DAYTON, Ohio — The 22nd-ranked LSU volleyball team earned their second straight tournament championship with back-to-back three-game sweeps, topping Indiana, 30-21, 30-22, 30-20, before defeating Wake Forest, 30-19, 30-18, 30-17, on Saturday at the Dayton Marriott Invitational.
With the wins, the Tigers improved to 8-1 on the season and have now won six straight after a five-game loss to No. 2 Penn State. The Hoosiers dropped to 6-2 on the year, while the Demon Deacons fell to 2-4 on the season. Indiana went 1-2 in the tournament, while Wake Forest went winless.
“What a great weekend for us,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “I’m really proud of this team. They gave a superb effort throughout the entire tournament and controlled every match and pretty much every game after a tough battle on Friday night.
For the second straight season, senior Daniela Romero was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. The setter led LSU to a .288 hitting percentage for the weekend with 17.40 kills per game. Individually, she posted 1.40 kills per game with a .370 hitting percentage and 3.20 digs per game.
Additionally, seniors Melody Clark and Kassi Mikulik were named to the all-tournament team. Clark led the team with a .400 hitting percentage for the weekend, posting 3.30 kills per game with 1.40 blocks per game. Mikulik posted a team-best 4.00 digs for games and moved into eighth place on the LSU career digs list with 966.
“I can’t say enough about the seniors and their leadership,” said Flory. “Dee Romero being named the MVP two weekends in a row; it was an outstanding effort by her. Melody Clark led our middles in a tremendous effort. I think our ball control was outstanding and certainly Kassi had an excellent weekend as well.”
In the two matches, the Tigers did not drop a game, allowing only Indiana to reach the 20-point mark, while neither team reached the 25-point barrier. LSU also held both opponents to hitting percentages below the .100 mark, while out killing, out hitting, out digging and out blocking both teams.
The Tigers had a chance to get several true freshmen into the action on Saturday. Alaina Klarquist and Brittnee Cooper got on the court for the first time in their collegiate careers. Klarquist posted six kills and five blocks, while Cooper had one kill with two blocks.
“It was great to get some young players some experience and see how they could help and they did a great job,” said Flory. “We really didn’t have a weak link the entire weekend.”
Against the Hoosiers, Clark led the match with 17 kills and a .577 hitting percentage, followed by Lauren Leaumont with 12 kills while hitting at a .391 clip. Marina Skender posted 10 kills with a .353 hitting percentage and six service aces. As a team, the Tigers recorded 52 kills and hit at a .330 clip.
Defensively, Lauren DeGirolamo posted a match-best eight blocks, including a pair of solo blocks. Skender also recorded four blocks for LSU. Mikulik led the match with 14 digs, followed by Romero with eight.
For Indiana, Erica Short led the Hoosiers with 15 kills, the only IU player with double-digit kills. Sara Diehl led Indiana with nine digs, while Gabrielle Allison posted a team-best three blocks.
After losing the first point of the match against Indiana, the Tigers tied it up and took the lead, marking the only lead for the Hoosiers in the first game. LSU expanded its lead to 13-5 before holding a 20-12 advantage. Indiana got back within four, 21-17, but the Tigers closed it out with a 9-4 run to earn the game one win.
In the second game, the pair were tied at four all when LSU went on a 13-8 run that gave it a five-point lead. The Tigers never led by fewer than three the rest of the way as they pulled away in the end, going into game three with a two-game advantage, 30-22.
LSU dominated in the final game. The Tigers opened up a 10-2 lead to start and the Hoosiers never got closer than four the rest of the way. LSU went on to close out the game and the match, 30-20.
Against Wake Forest, the Tigers took the first point of the match and opened up a 3-1 lead and never looked back. LSU led by as many as 10 early on, 16-6, before the Demon Deacons came back to cut it as close as five, 23-18, but could get no closer. The Tigers closed out game one on a 6-0 run, scoring seven of the final eight points to win, 30-19.
