BATON ROUGE — Coming off a 3-1 win over Kentucky on Sunday, the LSU volleyball team will host Arkansas in a Southeastern Conference match on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Center.
Just past the midway point in the conference schedule, the Tigers (11-8, 3-6 SEC) are currently third in the league standings and seventh overall, a half game behind South Carolina in sixth. The Lady’Backs (9-10, 6-3 SEC) stand atop the SEC Western Division standings and are in third overall, a half game ahead of Alabama and Georgia.
“Coming off a nice win for us on Sunday, hopefully we can take that momentum and carry it into our match against Arkansas,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We had a great crowd out to watch us and it would be nice to have that kind of enthusiasm from our fans again.”
Against the Wildcats, senior Beth Cowley posted a career match, stepping in for an injured Daniela Romero. The Louisville, Ky., native recorded 65 assists for just the second 60-plus assist match of the season for the Tigers.
Junior Jelena Mijatovic posted a pair of 20-plus marks, with 26 kills and 21 digs against Kentucky. The Belgrade, Serbia, native, became the first player since Jennifer Hampton on Nov. 10, 2002, to record 20 kills and 20 digs in a match. Mijatovic currently leads LSU with 3.17 kills per game and is the SEC leader in service aces per game at 0.64.
Senior Rachel Pittman led the match against the Wildcats with 25 digs for the Tigers. The Slidell native tied the sixth most digs in a four-game match in school history with her performance. She now has two 20-plus digs matches this season, and leads LSU with 3.11 digs per game.
Junior Ivana Kuzmic led the team with seven blocks against Kentucky, her eighth match with seven or more blocks this year. For the season, Kuzmic leads the SEC and ranks in the top 15 in the nation in blocks per game at 1.64.
Arkansas is led by Jennifer Haaser with 3.03 kills per game, 1.38 blocks per game and 0.33 service aces per game. Ashley Miller leads the Lady’Backs with 3.55 digs per game. Last Friday, Kentucky took Arkansas to five games in Fayetteville before the Lady’Backs eventually won, 3-2. Arkansas then defeated Valparaiso, 3-2, in a non-conference contest on Sunday.
The Tigers are 2-19 all-time against Arkansas, including a 1-9 record in Baton Rouge. In 2000, the Tigers knocked off Arkansas in Fayetteville in their first win over the Lady’Backs. LSU split the 2000 and 2001 series with Arkansas before dropping the last four meetings.