OXFORD, Miss. — Having won five of their last six matches, the LSU volleyball team travels to Ole Miss to face the Rebels in a Southeastern Conference match on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Gillom Sports Center.
The Tigers (18-5, 8-5 SEC) have already recorded the most wins in a season since the 1995 team went 20-12 and are two conference wins away from matching the 2001 team for the most league victories since 1992.Ole Miss (7-18, 1-11 SEC) lost to Mississippi State in three games on Wednesday and have now lost 15 of its last 16 matches.
With four SEC regular season matches remaining, LSU is one game out of first place in the SEC Western Division and stands in a tie for fourth place overall, one game out of a tie for second. The Rebels are in last place in the conference and would need to win their final four matches to have a chance to qualify for the SEC Tournament.
“Any match on the road in the SEC is a difficult match-up,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “This is our last regular season road trip and we need to close out with confidence and be successful. Ole Miss is still fighting for a chance to make the SEC tournament. We will need a good effort and play with high efficiency.”
In their first meeting this season, the Tigers swept Ole Miss, 30-19, 31-29, 30-15, at home. LSU dominated the match in blocking, posting 11 total blocks to only four for the Rebels. Melody Clark led match with six blocks. Ivana Kuzmic and Marina Skender each recorded four blocks, while Daniel Romero and Kyna Washington added three each.
LSU also recorded a .282 hitting percentage compared to just a .124 mark for Ole Miss. The Tigers had no player hit at less than a .200 clip, while the Rebels had only two players hit above .200. For the match, LSU out killed Ole Miss, 45-38, and out dug the Rebels, 41-38, while posting eight service aces, including four by Romero and three by Skender, compared to just two for Ole Miss.
Jelena Mijatovic led the Tigers offensively with 12 kills, followed by Washington with nine and Skender with eight. Kassi Mikulik led LSU with 10 digs, followed by nine each by Mijatovic and Skender. Romero led LSU with 30 assists and moved past 2,500 for her career.
Jaclyn Toohey led Ole Miss with 13 kills off the bench, followed by Nikki Hill with 12. Lauren Moffett led the Rebels with two blocks, while Nicole Mahan led the match with 12 digs.
“We need to remain aggressive,” said Flory. “Even though we defeated this team at home, we know that home court advantage is huge in this league. We have to be prepared to play well. We need to go into this match with a confident aggressive attitude.”
As a team, LSU leads the Rebels in every statistical category this season. The Tigers are averaging 16.1 kills per game with a .235 hitting percentage, while posting 14.75 digs per game and 3.0 blocks per game. Ole Miss is averaging 14.0 kills per game with a.187 hitting percentage, with 12.7 digs per game and 1.5 blocks per game.
Kuzmic leads LSU with 1.77 blocks per game and a .329 hitting percentage. The middle blocker from Split, Croatia, ranks fifth in the NCAA in blocks per game. Clark is second on the team with 1.14 blocks per game, which ranks eighth in the league, while Skender ranks second on the team and 10th in the conference with a .305 hitting percentage.
Mijatovic leads the Tigers and ranks seventh in the SEC with 4.16 kills per game and leads the SEC with 0.67 service aces per game, which is ninth nationally. Mikulik leads LSU and ranks ninth in the league with 3.58 digs per game. Heather Fierce ranks eighth in the SEC with 8.73 assists per game, while Romero is just behind her in ninth with 7.78 assists per game.
For the Rebels, Nikki Hill leads the team with 3.85 kills per game, while Jaclyn Toohey leads the team with a .2336 hitting percentage and adds 3.41 kills per game. Emily Jones post a team-best 0.76 blocks per game for Ole Miss. Nicole Mahan leads the team with 3.18 digs per game, while Ashleigh Shear leads the Rebels with 11.52 assists per game.
The Tigers improved to 39-11 all-time against Ole Miss, including a 16-4 mark at home. LSU has also won three of its last four contests in Oxford.
The Tigers remain on the road to face Mississippi State on Sunday. LSU will take on the Bulldogs at 1:30 p.m. in the Newell-Grissom Building. It will be Mississippi State’s fourth match in five days after adding a make-up match against Georgia on Saturday for its Sept. 25 match that was canceled midway through due to a tornado in Starkville.