Despite recording only 16 kills in the second game, down from 22 in game one, LSU remained dominant. The Tigers jumped out to a 10-4 lead and never let down. Wake Forest got no closer than five the rest of the way as LSU pulled away, closing out game two, 30-18, to go into the locker room with the two game advantage.
In the third game, the Tigers fell behind, 7-5, but came back to tie it at seven all and never looked back. LSU took the lead, 8-7, as part of a 6-0 run that saw them take an 11-7 lead. The Tigers stretched it out to 24-13 behind another 6-0 run. LSU closed out the match on a 3-0 run with a block by Brittnee Cooper and Romero.
Skender led the match with 13 kills, while Clark posted a .438 hitting percentage with nine kills and a match-best six blocks, including three solos. Elena Martinez led the match with 15 digs, followed by Mikulik with 11.
Wake Forest was led by Lauren Peterson and Jessica Furlong with 10 kills each, while Natalie Mullikin and Jenna Doane posted team-highs of three blocks each. Michael Faulkner was the only Demon Deacon in double figures with 10 digs.
LSU has now completed its pre-conference schedule and will enter Southeastern Conference play on Friday. The Tigers will begin defense of their SEC Western Division title at No. 12 Tennessee on Friday at 6 p.m. (CT) before facing Kentucky on Sunday at 1 p.m. The match against the Wildcats will be televised live on SEC-TV in Baton Rouge on Fox Sports Southwest (Baton Rouge cable channel 38).
“These two matches today will certainly help us prepare for SEC and we feel like we’re ready to move into the next phase,” said Flory. “We feel like we had a very successful pre-conference schedule. We feel very prepared and we are looking forward to opening SEC play next weekend.”
No. 22 LSU def. Indiana, 30-21, 30-22, 30-20
No. 22 LSU (7-1) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Melody Clark 17-0-2; Lauren Leaumont 12-1-1; Marina Skender 10-6-4; Lauren DeGirolamo 6-0-8; Daniela Romero 2-0-0; Vanessa Freeman 1-0-0; Kyna Washington 2-0-2; Alaina Klarquist 2-0-1; Elena Martinez 0-1-0; Michelle Hensgens 0-0-0; Kassi Mikulik 0-1-0; Totals 52-9-10.0. (Assists) – Daniela Romero 41. (Dig leaders) – Kassi Mikulik 14.
Indiana (6-2) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Erica Short 15-1-0; Annie Moddrell 6-0-0; Lauren Ditteon 2-0-1; Juli Pierce 1-0-0; Allison Regas 1-0-2; Gabrielle Allison 0-0-3; Caitlin Watts 0-0-0; Emily Zulauf 1-0-0; Sara Diehl 0-1-0; Anne Grabow 0-0-0; Jessica Langert 0-1-0; Totals 26-3-3.0. (Assists) – Caitlin Watts 12. (Dig leaders) – Sara Diehl 9.
No. 22 LSU def. Wake Forest, 30-19, 30-18, 30-17
No. 22 LSU (8-1) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Marina Skender 13-1-2; Lauren Leaumont 9-0-0; Melody Clark 9-1-6; Lauren DeGirolamo 8-0-2; Daniela Romero 6-0-1; Vanessa Freeman 3-0-1; Alaina Klarquist 4-0-4; Elena Martinez 0-0-0; Michelle Hensgens 0-1-0; Kassi Mikulik 0-0-0; Brittnee Cooper 1-0-2; Totals 53-3-11.0. (Assists) – Daniela Romero 42. (Dig leaders) – Elena Martinez 15, Kassi Mikulik 11.
Wake Forest (2-4) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Lauren Peterson 10-0-0; Jessica Furlong 10-0-1; Natalie Mullikin 5-0-3; Jackie Lucas 3-0-2; Dylan Faulkner 2-0-1; Jenna Doane 1-0-3; Michael Faulkner 1-0-0; Sara Uniacke 0-1-0; Totals 32-1-5.0. (Assists) – Dylan Faulkner 28. (Dig leaders) – Michael Faulkner 10.