BATON ROUGE — Riding a five-match winning streak, the LSU volleyball team returns home to open Southeastern Conference play against Georgia on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Center.
After the Tiger Classic was cancelled due to Hurricane Ivan last weekend, the Tigers (8-1, 0-0 SEC) were forced to travel to Dallas, Texas, last weekend, where the team thrived. LSU’s outstanding performance saw the Tigers defeat Miami, SMU and Wisconsin-Milwaukee, all teams that posted 20-win seasons in 2003.
The Bulldogs (7-2) come in riding a similar streak, having won six straight after falling to a pair of top 10 teams in the first weekend of the season.
“I think that opening SEC play at home is very important,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We are happy to be home this weekend, especially after our chance to play at home last weekend. This is a vital weekend for us. Georgia is a much-improved team from last year. They are very physical and match up with us well stature wise.”
Having posted 99 wins in her seven seasons with the Tigers, Flory needs just one more win to record her 100th win as the LSU head coach. As the third winningest head coach in Tiger volleyball history, she is 29 wins behind former LSU head coach Ruth Nelson. In 14 seasons as a head coach, Flory has won 209 match, including stints at Kentucky and Southeastern Louisiana.
This season, LSU has stepped up in all aspects of its game, especially defensively. The Tigers rank second in the league in blocks per game and 22nd nationally. Junior transfer Ivana Kuzmic, who is the SEC Defensive Player of the Week, ranks 11th in the NCAA in blocks per game with 1.74.
Averaging almost a dig per game more than a year ago, LSU has improved on its ball handling and passing this season, which has led to better hitting efficiency. The Tigers swing at a .243 team clip, as opposed to the .171 team mark last season.
“We will have to play well to be successful,” said Flory. “I think that we are prepared and knowledgeable of what we need to do. It is important that we go out and executed our game plan. The bottom line is we need to take care of our side of the court. We have to take care of the ball and if we do that effectively, then we feel very comfortable that we can be successful.”
Georgia ranks fourth in the league in both digs and blocks, as the Bulldogs are led by junior middle blocker Alexandra Oquendo with 4.03 kills per game, a .391 hitting percentage and 1.29 blocks per game.
LSU and Georgia are tied in the all-time series at 17 wins each. The Tigers lead the series in Baton Rouge, 9-6, but have lost the last two meetings with the Bulldogs, both away from home.
On Sunday, LSU returns to action at home against No. 5 Florida at 1:30 p.m. The match will be televised on tape delay on Cox Sports Television at 8:30 p.m. The Gators have won and NCAA record 130 consecutive regular season conference matches, and the Tigers have not defeated Florida since 1991.