BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball team closed out the 2003 home schedule with a 22-30, 30-26, 30-22, 30-28 win over Ole Miss on Sunday afternoon in the Maravich Center.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 11-14 overall and 6-6 in Southeastern Conference play. The loss dropped the Lady Rebels to 5-22 overall and 3-9 in league play.
“It was vital for us to comeback and win this match today,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We had lost a lot of our consistency and our confidence after our loss on Friday night and it continued in the first game today. We had to struggle to get into the match, but we were patient in the first game and we gradually got our confidence back.
“You can’t lose your confidence this late in the season and be successful. I think it is a tribute to this team that we were able to show our resiliency and regain our confidence and get back into the match.”
Junior Regan Hood led the Tigers with 16 kills, she also added six blocks and five digs. Sophomore Megan Heinz was one kill shy of her career-high with 15, while leading the team with a career-high tying 10 blocks. In addition to recording her second career double-double, she hit at a team-best .429 clip.
Freshman Kassi Mikulik also recorded 15 kills, while recorded 10 digs for the second double-double of her career. Freshman Lauren Leaumont also recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs. She now has a team-best eight double-doubles on the season.
Junior Rachel Pittman led the team with 18 digs, while freshman Daniela Romero had a double-double with 11 digs and 53 assists. Freshman Markeisha Constant added five blocks for the Tigers in three games played.
“Megan Heinz was huge for us today,” said Flory. “With Regan (Hood) and Kassi (Mikulik) not a full strength, it was important for Megan to come back and have a special performance for us today. She was more mobile than she has been since she was injured and that showed. Lacey (Galliano) was also key for us. She had a great performance for us on Friday night and came back to do the same today. It’s important for us to have our young kids step up when we need them.”
Elena Garcia led Ole Miss with 20 kills, followed by Rachel Refenes with 20. Karla Zschau led the Lady Rebels with 17 digs, while Jillian Ohrman had a team-best nine blocks.
In the first game, the Tigers fell behind quickly, 10-5. Ole Miss extended its lead to 14 points, 24-10, before LSU began a comeback. The Tigers went on a 10-2 run to cut the Lady Rebel lead to just six, 26-20, but could get no closer. With Ole Miss leading 28-22, the Lady Rebels scored back-to-back points to take the first game, 30-22.
In the second game, LSU would take a series of four-point leads before Ole Miss would battle to tie the game. With the match tied at 18, the Lady Rebels went on a 5-1 run to take the 23-19 lead. The Tigers then scored seven straight to take the lead, 26-23. Ole Miss would get no closer than two the rest of the way as LSU tied up the match on a kill by Mikulik, 30-26.
With the scored tied at 10 in the third game, the Tigers used a 9-3 run to take a six point advantage to pull away from the Lady Rebels. Ole Miss would get it back to four, 20-16, before LSU pulled away and took the third game, 30-22, on a kill by Mikulik.
In the fourth game, the Lady Rebels led by as many as eight, 17-9, before the Tigers steadily cut into the Ole Miss lead. LSU went on a pair of 3-0 runs and a pair of 4-0 runs to tie the game at 24. The game would be tied four more times. At 28-28, the Tigers scored on an error by the Lady Rebels before a kill by Heinz gave LSU the game and the match, 30-28.
The Tigers will be on the road the remainder of the regular season. LSU will travel to take on Georgia in Athens, Ga., next Friday at 7 p.m. ET before traveling to Gainesville, Fla., to take on No. 3 Florida on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET.