BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball team takes to the road this weekend for a pair of Southeastern Conference matches beginning with a match against Alabama on Friday at 7 p.m. in the CAVE in Tuscaloosa.
The Tigers (9-5, 1-3 SEC) will then close out the weekend against Auburn on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the Student Activities Center in Auburn.
Coming off a pair of 3-0 losses last weekend, the Crimson Tide stand at 12-3 overall and 2-2 in the SEC. LSU is also looking to get back on the winning path after four consecutive losses, including losses to No. 5 Florida and Rice, which is receiving votes in the poll.
“Our focus has to be on us this weekend,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “Alabama and Auburn are both good teams, but we have to focus on getting ourselves to play better as a team. We have to concentrate on executing on our side of the net to be successful.”
Junior Ivana Kuzmic leads LSU with 2.91.14 kills per game and a .281 hitting percentage. The middle blocker from Split, Croatia, also lead the SEC and ranks 11th in the NCAA with 1.70 blocks per game.
Junior Jelena Mijatovic is just behind Kuzmic with 2.84 kills per game. The outside hitter from Belgrade, Serbia, also leads the SEC and ranks 22nd nationally with 0.63 service aces per game.
Senior Rachel Pittman leads the Tigers and 3.04 digs per game, while sophomore Daniela Romero ranks 6th in the SEC with 10.87 assists per game.
For the Crimson Tide, Erin Heffner leads the team with 5.69 kills per game, while Crystal Hudson leads the team with a .255 hitting percentage. Rachel Green posts a team-best 1.15 blocks per game for Alabama. Brigitte Slack leads the team with 12.25 assists per game and Jessica Yearout leads the team with 3.45 digs per game.
LSU is 19-17 all-time against Alabama, including an 8-10 record in Tuscaloosa. After having won three straight meetings, LSU has lost four of the last five meetings, including both meetings in Tuscaloosa.