouraged to stop by prior to the LSU football season opener against UL-Monroe at 7 p.m.
In the first match, redshirt freshman Markeisha Constant led the Tigers with a .556 (11-1/19) hitting percentage, one of four freshmen to see action in the match, as LSU hit at a .336 (56-17/116) clip for the match. Sophomore Cara Causey paced the Tigers with eight blocks and 17 points, while racking up 12 kills. Junior Regan Hood led the team with 14 kills.
“I think we had some first game jitters,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “I think we were pretty efficient offensively to have that many young kids out there for our first match. To hit over .330 is a pretty good start for us.”
Despite preseason injuries, LSU setters Beth Cowley and Daniela Romero combined for 52 assists while splitting playing time. In addition, Cowley added 11 digs for her second collegiate double-double. Rachel Pittman led the team with 13 digs.
“A lot of teams self destruct with young kids out there, but we did a nice job of managing our offense,” said Flory. “Danijela did a great with that and with putting our hitters in the right situations.”
With six players with two or more blocks LSU outblocked the Ladies, 10-2. Centenary hit only .036 (26-22/111) for the match, led by nine kills from Ashley Templer.
In the nightcap, the Tiger offense could not convert like it had in the first match, hitting only .059 (44-36/136). Conversely, Virginia hit at a .305 (43-11/105) clip, an improvement from its .239 in its first match.
“As well as we played offensively in the first match, we played just as bad in the second,” said Flory. “Our setters did a good job of running the offense but our outside hitters did not put the balls away and did not play well in transition.”
Once again, Hood led the team with 13 kills. She also paced the team with 15 points. Sophomore Megan Heinz recorded 11 kills and a career-high four blocks for 13.5 points.
Pittman led the team with 11 digs, while Romero recorded season-best 30 kills with seven digs.
Paige Davis led the Cavaliers with 13 kills and 14.5 points, while Alexis Geocaris paced Virginia with nine kills and 10 points.
“With the youth on the team, we are still in the early stages of the learning curve,” said Flory. “We have the opportunity to get better every time we step out on the court. We need to put this game behind us and prepare for our next match and our next opportunity to improve.”
Game 3: UAB def. Centenary, 31-29, 30-25, 30-18
BATON ROUGE — Playing without senior outside hitter Martina Shields who suffered from flu-like symtoms, the UAB Blazers (1-1) evened their record at the Tiger Classic by defeating Centenary (0-2), 31-29, 30-25, 30-18, on Friday evening at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
UAB struggled hitting at only .172 (52-29/134), but took advantage of Centenary’s .025 attack percentage to run away with its first win of the season.
Senior middle blocker Karen Boyd led the Blazers with 18.5 points on 12 kills, three service aces and three block assists. Breanne Swenson had a game-high 13 kills for UAB, but added 12 attack errors in 33 attempts. Freshman middle blocker Cassi Ociesa led the Blazers with a .583 attack percentage (8-1/12) and also had three block assists.
Centenary failed to hit better than .185 in any of the three games, as Tracee Byrd and Ashley Templer led the Ladies with seven kills each. The Ladies looked to have had game one in hand late, but allowed UAB to come from behind and take control of the match.
Please check back for complete evening coverage of the Tiger Classic.
Game 2: LSU def. Centenary, 30-23, 30-16, 30-14
BATON ROUGE — Led by redshirt freshman Markeisha Constant and sophomores Cara Causey and Regan Hood, the LSU volleyball team hit .336 (56-17/116) on its way to a season-opening victory over in-state opponent Centenary, 30-23, 30-16, 30-14, in the second game of the 2003 Tiger Classic on Friday.
LSU (1-0) takes on Virginia (1-0) in the nightcap of the six-match classic. UAB (0-1) and Centenary will square off at 5 p.m., with the final two matches of the weekend scheduled for Saturday morning.
Centenary fell to 0-1, as the Ladies hit only .036 in the match (26-22/111).
Constant paced the Tigers with a .526 hitting percentage (11-1/19) and 12.0 points, while Hood led the team with 14 kills. Causey added 12 kills and a .348 attack percentage (12-4/23) with two solo and six block assists for 17.0 points.
Despite injuries that threatened the start of their 2003 season, LSU setters Beth Cowley and true freshman Daniela Romero combined for 52 assists as the two split time running the efficient LSU offense. Cowley picked up 11 digs as well, while libero Rachel Pittman led the team with 13.
LSU outblocked the Ladies, 10-2.
Game 1: Virginia def. UAB, 30-24, 30-24, 31-29
BATON ROUGE — Behind 12 kills and a .706 attack percentage by junior co-captain Shannon Boyle, the Virginia volleyball team opened the 2003 Tiger Classic with a 30-24, 30-24, 31-29 victory over UAB on Friday morning in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU and Centenary are underway in game two of the six-match classic.
Virginia (1-0) took dominating leads in the first two games of the match before coming from behind to win the third game. UAB (0-1) lost the first match of its 2003 season after recording a .139 attack percentage (49-30/137).
Boyle’s 12 kills in 17 attempts came without an error, as the scored 12.5 points to lead the Cavaliers. Teammate Alexis Geocaris added 12.0 points with nine kills in 22 attempts and three blocks. Libero Whitney Ashcraft had a match-high 19 digs.
UAB was led by three players with 13.0 points, including Martina Shields, Karen Boyd and Lindsey Carnohan. Boyd, a 6-1 senior, hit .417 (12-2/24) and tied a team-high with 12 kills.