BATON ROUGE — LSU libero Rachel Pittman was named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Week as the Tigers prepare for a rematch with Arkansas in the SEC Tournament on Friday.
The SEC released the tournament bracket on Monday, which will be played at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla., this weekend. Sixth-seeded LSU will be taking on third-seeded Arkansas for the third time this season in the first round. The pair will meet in the tournament’s second match on Friday at 1 p.m. (CST).
If the Tigers win, the will meet the winner of the match between second-seeded Tennessee and seventh-seeded Auburn on Saturday at 1 p.m. (CST). The tournament championship game will be broadcast live on FSN Southwest (Baton Rouge cable channel 38) on Sunday at 2 p.m. (CST).
Pittman led the team with 31 digs and a 4.43 digs per game average as LSU went 2-0 on the week, knocking off the SEC Western Division champion Lady’Backs in Fayetteville on Friday and Ole Miss in Oxford on Sunday.
Against Arkansas, the senior from Slidell led the match with her third 20-plus dig performance of the season as the Tigers recorded only their third win over the Lady’Backs in the programs’ 24 meetings. She also posted double-figures with 11 digs against Ole Miss as LSU swept the Lady Rebels on the road for the first time since 2001.
With her third dig against Arkansas, Pittman recorded her 700th career dig, becoming just the 23rd player in LSU history to record 700 career digs. For the season, she leads the team with 291 digs and a 3.10 digs per game average.
This is the second SEC Defensive Player of the Week honor for LSU this season and the third since the award was instated last year. Junior Ivana Kuzmic was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 20.