FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Coming off a 3-1 win over Auburn on Sunday, the LSU volleyball team will travel to Arkansas for a Southeastern Conference match on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Barnhill Arena.
This will be the Tigers’ (13-2, 3-1 SEC) second trip to Fayetteville this season. LSU, which is receiving votes in the AVCA/CSTV coaches poll, defeated South Carolina and Tennessee, which is also receiving votes in the poll, in the first weekend of conference play in Barnhill Arena after the matches were moved due to the affects of the recent hurricanes.
The Lady’Backs (10-5, 3-1 SEC), who have won the past 10 SEC Western Division titles, are tied with the Tigers for the SEC West lead and the pair trail only Florida for the overall conference lead. After falling to Tennessee in its first weekend of league play, Arkansas has won three straight conference matches.
“I think this is a crucial match in the SEC West race,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We need to go into this match mentally prepared. We have overcome numerous obstacles this season and we are starting to show some signs of fatigue. We are a resilient team and we are not going to let anything step between us and our goals. We are going to have to rise to the occasion.”
Against Auburn on Sunday, freshman Kyna Washington led the Tigers with 17 kills, while junior Ivana Kuzmic posted 11 kills and team-best six blocks. Kuzmic, the two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Week this season, recorded the 100th block of the season against AU and is now just 16 shy of 650 for her career.
For the season, senior Jelena Mijatovic leads LSU and ranks fourth in the SEC in kills per game at 4.46, while Washington is average 3.00 kills per game. Mijatovic also leads the league and ranks in the top 10 in the nation in service aces per game at 0.72.
Kuzmic leads the Tigers and ranks second in the SEC in blocks per game at 1.72 on the season, followed by junior Melody Clark with 1.05 blocks per game. Junior Kassi Mikulik moved from outside hitter to libero this season and ranks ninth in the SEC with 3.52 digs per game.
Arkansas is led offensively by Denitza Koleva with 3.88 kills per game and 0.34 service aces per game. Amy Allison leads the Lady’Backs with 1.79 blocks per game, followed by Karla Crose and Jessica Dorrell with 1.29 and 1.05 blocks per game respectively. Ashley Miller leads Arkansas with 4.34 digs per game.
The Tigers are 3-21 all-time against Arkansas, including a 2-9 record in Fayetteville. Last season, LSU knocked off the Lady’Backs, 3-1, in Barnhill Arena in the final regular season conference match of the year. All three Tiger wins have come in the last 11 meetings with Arkansas.
LSU will conclude its seven-week road trip this weekend at Kentucky. The Tigers will face the Wildcats on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. (CT) in Memorial Coliseum. The match will be televised live on Cox Sports Television in Baton Rouge on cable channel 37. LSU is 1-0 on television this season, posting a 3-1 win over Auburn on SEC-TV last weekend.