BATON ROUGE — With the regular-season winding down, the LSU volleyball team travels to Athens, Ga., to take on the Georgia Bulldogs in the Ramsey Center on Friday at 6 p.m.
The Tigers (11-14, 6-6 SEC) are coming off a 3-1 win over Ole Miss on Sunday that closed out the 2003 home schedule. Georgia (14-10, 7-5 SEC) is currently tied for second in the SEC Eastern Division, but has lost three straight matches.
LSU stands in third place in the SEC Western Division, a game behind second-place Alabama. The Tigers have four matches remaining during the regular season, including the season finale showdown with the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa.
“The Georgia match is traditionally a great one for us,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “Each season this seems to be a turning point match. It is the impetus for us or for Georgia to get on a roll. It is always highly competitive and I think our players and their players look forward to it each year.”
The Tigers are 15-17 all-time against Georgia, including a 6-6 record in Athens. The pair has alternated wins over the last six matches, with each taking three. UGA won the last meeting, 3-1, in the SEC Tournament in 2002. During the 2002 regular season, LSU took a five-game match from the Bulldogs in Athens.
LSU is led by junior Regan Hood. The Carrollton, Texas, native leads the team in kills, kills per game, block solos and total blocks. In addition, she ranks second in the SEC in overall kills per game and fifth in kills per game and eighth in block per game in league games.
With 412 kills this season, she is only the second Tiger to record over 400 kills in a season since 1998. If she records 15 more kills, she will have the most kills by an LSU player since the 1996 season. In addition, she is just four blocks shy of 250 for her career.
Sophomore Megan Heinz leads the Tigers in blocks per game and hitting percentage. The middle blocker from Houston ranks fifth in the SEC in blocks per game and blocks per game in league games. Freshman Daniela Romero ranks eighth in the league in assists per game overall and in league games.
Alexandra Oquendo leads Georgia with a .356 attacking percentage, while also recording 3.44 kills per game and 1.03 blocks per game. Julia Petruschke leads the Bulldogs with a 4.31 kills per game average and Rashinda Reed averages a team-best 1.47 blocks per game.
The Tigers remain on the road, traveling to take on No. 3 Florida on Sunday. LSU will face the third-ranked Gators in the O’Connell Center at 12:30 p.m. The Tigers are currently 0-3 against nationally ranked teams this season, and all three teams are now ranked in the top 10.