BATON ROUGE — After 17 matches, seven weeks and almost 10,000 miles traveled, the LSU volleyball team will finally open its 2005 home schedule on Friday at 6 p.m. in the Southeastern Conference Match of the Week against Mississippi State as part of “Party at Pete’s Place.”
This match will mark the first time the Tigers (13-4, 3-3 SEC) have played in the friendly confines of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center this season, in part due to scheduled renovations in the Maravich Center and in part due to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“This is our first home match of the season and is sure to be very emotional,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We can not let the emotions overcome us. We will have to keep perspective and realize how important this match is to the future of our season.”
With 13 road victories, the Tigers posted the most road wins since the 1993 team went 13-8 away from the Maravich Center. LSU was gone 26 days over previous seven weeks and traveled almost 10,000 miles, without ever leaving the southeastern United States. The Tigers have traveled the equivalent of New York to Los Angeles by bus, while LSU has flown the equivalent of Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia, to open the season.
After the Tigers take on the Bulldogs (10-5, 1-4 SEC) on Friday, the men’s and women’s basketball teams will begin fan day with an autograph session involving members of both teams. Stand-up comedian Mark Curry, known from his stint on “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper” will perform before the festivities take place on the court. Admission to all events, including the volleyball match, is free to the public.
LSU will try to bounce back from back-to-back conference losses last week. The Tigers fell at Arkansas, 3-1, last Wednesday before a 3-1 loss to Kentucky on Sunday, two of LSU’s four losses this season. Mississippi State is coming off a 1-1 weekend that saw the Bulldogs win their first conference match against Auburn and push SEC West-leading Alabama to five games.
“Mississippi State is a much improved team,” said Flory. “They started this season very successfully. They have improved their personnel by adding international players and have done a great job training their team. This is always a big match-up for us. Any interdivisional match on your home court is important to the season.”
Early in the league schedule, Alabama and Arkansas lead the SEC Western Division at 4-2, while Florida leads the overall race at 7-0. The Tigers are a game behind in the SEC West and stand at sixth overall, only one game out of second. Mississippi State is currently fourth in the West and ninth overall, but had a match against Georgia postponed midway though because of tornados on campus in Starkville.
As a team, LSU leads Mississippi State in almost every statistical category this season. The Tigers are averaging 16.2 kills per game with a .234 hitting percentage, while posting 14.3 digs per game and 2.9 blocks per game. The Bulldogs are averaging 15.1 kills per game with a slightly lower .232 hitting percentage, with 14.8 digs per game and 2.1 blocks per game.
Senior Ivana Kuzmic leads LSU with 1.76 blocks per game and a .330 hitting percentage. The middle blocker from Split, Croatia, ranks ninth in the NCAA in blocks per game. Senior Jelena Mijatovic leads the Tigers and ranks fourth in the SEC with 4.38 kills per game and leads the SEC with 0.66 service aces per game.
Junior Kassi Mikulik leads LSU and ranks ninth in the league with 3.50 digs per game, while freshman Heather Fierce ranks ninth in the SEC with 9.03 assists per game. In conference play, junior Daniela Romero leads the team with 6.50 assists per game.
For the Bulldogs, Rachel Cooper leads the team with 4.16 kills per game, while Erin Seago leads the team with a .353 hitting percentage. Seago and Nicole Palazzo post a team-best 0.96 blocks per game for MSU. Megan Lukasek leads the team with 3.84 digs per game, while Eva Kriegel leads the Bulldogs with 6.43 assists per game.
LSU is 38-6 all-time against Mississippi State, including a 13-4 record at home. The Tigers had won 10 straight meetings before falling to the Bulldogs in the last two meetings, both in Baton Rouge.
LSU will continue play at home on Sunday. The Tigers will face Ole Miss at 1:30 p.m. in the Maravich Center. LSU is 38-11 all-time against the Rebels, including a 16-4 record at home.