BATON ROUGE — Fans are encouraged to wear gold to get into the match for FREE as the 12th-ranked LSU volleyball team hosts Ole Miss on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Center riding a 10-match winning streak and looks to go undefeated in the month of September for the first time since 1991.
Live statistics will be available on the official LSU athletics website, LSUsports.net. Gold “Walk on the Wild Side” t-shirts will also be given away during the match.
The Tigers (12-1, 4-0 SEC) are the only remaining undefeated team in the Southeastern Conference and have achieved their highest national ranking since the final poll of the 1992 when LSU was also ranked No. 12. The Lady Rebels (9-5, 1-3 SEC) are coming off their first league win of the year, knocking off Kentucky, 3-1, in Oxford last Sunday.
“Ole Miss is a much improved team,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “They are coming in off probably their biggest win of the year. That appears to be the trend for us. We got South Carolina last weekend after their big win over Florida and this week we get Ole Miss after their big win over Kentucky, in a match that they were probably not expected to win when they stepped out on the court. Their confidence will be at an all-time high for the season. Ole Miss will be very prepared and confident in their system and we are going to need to be equally as prepared.”
As a team, LSU leads Ole Miss on the offensive side of the net; with an SEC-best 16.9 kills per game, compared to 15.4 for the Lady Rebels. In addition, the Tigers post a .246 team hitting percentage, compared to a .227 clip for Ole Miss.
Defensively, LSU holds a rather commanding lead over the Lady Rebels in blocks, posting 3.0 a game, compared to 2.2 for Ole Miss. However, the Lady Rebels lead the Tigers in digs per game, averaging 16.4 to 15.9 for LSU. The Tigers lead the SEC in opponents hitting percentage, holding opponents to just a.136 clip, while Ole Miss ranks 10th at .206.
“As a team, we will need to be more efficient and make the defensive side of the ball be an advantage for us,” said Flory. “We will need to block and also play well with our back court defense. Ole Miss runs a fast paced game similar to ours, so our style of play will not affect them like it does with a lot of other teams, so we will need to find other areas to use to our advantage.”
Freshman Lauren DeGirolamo leads the Tigers and ranks fourth in the nation with 1.79 blocks per game. The Belleville, Ill., native has recorded six matches with eight or more blocks this season, including back-to-back double-figure blocking matches against Tennessee and Kentucky. In addition, she is averaging 3.23 kills per game with a team-best .348 hitting percentage.
Offensively, LSU is balanced with four players averaging over three kills a game. Sophomore Marina Skender leads the way with 3.71 kills per game. In addition, she leads in the SEC with 0.77 service aces per game, which ranks fourth nationally.
Senior Kassi Mikulik leads the Tigers with 4.19 digs per game. The Flatonia, Texas, libero became just the seventh person in LSU history to record 1,000 career digs last weekend and now needs 73 digs to move into sixth place in Tiger volleyball career history. In addition, she ranks fourth in the SEC in digs per game and fourth in career digs per game in LSU history.
Setter Daniela Romero leads the SEC and ranks ninth in the NCAA with 13.35 assists per game. She currently needs 107 assists to move into third place in career assists in LSU history. In addition, she is 103 digs away from breaking into the top 10 in career digs in Tiger volleyball history.
Katie Kramer leads Ole Miss with 4.31 kills per game, which ranks third in the SEC, followed by Kristen Carroll with 3.49 and Jaclyn Toohey with 3.13. Five Lady Rebels are averaging over two digs per game, led by Tara Langley who is ranked ninth in the SEC with 3.38 digs per game. However, only two Ole Miss players are averaging over one block a game, with Lauren Moffett leading the way at 1.10 per game.
The Tigers lead the all-time series with Ole Miss, 40-11, including a 17-4 record in Baton Rouge. LSU has won the last three meetings with the Lady Rebels, including both meetings last season. The last time Ole Miss topped the Tigers was in Oxford in 2004.
LSU remains at home to face Mississippi State on Sunday as the Tigers celebrate “Camp Reunion Safari Day”. It is a chance for anyone who participated in the Fran Flory Tiger volleyball camps over the summer to get into the match free by wearing their camp t-shirt. 2006 LSU volleyball trading cards will also be given away to the first 1,000 fans for a postgame autograph session.