BATON ROUGE — Behind two outstanding performances by the two seniors, the White squad defeated the Purple Squad, 30-14, 23-30, 30-28, 30-25, in the LSU volleyball intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday night at the Maravich Center.
Senior Jelena Mijatovic led the match with 23 kills, while also posting four service aces, four blocks and six digs. Senior Ivana Kuzmic led the match with eight blocks, along with nine kills and a .353 hitting percentage.
“I thought we showed that we can be a very physical team out there,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “I like the way we controlled the ball. Our offense needs to establish a better rhythm, but I did not think it was bad with Heather (Fierce) setting.
“I also thought we did a good job of being competitive and maintaining that through that match. It was a good start for us to build on.”
In addition to the 23 kills by Mijatovic, junior Lauren Leaumont recorded 15 kills for the white team. Fierce, a redshirt freshman, recorded 46 assists and 11 digs for a double-double for the white team, while junior Lacey Galliano and Elena Martinez led the team with 12 digs each.
Freshman Kyna Washington led the purple team with 14 kills and 10 digs for the purple team’s only double-double. In addition, she knocked back three blocks, tying former Tiger Regan Hood, who was added to make the teams’ number equal, for the team lead with three blocks.
Sophomore Michelle Hensgens moved from her normal defensive specialist position to set for the purple team and recorded 32 assists with nine digs.
The Tigers begin the season next weekend as LSU heads to Statesboro, Ga., for the Georgia Southern Invitational. The Tigers will take on the host Eagles, along with Jacksonville and Campbell.