KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Riding a four-match winning streak, including a win over No. 8 Notre Dame, the LSU volleyball team will look to make it five in a row as the Tigers take on Tennessee in a Southeastern Conference match on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Barnhill Arena.
LSU (11-1, 1-0 SEC), which is playing at Arkansas because of the hurricanes, is looking to match the best start since the 1991 NCAA Final Four team opened the year at 12-1. The Lady Vols (7-3, 1-0 SEC) is coming off a three-game sweep of Arkansas on Friday and is receiving votes, along with the Tigers, in the most recent Top 25 poll.
“We are excited about this match,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “Any time you get the chance to face a team that has been ranked it is just another opportunity. Tennessee was the SEC co-champion and the tournament champion last year, so they are certainly a team to beat.”
As a team, LSU leads Tennessee on the offensive side of the net; recording 16.8 kills per game, compared to 16.0 for the Lady Vols. Defensively, the pair are fairly evenly matched, with the Tigers and Tennessee each averaging 2.9 blocks per game, while the Lady Vols are posting 16.0 digs per game compared to 14.0 for LSU.
Senior Ivana Kuzmic leads the Tigers and ranks third in the nation with 1.87 blocks per game. Against South Carolina on Friday, she recorded her 1,000th career kill and is now posting 2.23 kills per game at a .347 clip. In addition, she had her third double-figure blocking match with 11 total blocks.
Offensively, senior Jelena Mijatovic leads LSU and ranks second in the SEC with 4.79 kills per game. In addition, she leads the SEC with 0.74 service aces per game. Currently, she holds the school record for aces per game and ranks in the top 20 in NCAA history.
Junior Kassi Mikulik is averaging a team-best 3.32 digs per game, which ranks 10th in the conference. The converted outside hitter now needs just six digs to record the 600th of her career.
Yuliya Stoyanova leads Tennessee with a 4.46 kills per game average, followed by Kristen Andre with 3.59 kills per game. Sarah Blum leads the Lady Vols with 1.24 blocks per game, while Amy Morris posts a team-best 3.82 digs per game.
“Tennessee returned most of its lineup, as did we,” said Flory. “We are excited about the way we match up with them and about the chance to play at this level. I think that we are prepared. This team is on a mission and we expect to continue to be successful.”
LSU leads the all-time series with Tennessee, 24-15, and is 5-3 all-time at neutral sites. The Tigers are 3-2 in their last five meetings with the Lady Vols, with the only losses coming on the road in Stokley Coliseum.
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.