BATON ROUGE — Having won three of their last four matches, the LSU volleyball team will close out the Southeastern Conference regular season schedule this weekend on the road against Arkansas and Ole Miss.
The Tigers (10-10, 6-8 SEC) will take on the Lady’Backs (13-12, 9-5 SEC) on Friday at 7 p.m. in Barnhill Arena, before traveling to face the Lady Rebels (10-17, 2-13 SEC) on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the Gillom Sports Complex. LSU lost earlier meetings with both Arkansas and Ole Miss this season, falling 0-3 to the Lady’Backs and 2-3 to the Lady Rebels in Baton Rouge.
“We are anxious to get another shot at both of these teams,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We feel like last time we played them we did not perform at our highest level. I think we are in a groove right now and we are playing with a better lineup on the court. This team keeps improving as we build towards the SEC Tournament next weekend.”
Friday’s match against Arkansas will be broadcast on the Lady’Back website, www.ladybacks.com, on a pay-per-view basis for $4.95. The broadcast will feature both audio and video features from the match.
LSU currently sits in third place in the SEC Western Division and in sixth place overall in the league standings. The Tigers need one win this weekend, or a loss by either Auburn, South Carolina or Mississippi State, to clinch a spot in the SEC Tournament next weekend.
In LSU’s first meeting with Arkansas this season, the Tigers lost 30-23, 30-19, 30-19, in Baton Rouge. The Tigers had trouble passing the ball throughout the match, which led to a breakdown in the offensive attack. LSU hit only .017 as a team, committing 33 errors to only 35 kills. Conversely, the Lady’Backs hit .281 as a team after averaging only .179 going into the match. In addition, the Lady’Backs recorded 17.5 blocks to only six for LSU.
Jelena Mijatovic led the match with 15 kills and four aces for the Tigers. The junior from Belgrade, Serbia, leads LSU in kills per game on the season and ranks fourth in the NCAA in service aces per game.
Sophomore Kassi Mikulik led the Tigers with six digs, while junior Ivana Kuzmic led the team with five blocks. With sophomore Daniela Romero still recovering from a back injury, she split time at the setter position with senior Beth Cowley, recording 10 and 16 assists respectively.
The Lady’Backs were led by Jennifer Haaser with 10 kills and 10 blocks for the match’s only double-double. Ashley Miller led Arkansas with 13 digs and two service aces.
The SEC Tournament will be held on Nov. 19-21 at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla. The top eight teams in the league will compete for the SEC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
LSU will close out the regular season at home with the SEC/C-USA Challenge on Thanksgiving weekend. The Tigers and Alabama from the SEC will face Tulane and Houston from Conference USA. LSU will host Tulane on Friday, Nov. 26 at 7 p.m. before taking on Houston on Saturday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m.