BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball team travels to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl Classic to take on No. 5 Nebraska and in-state rivals Tulane and New Orleans on Friday and Saturday at Fogelman Arena.
The Tigers (2-1) take on Tulane on Friday at 7 p.m. after the Nebraska-UNO match at 5 p.m. On Saturday, LSU begins play at 10:30 a.m. against the nationally ranked Cornhuskers before concluding tournament play at 5 p.m. against New Orleans. Tulane takes on UNO at noon and Nebraska at 7 p.m.
“The Sugar Bowl Classic is a valuable tournament in terms of the development of our team,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “The timing of it during the second week of the season helps us to address the concerns that we may have had following our opening weekend. Teams make most of their progress in the first two to three weeks of the season. Once you get into conference play you try to maintain that level of play, but the bulk of a program’s development is in the first two to three weeks.
The Tigers finished second in the Tiger Classic last weekend at home, sweeping Centenary and winning a marathon five-game match against UAB, with a loss to tournament champion Virginia. Junior Regan Hood and sophomore Megan Heinz were named to the all-tournament team for LSU.
Junior Beth Cowley and freshman Daniela Romero rotated in and out in all three matches at the setter position for the Tigers. This weekend, they will get a chance to run the offense for more extended periods of time to try and give LSU more consistency.
“We are going to try to get our offense running more efficiently and get in sync with our setters,” said Flory. “We need to see how each of our setters deals with running the show by themselves. Our hitters need to find a rhythm. We are looking for a lineup we feel more comfortable with. We played a bunch of people in the first week and we are looking for a more consistent lineup this weekend.”
Hood was named to the all-tournament team last weekend after leading the Tigers with 47 kills for a 4.27 kills per game average. The outside hitter posted her first collegiate double-double against UAB with 20 kills and 12 digs. She recorded double-figure kill marks in all three of LSU’s matches. In addition, she recorded seven blocks, 26 digs and tied the team-best with four service aces.
Heinz earned all-tournament honors after recording 31 kills, 13 blocks and 39 points. Against Virginia and UAB, she recorded back-to-back double-digit kills marks with 11 and 13 respectively. She also recorded seven blocks against UAB, including a match-best two block solos.
Nebraska enters the match ranked fifth nationally in both the USA Today/AVCA Coaches poll and the Volleyball Magazine poll. The Cornhuskers sport a 2-0 record after shutout victories over Clemson and Illinois.
Hosting the GW/Radisson Invitational last weekend, Tulane began the season 3-0 after defeating Nicholls State, Elon and Wright State. New Orleans is now 1-3 on the season after back-to-back losses to Butler and Southern Miss.
This will mark the 55th meeting between LSU and Tulane. The Tigers hold the 39-15 series advantage and have won nine of their last 10 meetings with the Green Wave, including three straight.
This is the 48th time LSU will take on New Orleans with the Tigers holding the resounding 45-2 series advantage. LSU will take on Nebraska for the sixth time, but for the first time since 1994. The Tigers have never defeated the Cornhuskers.
After the Sugar Bowl Classic, LSU travels to Manhattan, Kan., for the Wildcat Classic next weekend. There the Tigers will take on tournament host No. 14-ranked Kansas State, Colorado State, which is receiving votes in the national polls, and South Florida.