BATON ROUGE — After three straight weeks on the road, the 13th-ranked LSU volleyball team returns home this weekend to open the home Southeastern Conference schedule against a confident South Carolina team on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Maravich Center.
Groups of 10 or more will receive FREE admission to the match with an “Advocate” ticket. Those tickets can be reserved through the LSU Promotions Department by calling (225) 578-8960 or emailing smclaugh@lsu.edu before 3:30 p.m. on the day of the match. The first 300 fans to enter the match will also receive free LSU collector volleyball cups.
Riding an eight-match winning streak, the Tigers (10-1, 2-0 SEC) have achieved their highest national ranking since hitting No. 12 in the final poll of the 1992 season and have posted a win over then nationally ranked Minnesota and a pair of wins over team receiving votes in the national poll.
“We feel like with Florida losing last weekend, that we are one of the top teams to beat in the SEC and people are looking at us like that,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “Our lesson to this team all year has been that if we stay together and do the things that we do well and execute on the level that we are capable of executing, then we can make that target on our backs really small and really difficult to hit.”
After losing three straight matches, the Gamecocks (9-4, 2-0 SEC) topped Auburn to open conference play, then knocked off then No. 6 Florida, 3-1, in Columbia, S.C., in one of the biggest wins in their programs history. That put South Carolina back into the national poll picture among other teams receiving votes this week.
“South Carolina is going to come in here on a roll coming off their win over Florida last Sunday,” said Flory. “Florida had beaten them 25 times in a row before they knocked them off, so it was a great win for them.”
As a team, LSU leads Tennessee on the offensive side of the net; recording 16.6 kills per game, compared to 15.3 for the Gamecocks. South Carolina, however, posts a slightly high team hitting percentage at .266, while the Tigers hit .253 as a team.
Defensively, the LSU holds a rather commanding lead over the Gamecocks in blocks, posting 3.1 a game, compared to 2.5 for USC. The Tigers also lead South Carolina in digs per game, averaging 15.5, while the Gamecocks have just 13.5. The Tigers rank third in the SEC in opponents hitting percentage, holding opponents to just a.138 clip, while South Carolina ranks eighth at .192.
Freshman Lauren DeGirolamo leads the Tigers and ranks third in the nation with 1.83 blocks per game. The Collegiate Volleyball Update National Player of the Week, the Belleville, Ill., native has recorded six matches with eight or more blocks this season, including back-to-back double-figure blocking matches last weekend. In addition, she is averaging 3.13 kills per game with a team-best .353 hitting percentage.
Offensively, LSU is balanced with two players averaging over three kills a game and five players averaging over 2.4 kills per game. Sophomore Marina Skender leads the way with 3.71 kills per game. In addition, she leads in the SEC with 0.81 service aces per game, which ranks fifth nationally.
Senior Kassi Mikulik leads the Tigers with 4.12 digs per game. The Flatonia, Texas, libero is just five digs from becoming just the seventh player in LSU history to record 1,000 career digs. Currently, she ranks sixth in the conference in digs per game.
Setter Daniela Romero ranks second in the SEC and ranks 14th in the NCAA with 13.19 assists per game. She currently needs 194 assists to move into third place in career assists in LSU history. In addition, she is five digs away from recording 800 career digs.
Shonda Cole has single-handedly been the offense for South Carolina this season. She leads the Gamecocks, the SEC and the NCAA in kills per game, averaging an amazing 6.20 per game, while only one other USC player is averaging over two kills per game. Defensively, Belita Salters leads South Carolina with 1.08 blocks per game and Alexcis Thomson averages a team best 3.31 digs per game.
“South Carolina has one of the best individual players in the country and certainly a candidate for National Player of the Year in Shonda Cole,” said Flory. “She trained with the national team last summer and has been a one woman show for them this season, but she almost single-handedly beat Florida, so she can definitely make that kind of difference for their team.”
South Carolina leads the all-time series with LSU, 11-9, but the Tigers have won the last three meetings. LSU, however, has not defeated the Gamecocks in Baton Rouge since 1993. The Tigers topped South Carolina in five games in Fayetteville, Ark., last season in a match that was moved to a neutral site due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
LSU remains at home to face Georgia on Sunday for “Family Day”. The Tigers will face the Bulldogs at 1:30 p.m. The match will be televised on Cox Sports Television in Baton Rouge on cable channel 37. Families will be treated to inflatables for the kids and family festivities throughout the match. The first 100 fans will receive free LSU volleyball lunch sacks.