BATON ROUGE — For the LSU volleyball team, Sunday’s match offered more treats than tricks as the Tigers defeated Southeastern Conference rival Alabama, 27-30, 30-19, 30-23, 30-28, on Halloween in the Maravich Center for Senior Day.
With the win, LSU improved to 13-9 overall and 5-7 in SEC play. The loss dropped the Crimson Tide to 16-7 on the year and 6-6 in league action. The Tigers also moved into sole possession of sixth place in the conference standings and third in the Western Division. LSU stands four games behind West-leading Arkansas, but only a half game out of second in the division.
“We feel like we are a tournament team and we feel like we’re play there,” said Flory. “We don’t feel like our backs are against the wall to get into the tournament. We feel like we have plenty of opportunity, but every opportunity that we don’t take advantage of puts a little more pressure on us. I think this weekend we did the best job of putting two matches back-to-back and taking care of what we can control on our side of the net and just being efficient. Our hitting efficiency is not great but making the change in the lineup and creating more opportunities for different types of people really, really helped us.”
Following the match, LSU honored its three seniors, Regan Hood, Rachel Pittman and Beth Cowley, along with senior equipment manager Jill Myers in a Senior Day ceremony. Each senior was presented with flowers and a framed photo from head coach Fran Flory to commemorate their time as a Tiger.
“Senior nights are always really emotional and you don’t know whether your team is going to come out really emotional or come out too spirited and feisty,” said Flory. “I think we came out very emotional in the first game, maybe too aggressively. I thought we kind of gave game one away because we hit this emotional high and when you hit an emotional high, you are going to crash down. I think we were kind of victims of that. I think we did a much better job of managing it in two, three and four. We got our backs against the wall and came through. I’m really proud of the way they came through.”
After the Tigers led the first game by as many as five, Alabama came back to tie it up before eventually winning it. LSU came out and dominated in the second game, rolling to a 30-19 to tie up the match. The Tigers led the third game by as many as eight before the Crimson Tide cut it to five. A run by LSU sent the match to gave four with the Tigers leading two games to one.
Like the first game, the Tigers led midway though the game before Alabama came back to tie it up. In game four, however, LSU did not let the Crimson Tide take advantage. With the game knotted at 28 all, the Tigers scored the final two points to take the game and the match, 30-28.
Junior Jelena Mijatovic led the Tigers with 17 kills and 17 digs, followed by senior Regan Hood with 16 kills, 11 digs and a team-best three service aces. Junior Ivana Kuzmic recorded 12 kills for the Tigers, while freshman Vanessa Freeman posted a career-best 11 kills and four blocks.
Sophomore Melody Clark led LSU with a career-high nine blocks, including three solo blocks. Sophomore Daniela Romero posted a double-double with 52 assists and 15 digs, while senior Rachel Pittman recorded her 12th double-figure dig performance with 14.
“We talk all the time about having special performances from somebody and we say everyday in the locker room that today someone will have a special performances – is it you or the person next to you,” said Flory. “I think Vanessa decided today was her day and she did a tremendous job. She opened up the entire offense for us. After the first two games, we really didn’t go to her much, but we did in some key situations and she came through. The most important thing was she blocked. She created hitting errors, she created opportunities for us to play defense behind her and I think that was probably a better contribution than the offense.”
Erin Heffner led Alabama with 18 kills, while Kelly Potter posted 14 and Julie Farley recorded 12. Heffner also led the Crimson Tide with 14 digs, followed by Jessica Yearout with 13, Brigette Stack with 11 and Potter with 10. Stack and Farley each posted a team-best four blocks for Alabama.
LSU will close out the SEC schedule on the road over the last two weekends of the regular season. The Tigers will travel to Columbia to take on South Carolina next Friday before facing No. 16 Tennessee in Knoxville on Sunday. In the final weekend of the regular season, LSU will travel to Arkansas and Ole Miss.
“This team plays well regardless,” said Flory. ” On the road or at home, I don’t’ think it matters. They just like to play. They like to get involved, they like each other. They like to compete. I think that getting Alabama, which is somebody we haven’t gotten in awhile, we are really proud of them that they came through and were resilient through this. I think all we can do now is continue to gain confidence and get better and better.”
LSU def. Alabama 27-30, 30-19, 30-23, 30-28
Alabama (16-7, 6-6 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Erin Heffner 18-2-2; Kelley Potter 14-0-3; Julie Farley 12-1-4; Crystal Hudson 8-0-0; Rachael Green 4-0-2; Brigette Stack 2-0-4; Jessica Yearout 0-1-0; Megan Hudson 0-1-0; Totals 58-5-8.0. (Assists) – Brigette Stack 51. (Dig leaders) – Erin Heffner 14; Jessica Yearout 13; Brigette Stack 11; Kelley Potter 10; Megan Hudson 9
LSU (13-9, 5-7 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Jelena Mijatovic 17-2-1; Regan Hood 16-3-1; Ivana Kuzmic 12-0-3; Vanessa Freeman 11-0-4; Melody Clark 7-0-9; Daniela Romero 3-2-2; Totals 66-7-12.0. (Assists) – Daniela Romero 52. (Dig leaders) – Jelena Mijatovic 17; Daniela Romero 15; Rachel Pittman 14; Regan Hood 11