BATON ROUGE — LSU head volleyball coach Fran Flory welcomes 15 players to campus on Tuesday before the Tigers begin practice on Wednesday in preparation for the season-opening tournament at Georgia Southern on Aug. 26-27.
LSU, which is coming off a 17-12 season a year ago, returns five starters, including Louisiana Newcomer of the Year and American Volleyball Coaches Association All-South honorable mention selection Ivana Kuzmic.
Among the other returning players that are reporting are senior outside hitter Jelena Mijatovic, junior setter Daniela Romero, junior middle blocker Melody Clark, junior outside hitter Kassi Mikulik and sophomore right side hitter Vanessa Freeman. The Tigers also bring in a pair of redshirt freshmen and four true freshmen to join the nine returning letterwinners.
On Tuesday, the team will participate in several meetings and undergo physical examinations. LSU will hit the court for its first practice on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. in the auxiliary gym in the Maravich Center. The Tigers will conduct seven two-a-day practice sessions and three one-a-day sessions before holding the Purple and Gold intrasquad scrimmage on Aug. 20.
The team will open the season on Aug. 26 against Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Ga., at 1 p.m. The Tigers will also take on Jacksonville and Campbell in the two-day tournament.