NEW ORLEANS — The LSU volleyball team lost a hard fought four-game match to Tulane, 30-20, 26-30, 31-29, 30-24, on Friday night at Fogelman Arena to open the Sugar Bowl Classic.
With the loss, the Tigers drop to 2-2 on the season. Tulane remains undefeated and improves to 4-0 on the year.
After dropping the first game, LSU fought back to tie the match at one game each. In the third game, the Tigers fought off three game points before falling to the Green Wave, 31-29. A 7-2 run midway through the fourth game sealed the fate for LSU as they fell to Tulane for the first time since a three-game loss in 2000.
“I thought this was going to be a five game match after the way it started,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory, “but we ended up giving it away. Credit Tulane for taking advantage of our mistakes, but we had poor execution. Our first contact ball control was lacking and we had too many errors. Tulane seized every opportunity and one the match.”
Regan Hood led the Tigers with 18 kills, while Cara Causey added 12. Hood and Causey also added three blocks each, as Megan Heinz led the team with four. Lauren Leaumont led the team with 14 digs, followed by Rachel Pittman with 12.
As a team, LSU hit .227 for the match, but only recorded one game with above a .200 hitting percentage. Defensively, the Tigers were outdug by the Green Wave, 63-50. In addition, LSU committed 13 service errors, compared to seven for Tulane.
“We lost Megan Heinz midway though the match and that really hurt us offensively,” said Flory. “We left her in the game for her blocking ability, but she was really not able to swing because of a sore shoulder.”
Heinz recorded seven kills for the Tigers through the first two games, but recorded only two in the final two games.
The Green Wave were led by Deva Fowler and Anastasia Kenon with 18 kills each, followed by Lindsey Norman with 11 and Iman Houston with 10. Fowler also knocked down a match-high five blocks. Karlyn Daly recorded a match-high 22 digs for Tulane.
The Tigers struggled early in game one with their serves, failing to get their first four service attempts in the court, but were able to keep the score close with kills by Hood and Heinz. With the score tied at six, Tulane went on an 8-2 run to jump out to a 14-8 lead.
LSU cut the Green Wave lead to three, 15-12, but could get no closer as Tulane used a 5-0 run and the Tigers were never able to recover. The Green Wave went on to take the first game, 30-20.
LSU came alive in the second game and jumped out early on Tulane, taking a 6-1 lead on a trio of Tiger kills and three Green Wave errors. With a 7-1 run, LSU extended its lead to 13-2, including back-to-back-to-back blocks by the Tigers.
LSU led by as many as 12 point, 21-9, before Tulane fought back using four service aces to cut the Tiger lead to three, 28-25. Kills by Causey and Leaumont gave LSU the game, 30-26 to even the match at two games each.
After recording only 10 kills, six digs and one block and the first game, the Tigers rebounded with 17 kills, 16 digs and four blocks in game two, hitting at a .378 clip compared to a .188 in game one.
Tulane came out of the locker room swinging, jumping out to the 5-1 lead. LSU went on a 3-0 run to cut the lead to 5-4 before taking the lead, 11-10, on a block by Hood and Heinz. Tulane would take the lead again and lead by as many as three, 20-17, before the Tigers would come back to tie the game at 20 on a pair of kills by Hood and a block by Heinz and Daniela Romero.
Trailing 26-23, LSU fought back to knot the game at 26 all. After the Green Wave went on a three-point run to send it to game point, the Tigers staved off three game points to tie the game at 29 before a Tulane kill and block gave the Green Wave the game, 31-29, and the two games to one advantage.
The fourth game was one of few runs as there were five ties and neither team saw more than a three-point lead until Tulane used a 7-2 run to take the five-point lead, 19-14. LSU got back to within two, 20-18, before the Green Wave went on a 3-0 run to retake the five-point advantage. Tulane went on to win the game, 30-24.
The Tigers return to action on Saturday against No. 5 Nebraska at 10:30 a.m. The Cornhuskers defeated New Orleans, 3-0, Friday night. LSU closes out the tournament with a 5 p.m. match against UNO.