BATON ROUGE — After sweeping Mississippi State in their first home match of the season on Friday, the LSU volleyball team continues Southeastern Conference play at home on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. against Ole Miss in the Maravich Center.
The Tigers (14-4, 4-3 SEC) defeated the Bulldogs in three games on Friday in front of the fifth-largest crowd in LSU volleyball history. The Rebels (7-12, 1-6 SEC) dropped a three-game match to Arkansas on the road on Friday.
“The Ole Miss-LSU match-up is always in interesting one in that one team usually has everything go their way and the other does not,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory “And it isn’t always predictable which way that luck will play out.
“We have to be careful to maintain on our side of the net,” Flory continued. “I was proud of the way the team played on Friday and we will need that same type of effort again on Sunday.”
Almost mid-way through the league schedule, Alabama and Arkansas lead the SEC Western Division at 5-2, while Florida leads the overall race at 8-0. The Tigers are a game behind first in the SEC West and are in a tie for fifth overall, but only one game out of a three-way tie for second. Ole Miss is currently tied for last in the West and last overall.
In addition to eight kills, Ivana Kuzmic led the Mississippi State match on Friday with nine blocks for LSU, while Melody Clark and Marina Skender each posted six blocks. Freshman Kyna Washington led the match with 14 kills and a .400 attacking percentage for the Tigers. Jelena Mijatovic and Skender each posted identical double-doubles with 10 kills and 11 digs each.
Junior Daniela Romero recorded a season-best 41 assists along with 11 digs for her fifth double-double of the year. Junior Kassi Mikulik led the Tigers with 12 digs.
As a team, LSU leads the Rebels in every statistical category this season. The Tigers are averaging 16.2 kills per game with a .236 hitting percentage, while posting 14.5 digs per game and 3.0 blocks per game. Ole Miss is averaging 14.3 kills per game with a.194 hitting percentage, with 12.6 digs per game and 1.4blocks per game.
“Ole Miss is a much more athletic team than they have been in the past,” said Flory. “They can be dangerous. They have lost some matches when they have been inconsistent, but whey they get into a groove, they can be tough to beat.”
Kuzmic leads LSU with 1.81 blocks per game and a .331 hitting percentage. The middle blocker from Split, Croatia, ranks ninth in the NCAA in blocks per game. Mijatovic leads the Tigers and ranks fourth in the SEC with 4.34 kills per game and leads the SEC with 0.68 service aces per game.
Mikulik leads LSU and ranks ninth in the league with 3.52 digs per game, while freshman Heather Fierce ranks ninth in the SEC with 9.03 assists per game. In conference play, Romero leads the team with 7.30 assists per game.
For the Rebels, Nikki Hill leads the team with 4.13 kills per game, while Jaclyn Toohey leads the team with a .236 hitting percentage. Emily Jones post a team-best 0.72 blocks per game for Ole Miss. Nicole Mahan leads the team with 3.03 digs per game, while Ashleigh Shear leads the Rebels with 11.74 assists per game.
LSU is 38-11 all-time against Ole Miss, including a 16-4 record at home. The pair have split the last four meetings with each winning one a year for the last two seasons.
The Tigers will return to the road next weekend. LSU will travel to face Georgia on Friday at 6 p.m. (CT) before taking on No. 5 Florida on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. (CT).