BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball team looks to make it four straight wins at home as the Tigers host Southeastern Conference Western Division leader Alabama on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the Maravich Center.
The match has been designated as the student point game and count for two points towards the “Priority Point” system which will be used to determine priority for 2005 football postseason student tickets and 2006 away game football student tickets. Fans can also watch the match through live stats on LSU Sports Interactive at www.LSUsports.net on the live statistics page under the multimedia link.
Due to the Saints game on Sunday at 3 p.m., fans are encouraged to park in Lots L and M. These lots are located off of Cypress Drive, directly behind the Maravich Center near the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse and the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium, and down the hill from the Indian Mounds.
“Alabama has a very young, very talented team,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “They play very hard and are very aggressive. Their style of play is very fast and we will have to adapt to that. We need to control the tempo and take care of things on our side of the net.
After sweeping Auburn on Friday night, the Tigers (17-5, 7-4 SEC) are currently in third place in the SEC West standings, one game behind Alabama and Arkansas. LSU, which has yet to lose a game in its three home matches, is currently tied for the most wins in a season since finishing 20-12 during the 1995 season. The Crimson Tide (20-4, 8-3 SEC) dropped into a tie with the Lady Razorbacks after falling to Arkansas in Fayetteville in five games on Friday.
“After last night I think we are in a pretty good rhythm,” Flory said. “We need to remain focused throughout an entire weekend, something we weren’t successful with last weekend. We need to put together two good matches in a row.”
In their first meeting this season, the Tigers fell to Alabama in four games, 30-25, 22-30, 30-17, 30-26. Jelena Mijatovic led LSU and tied for the match lead with 14 kills, followed by Marina Skender with nine. Melody Clark led the match with six blocks, while Ivana Kuzmic recorded five. Kassi Mikulik led the team with 15 digs, followed by 10 each by Skender and Kyna Washington.
The Crimson Tide were led by Bridget Fuentez with 14 kills and Sarah Snider with 13. Lindsey Buteyn led the Crimson Tide with five blocks, while Jessica Yearout led the match with 24 digs.
Mijatovic leads the Tigers with 4.18 kills per game this season, followed by Washington with 3.09. Kuzmic has recorded a team-best 1.73 blocks per game and ranks second in the conference this year. Mikulik leads the team with 3.58 digs per game. She is just 10 digs away from recording 300 for the season.
Alabama has three players averaging over three kills a game, led by Fuentez with 3.77 kills per game. Crystal Hudson leads the Crimson Tide with 1.02 blocks per game with 3.43 kills per game. Yearout boasts a team-best 4.69 digs per game for Alabama.
LSU leads the all-time series with the Crimson Tide, 20-19, while the Tigers lead 10-4 all-time at home. The Tigers have won three of their last four meetings with Alabama in the Maravich Center.
The Tigers return to the road next week with a trip through Mississippi. LSU will face Ole Miss on Friday at 7 p.m. before closing out the weekend against Mississippi State on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.