BATON ROUGE — The 12th-ranked LSU volleyball team earned a 30-25, 30-23, 30-20 sweep of Ole Miss on Friday night at the Maravich Center to extend their winning streak to 11 matches and remain undefeated in Southeastern Conference play.
With the win, the Tigers (13-1, 5-0 SEC) finished the month of September undefeated for the first time since 1991 and have matched the best start to a season in school history, accomplished previously by only the 1991 and 1978 programs. The loss dropped the Lady Rebels to 9-6 overall and 1-4 in league play and gave LSU its fifth win over Ole Miss in the last seven meetings.
Senior Kassi Mikulik recorded a match-best 26 digs to lead the Tigers. It marked the second most digs in a three-game match in school history, surpassed only by the 30 digs recorded by Luciana Reis against Arkansas State in 1993. In addition, senior Daniela Romero posted 14 digs and Kyna Washington recorded 12 digs as LSU had 70 for the match, the 10th most team digs in a three-game in school history.
“I think this was a very good match for us in that it made us rely on some different areas,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “Our backcourt defense was very good and our blocking after game one became a very big factor. With 26 digs in a three game match for Kassi, I don’t think you can do much better than that.”
Senior Melody Clark led the offensive attack for the Tigers with 13 kills and a .333 hitting percentage, followed by freshman Lauren DeGirolamo and Washington with nine kills each. DeGirolamo also led the match with seven blocks of LSU’s 11 team blocks. In addition to her 14 digs, Romero posted 37 assists for her team-best eighth double-double on the season.
“I was a little disappointed in our offense,” said Flory. “I don’t think we were in sync offensively. We were just barely missing, but a tribute to our kids; they persevered and stayed with it. We’re trying to rest some people, so we’re trying to take a little different approach to our offense and Dee (Romero) did a great job of balancing out and accomplishing what we wanted her to do. I think she continues to lead us and I think this was another great night for Dee.”
Jaclyn Toohey led Ole Miss with 13 kills, followed by Katie Kramer with 10. The downfall for the Rebels was the fact that Ole Miss posted 32 kills, but also committed 32 errors for a .000 team hitting percentage for the match. Tara Langley led the Lady Rebels with 15 digs, while Emily Jones led Ole Miss with three blocks.
In the first game, the Tigers fell behind 5-0 to start, a position LSU rarely finds itself in and the Tigers did not panic. With LSU trailing, 7-3, the Tigers went on a 7-0 run to take the 10-7 advantage. With the score tied at 21 all, LSU score the next three points to pull ahead for good. The Lady Rebels never got closer than three as the Tigers took game one, 30-25.
In the second game, LSU once again found itself down to start, 0-3, but the Tigers came back to tie it up at seven all. There would be a total of seven ties in the game before LSU took the lead for good at 17-16 on an attacking error by Ole Miss. From that point on, the Tigers never looked back as LSU outscored the Lady Rebels, 13-7 to go into the locker room with the two game lead, 30-23.
The Tigers came out and dominated the third game, leaving nothing to chance in the match. LSU led 11-5 out of the gate and Ole Miss would never get closer than four the rest of the way. With the Tigers leading 21-17, a 4-0 run put the game out of reach as LSU earned the game and the match, 30-20.
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.
No. 12 LSU def. Ole Miss, 30-25, 30-23, 30-20
Ole Miss (9-6, 1-4 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Katie Kramer 10-0-0; Kristen Carroll 3-0-0; Rachel Kieckhaefer 1-0-0; Emily Jones 1-0-3; Nicole Mahan 0-1-0; Lauren Moffett 1-0-0; Jaclyn Toohey 13-0-2; Allison Weber 0-0-0; Caitlin Keefe 0-0-1; Caitlin Weiss 3-0-0; Christine Marchinski 0-0-0; Tara Langley 0-0-0; Totals 32-1-4.0. (Assists) – Rachel Kieckhaefer 29. (Dig leaders) – Tara Langley 15.
No. 12 LSU (13-1, 5-0 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Melody Clark 13-2-2; Lauren DeGirolamo 9-0-6; Kyna Washington 9-1-2; Brittnee Cooper 7-0-2; Marina Skender 4-1-3; Daniela Romero 2-0-1; Alaina Klarquist 1-0-0; Michelle Hensgens 0-0-0; Kassi Mikulik 0-0-0; Totals 45-4-11.0. (Assists) – Daniela Romero 37. (Dig leaders) – Kassi Mikulik 26, Daniela Romero 14, Kyna Washington 12.