BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball team fought off three match points to defeat UAB, 30-24, 26-30, 17-30, 30-14, 22-20, in the final match of the Tiger Classic on Saturday afternoon in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 2-1 on the season, while UAB dropped to 1-2 on the year. LSU will now travel to New Orleans to take on No. 7 Nebraska, New Orleans and Tulane in the Sugar Bowl Classic at Fogelman Arena next weekend.
For their efforts, Tiger junior Regan Hood and sophomore Megan Heinz were named to the Tiger Classic All-Tournament team. Hood led the team with 47 kills in three matches, averaging 4.27 a game. She also recorded 26 digs and seven blocks. Heinz recorded 31 kills and 13 blocks in the three matches.
After winning the first game 30-24, the Tigers fell behind 2-1 as UAB used poor hitting by LSU to dominate the Tigers in the third game. LSU rallied back to dominate the Blazers in game four and send the match to a decisive fifth game.
“I was really pleased with the way we did not give up today,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “When you have young players on the court, it may be very easy to just fall apart once you get down and our team did not do that today. They fought back when they were down and came away with the victory.”
After falling behind early, 7-4, the Tigers rallied back to tie the game at nine. The game would be tied again at 10 before LSU took a 13-10 lead and looked to close out the match. A rally by UAB tied the game at 13 all before a kill by Lauren Leaumont gave the Tigers their first game point.
The Blazers fought off game point three times before a service error by UAB’s Jenna Link and an attacking error by Lindsay Coleman gave LSU the victory 22-20.
“When it came down to needing someone to step up when we needed a rally to either tie the game or take the lead, no one let us down in that fifth game,” said Flory. “Everyone did their jobs and we were able to be successful.”
Hood led the match with 20 kills for the Tigers. She also had 12 digs for the first double-double of her career. Leaumont also posted 11 kills and 15 digs for her first collegiate double-double. Two others were posted double-figure kill totals as Heinz had 13 and Cara Causey posted 10.
LSU also outblocked the Blazers, 16-14, led by eight blocks by Causey and seven by both Heinz and Leaumont. Hood and Daniela Romero both recorded three service aces for the Tigers in the match. Rachel Pittman led LSU with 19, while Leaumont had 15 and Hood had 12.
Game 5: Virginia def. Centenary, 30-20, 30-18, 30-7
BATON ROUGE — Virginia completed the Tiger Classic with a 3-0 record, as the Cavaliers handed Centenary (0-3) a 30-20, 30-18, 30-7, loss in morning action of the second day of the Tiger Classic.
Virginia (3-0) put forth an amazing .433 attack percentage (54-9/104) that included only nine hitting errors. The Cavaliers committed only three errors in the first and third games combined.
Paige Davis led Virginia with 18.0 points scored on a .565 attack percentage (15-2/23) including 15 kills, two block assists and two service aces.
Virginia had 10 service aces, but also committed 10 service errors — one more than their total attack errors for the match.
Centenary struggled against the strong attack to hit only .080 (24-16/100), as Kim Gladu led the team with seven kills for a .353 attack percentage. Ashley Templer scored 8.5 points on six kills, three block assists and one solo block. She had a game-high 11 digs as well.
The Ladies hit a team-best .237 in game one, but couldn’t match the .512 percentage by Virginia in the opening game.
Tiger Classic All-Tournament Team
Shannon Boyle, Virginia
Kristin Chaney, Virginia
Megan Heinz, LSU
Regan Hood, LSU
Karen Boyd, UAB
Ashley Templer, Centenary
MVP – Paige Davis, Virginia