BATON ROUGE — With a chance at a share of the Southeastern Conference Western Division title still at stake, the LSU volleyball team returns home to face SEC West leader Arkansas in a crucial match on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Center.
The Tigers (19-6, 9-5 SEC) are two games behind the Lady Razorbacks (19-8, 11-3 SEC) in the standings with two matches remaining. If LSU can knock off Arkansas and defeat Kentucky on Friday, the Tigers will need a Wildcat win over the Lady’Backs on Sunday to share their first divisional title in school history. Arkansas has won 10 of the last 11 SEC West titles and defeated LSU, 26-30, 30-24, 30-27, 31-29, earlier this season in Fayetteville.
“The LSU-Arkansas match is always very competitive,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “Both teams tend to rise to the occasion. We will need to compete at a high level. It should be a very exciting, intense match.
“We will need to come into the match with the attitude that we need to play with a fast pace and execute at a high level,” Flory continued. We are obviously thankful to be playing on our home court and to be ending our regular season at home. We hope that our wonderful LSU fans will once again come out and support us this week.”
In the first game of their first meeting, the Tigers outscored Arkansas late in the game to come away with the win. The Lady’Backs took a big lead in game two, but LSU came back to make it tight before Arkansas evened the match at one game each. In the third game, Arkansas scored the final two points to seal the win. After trailing by as many as five, the Tigers held game point in the fourth game, 29-26, but the Lady Razorbacks scored five straight to earn the game and the match.
Senior Jelena Mijatovic led the match with 22 kills and also posted 11 digs for a double-double. Freshman Kyna Washington also recorded a double-double with 16 kills and 13 digs. Both Tiger setters, Daniela Romero and Heather Fierce, posted double-doubles with 25 assists, 13 digs and 27 assists, 15 digs respectively. Senior Ivana Kuzmic led LSU with nine blocks.
The match was won in the blocking by Arkansas. The Lady Razorbacks posted 20 blocks, including 18 after game one. Amy Allison led Arkansas with 13 blocks, while also recording 12 digs. Kele Brewer led the Lady’Backs with 15 digs, followed by Denitza Koleva with 13 and Karla Crose with 11. Ashley Miller led the match with 24 digs for Arkansas, followed by 15 from Koleva.
For the season, Mijatovic leads LSU and ranks seventh in the SEC in kills per game at 4.15, while Washington is average 3.05 kills per game. Mijatovic also leads the league and ranks in the top 15 in the nation in service aces per game at 0.62.
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 1.13 blocks per game. Junior Kassi Mikulik moved from outside hitter to libero this season and ranks ninth in the SEC with 3.47 digs per game.
Arkansas is led offensively by Denitza Koleva with 3.62 kills per game and 0.32 service aces per game. Amy Allison leads the Lady’Backs and the SEC with 1.89 blocks per game, followed by Jessica Dorrell with 1.30 blocks per game. Ashley Miller leads Arkansas with 4.43 digs per game.
The Tigers are 3-22 all-time against Arkansas, including a 1-10 record in Baton Rouge. 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 12 meetings with Arkansas.
LSU will conclude the regular season on Friday at 7 p.m. against Kentucky. The Tigers will celebrate Senior Night and introduce their two-member senior class, Kuzmic and Mijatovic, following the conclusion of the match.