FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The LSU volleyball team opened up Southeastern Conference play with a five-game win over South Carolina, 30-20, 30-17, 26-30, 28-30, 15-11, on Friday afternoon in Barnhill Arena.
Despite the match being moved to Arkansas because of the hurricanes, the Tigers (11-1, 1-0 SEC) extended their winning streak to four matches. LSU has now played all 12 matches this season away from home. The Gamecocks dropped to 7-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play with the loss.
For the first time since 1993, LSU has taken three consecutive matches from South Carolina. All three Tigers wins have come on the road, with the first two in Columbia, S.C. From 1991-1993, LSU won four-straight against the Gamecocks, the longest winning streak against USC for LSU in school history.
After easily winning the first two games, the Tigers fell in both games three and four by a total six points to send the match to a fifth game. LSU jumped out to an early 7-1 lead before South Carolina came back to within one, 11-10. The Tigers then pulled away to take their second consecutive five-game match, 15-11.
“I think once again this team showed great resiliency,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “Give credit to South Carolina for bouncing back after we won games one and two. They played great defense and turned the tide in the match.
“This is a special team and they would not let anything stand between them and their goals,” Flory continued. “When the chips were down, they made the plays to win. This may not have been the way we wanted to win after taking games one and two, but a win is a win and we are excited to be 1-0 in conference play.”
Senior Ivana Kuzmic posted her 1,000th career kill in the win. With her fifth of six kills, the Split, Croatia, native hit the milestone. In addition, she recorded 11 blocks, giving her back-to-back double-figure blocking matches after recording 13 against Notre Dame last weekend. She now has three double-figure blocking performances this season.
Senior Jelena Mijatovic led the Tigers with 19 kills, followed by a career-best 18 kills for freshman Kyna Washington. Junior Melody Clark added 13 with a match-best .462 hitting percentage, and sophomore Vanessa Freeman posted a season-best 10 kills.
Both LSU setters recorded double-doubles with Daniela Romero leading the team with 33 assists and adding 11 digs, while Heather Fierce added 22 assists and a team-best 12 digs. Fierce also led the Tigers with four service aces as LSU finished with a season match-best 12.
Shonda Cole led South Carolina and the match with 22 kills, followed by Sarah Morgan with 10. Nicole Miller led the Gamecocks with seven blocks, while four USC players posted double-figure dig matches. Dinelia Concepcion led the match with 17 digs, followed by Cole with 16. Iris Santos posted 14 and Morgan recorded 12 for South Carolina.
The Tigers used a solid offensive performance in the first game to gradually pull away from South Carolina. LSU hit at a .485 clip with just three attacking errors on 33 attempts, all coming in the final six points of the game.
Despite the Gamecocks also hitting at an impressive .303 clip, the difference was the five more kills by the Tigers, including six each by Mijatovic and Washington. LSU led by as many as 12 before taking the game, 30-20.
Despite a reduction in hitting efficiency to .250, the Tigers outkilled South Carolina, 15-9, in the second game. LSU got three kills from a trio of Tigers, including Washington, Skender and Clark. In addition, LSU got five blocks from Kuzmic and three service aces from Fierce.
With the score tied at five all, the Tigers went on an 8-0 run to pull ahead for good. A 5-0 run to end the game sent LSU into the locker room with the two-game lead, 30-17.
In the third game, the Tigers took the early lead and led by as many as six points, 18-12. With LSU leading 21-16, South Carolina came to tie the game at 25 all. In the 9-4 run by the Gamecocks, four of USC’s points were scored on service errors by the Tigers as LSU could not find the court in the third game. South Carolina went on to score the final four points of the game to take keep the match alive, 30-26.
The Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead to start game four, but the Gamecocks came back to tie it up at six all. South Carolina took a four-point lead, 15-11. With the Gamecocks leading, 20-16, LSU rallied back to tie it up at 21 all. After five more ties, South Carolina scored the final two points of the game on a block and a kill to send the match to five games, 30-28.
The fifth game started the same as the fourth with the Tigers taking a 4-0 lead. LSU led 7-1 before South Carolina used a service error by the Tigers, an ace and a pair of net violations by Mijatovic to get within two, 8-6.
After LSU extended the lead to four, 11-7, a kill and back-to-back errors by Freeman, the Gamecocks were within one, 11-10. The Tigers used kills by Washington and Skender and back-to-back blocks by Kuzmic to put the game away, 15-11.
LSU is now 12-10 all-time in SEC openers, winning two straight after a 3-0 win over Georgia last year. The Tigers also improved to 5-4 on the road in conference openers and evened their record against South Carolina at 1-1 in league openers.
LSU will remain in Fayetteville to take on Tennessee on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. The Lady Vols faced Arkansas on Friday evening after the Tigers defeated South Carolina. The Tigers will remain on the road next weekend as LSU travels to face Alabama and Auburn.
LSU’s first home match has been delayed until Oct. 14 against Mississippi State. The Tigers will have been on the road for seven consecutive weekends, having played 17 road matches, to start the season before returning home to the Maravich Center in mid-October.
LSU def. South Carolina 30-20, 30-17, 26-30, 28-30, 15-11
LSU (11-1, 1-0 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Jelena Mijatovic 19-2-2; Kyna Washington 18-0-4; Melody Clark 13-1-2; Vanessa Freeman 10-0-2; Ivana Kuzmic 6-0-11; Daniela Romero 0-2-0; Lauren Leaumont 0-2-0; Heather Fierce 0-4-0; Marina Skender 9-0-4; Michelle Hensgens 0-0-0; Kassi Mikulik 0-1-0; Totals 75-12-13.0. (Assists) – Daniela Romero 33, Heather Fierce 22. (Dig leaders) – Heather Fierce 12, Daniela Romero 11.
South Carolina (7-4, 0-1 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Shonda Cole 22-5-4; Sarah Morgan 10-1-2; Nicole Miller 8-2-7; Marija Milosevic 7-0-2; Lauren Ford 6-0-2; Iris Santos 5-0-3; Crystal Johnson 1-0-2; Alexcis Thomson 0-0-0; Dinelia Concepcion 0-0-0; Petra Lorenzi 0-0-0; Belita Salters 0-0-0; Totals 59-8-12.0. (Assists) – Iris Santos 40. (Dig leaders) – Dinelia Concepcion 17, Shonda Cole 16, Iris Santos 14, Sarah Morgan 12.