ST. LOUIS — For the second straight week, the LSU volleyball team will face nationally ranked competition as the Tigers take on No. 22 Minnesota as part of the Billiken Invitational this weekend at the Bauman-Eberhardt Center on the University of St. Louis campus.
LSU will face Texas A&M, which is receiving votes in the AVCA/CSTV Coaches poll, on Friday at 5 p.m., to open play in the tournament. The Tigers will then battle the 22nd-ranked Golden Gophers on Saturday at noon, before closing out tournament play at 5 p.m. against host St. Louis.
“We certainly feel like this is the most difficult of our pre-conference tournaments,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “The teams are all very strong and we are going to have to string together three solid matches to be successful. The difficulty with this tournament is that all three teams have very different styles of play. We are excited to have the opportunity to play Texas A&M and Minnesota and we think that it is important for our team to be successful this weekend.”
Last weekend, LSU went 2-1 in the Tiger Invitational. The Tigers topped Rice, 3-1, to open the 2006 season, before sweeping in-state rival Nicholls State, 3-0. In the tournament finale, LSU took a 2-0 lead over No. 2 Penn State, but the Nittany Lions came back to win the final three games to take the match, 3-2.
Despite the loss, it marked the first time the Tigers pushed a team ranked as high as No. 2 to five games in the program’s history. The last time LSU played a team ranked as high as No. 2, the Tigers lost to No. 2 Florida, 3-1, in 1996. Last season, the Tigers pulled off a five-game upset of No. 8 Notre Dame early in the season, their first win over a nationally ranked team and first win over a top 10-ranked team since 1992.
Texas A&M opened the season with a 3-0 record at the Colorado State Hilton Classic in Fort Collins, Colo., last weekend. The Aggies defeated Colorado State and Morgan State, 3-1, and swept Missouri State, 3-0.
Sarah Ammerman leads Texas A&M with 3.91 kills per game, while Christi Hahn boasts a team best .522 hitting percentage. Kelly Stanton leads the Aggies with 15 blocks and 1.50 blocks per game as Zanny Castillo has recorded 4.50 digs per game to lead her team.
“Texas A&M is a match-up that we feel like we lost out on last year,” said Flory.” We are anxious to get to play against a team that has the style of play you see in the Big 12 with a quick pace and fast tempo.”
Minnesota will be opening the 2006 season this weekend after posting a 25-8 record last year, including a 14-6 mark in Big Ten play to finish tied for third. The Golden Gophers advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling in five games to Tennessee. Minnesota returns all six starters and only loses its libero from a year ago, while returning 12 of 16 letterwinners.
“Any time you get to go up against a top team in the Big 10 it is a great opportunity,” said Flory. “They are a big, physical, type of team and this will be a great barometer for the remainder of our season.”
St. Louis opened the season with a 3-0 record at the Comfort Inn and Suites Invitational in DeKalb, Ill., last weekend. The Billikens topped Northern Illinois, 3-1, and swept Western Illinois and Eastern Kentucky, 3-0.
Lauren Christman leads St. Louis with 4.00 kills per game, while Sally Warning boasts a team-best .353 hitting percentage. Sutton Lasater leads the Billikens with 1.50 digs per game as Whitney Behrens records an amazing 6.10 digs per game to lead her team.
“St. Louis is a young, small team with a young, up-and-coming, talented head coach,” said Flory. “They are a ball-control type of team that keeps the ball is play and forces you into errors.”
In 28 previous meetings with Texas A&M, the Aggies hold the 18-10 series advantage over the Tigers, including a 3-2 win over LSU last season at the UTSA Dome Rally in San Antonio. The Tigers are 1-0 all-time against both Minnesota and St. Louis, but LSU has not played the Golden Gophers since 1991 and the Billikens since 1980.
The Tigers return to the road next weekend as LSU travels to the Dayton Marriott Invitational. The Tigers will take on host Dayton, Indiana and Wake Forest in the two-day tournament, before opening Southeastern Conference play on the road the following weekend. LSU’s next home match is Sept. 22 against South Carolina in the Maravich Center at 7 p.m.