BATON ROUGE — LSU head volleyball coach Fran Flory welcomed 16 players to campus on Tuesday before the Tigers begin practice on Wednesday in preparation for the season-opening Tiger Invitational in the Maravich Center on Aug. 25-26.
LSU, which is coming off a 21-8 season a year ago and its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 13 years, returns five starters, including SEC Freshman of the Year Marina Skender.
Among the other returning players that are reporting are senior setter Daniela Romero, senior middle blocker Melody Clark, senior outside hitter Kassi Mikulik and junior right side hitter Vanessa Freeman. The Tigers also bring in a redshirt freshman and six true freshmen to join the nine returning letterwinners.
On Tuesday, the team will move into their apartments, participate in several meetings and undergo physical examinations. LSU will hit the court for its first practice on Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m. in the Maravich Center for the first day of two-a-days before hitting the gym in the afternoon at 2:30 p.m. The Tigers will conduct seven two-a-day practice sessions and four one-a-day sessions before holding a scrimmage on Aug. 19.
The team will open the 2006 season on Aug. 25 against Rice in the Maravich Center in the Tiger Invitational at 7 p.m. The Tigers will then take on Nicholls State on Aug. 26 at 11 a.m. before closing out the two-day tournament against Penn State, which finished the 2005 season ranked No. 5 nationally, at 7 p.m.
Admission to the tournament is free with an “Advocate” ticket. Those tickets are available through the LSU Promotions Department by calling (225) 578-8960. In addition, fans are encouraged to wear white to the Penn State match, and “Walk on the Wild Side” t-shirts will be given away in an attempt to “Pack Pete’s Seats” and break the LSU volleyball attendance record.