BATON ROUGE — After stepping out of Southeastern Conference play against Rice on Tuesday, the LSU volleyball team returns to league play this weekend against Mississippi State on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Maravich Center.
The Tigers (9-3, 1-1 SEC) will also match up with Ole Miss on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the Maravich Center to close out the weekend. Last week, LSU swept Georgia, 3-0, before falling to No. 5 Florida and Rice, which is receiving votes in the national poll.
Mississippi State (8-6, 1-1 SEC) split a pair of conference matches last weekend. The Bulldogs swept South Carolina, 3-0, in Columbia, S.C., before falling to No. 22 Tennessee, 3-0, in Knoxville, Tenn.
“Obviously our focus this weekend is us,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We need to get back into our rhythm and take care of things on our side of the net. We will need to raise our level in order to be successful. The level of play in our conference has gone up tremendously from top to bottom and we are going to have to battle in every match.”
Early in the league schedule, Alabama leads the SEC Western Division at 2-0, while Tennessee leads the overall conference race with a 3-0 mark. There are three remaining undefeated teams in the league, as Florida is also 2-0 in the Eastern Division, but only two will remain after this weekend when the Crimson Tide face the Gators. LSU and Mississippi State are currently tied with Arkansas and Auburn for second in the SEC West.
“Anytime you play a divisional opponent, it is vital to succeed on your home court,” said Flory. “Both of these teams are much improved over the last several years. Mississippi State is coming off a big win at South Carolina last weekend. Ole Miss, while they didn’t win last weekend, is much improved and played two close matches.”
LSU and Mississippi State are fairly evenly matched, with the Tigers holding the slight statistical edge in most categories. LSU is averaging 15.12 kills per game with a .216 hitting percentage, while posting 14.74 digs per game and 2.72 blocks per game. The Bulldogs are averaging 13.52 kills per game with a slightly lower .204 hitting percentage, with 14.66 digs per game and 1.79 blocks per game.
Junior Ivana Kuzmic leads LSU with 3.14 kills per game and a .299 hitting percentage. The middle blocker from Split, Croatia, also lead the SEC and ranks 19th in the NCAA with 1.60 blocks per game. Senior Regan Hood ranks just behind Kuzmic with 3.05 kills per game and a .263 average, while posting 0.93 blocks per game.
Senior Rachel Pittman leads the Tigers and ranks 10th in the league with 3.14 digs per game, while sophomore Daniela Romero ranks 5th in the SEC with 11.23 assists per game and junior Jelena Mijatovic ranks second with 0.49 service aces per game.
For the Bulldogs, Rachel Cooper leads the team with 3.76 kills per game, while Jamie Hester leads the team with a .269 hitting percentage. Christa Fulenwider posts a team-best 1.02 blocks per game for MSU. Andrea Mead leads the team with 10.22 assists per game and leads the SEC with 0.53 service aces per game.
LSU is 38-5 all-time against Mississippi State, including a 13-3 record at home. LSU had won 10 straight meetings before falling to the Bulldogs in five games in Baton Rouge last season.