BATON ROUGE — Having won four of the last five matches, the LSU volleyball team will close out the Southeastern Conference regular season against Ole Miss on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the Gillom Sports Complex.
The Tigers (15-10, 7-8 SEC) clinched a spot in the SEC Tournament next weekend with a win over Arkansas on Friday night. The Lady Rebels (10-17, 2-13 SEC) have lost seven straight are closing out the season after failing to qualify for the postseason tournament.
“We are anxious to get another shot at Ole Miss,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We did not play well against them at home earlier in the season and they took advantage and came away with the win. We changed our lineup two weeks ago and we have seen a definite spark for our team. Hopefully we can carry that into the tournament next weekend.”
In an earlier meeting this season, Ole Miss defeated LSU in five games, 30-20, 13-30, 13-30, 30-28, 15-11, in Baton Rouge. Despite out hitting the Lady Rebels, .221 to .109, and out killing Ole Miss 64-49, the Tigers could not take advantage of a two games to one lead as the Lady Rebels took games four and five for the win.
Sophomore Kassi Mikulik led LSU with 12 kills, while junior Ivana Kuzmic posted a double-double with 11 kills and a season-best 11 blocks. Senior Rachel Pittman led the Tigers with 14 digs, while junior Jelena Mijatovic posted a match-best seven service aces.
Jaclyn Toohey and Kristen Carroll led Ole Miss with 11 kills each, while Tricia Eble led the Lady Rebels with four blocks. Elena Garcia posted a team-best 11 digs for Ole Miss.
On the season, Mijatovic leads LSU with 3.28 kills per game, followed by senior Regan Hood with 3.11. In addition, Mijatovic leads the SEC and ranks fourth nationally in service aces per game. Sophomore Daniela Romero has run the Tiger offense with 11.34 assists per game.
Defensively, the Tigers are led by Kuzmic with 1.57 blocks per game, best in the SEC this season. The junior posted her 500th career block against Arkansas on Friday. Pittman leads LSU with 3.08 digs per game, recording three 20-plus dig matches on the year.
Next weekend, the Tigers will travel to Gainesville, Fla., for the SEC Tournament. LSU will likely be the sixth seed and take on probable third seed Arkansas. The Tigers are 1-1 against the Lady’Backs this season after falling to Arkansas at home and defeating the Lady’Backs in Fayetteville.
LSU will close out the regular season on Thanksgiving weekend as the Tigers host the SEC/C-USA Challenge. LSU will take on Tulane on Friday at 7 p.m. before facing Houston on Saturday at 7 p.m. Alabama will also participate in the tournament and take on Houston on Friday at 5 p.m. and Tulane on Saturday at 5 p.m.