BATON ROUGE — Riding an 11-game winning streak, the longest since 1991, the 12th-ranked LSU volleyball team will try to make it 12 in a row as the Tigers take on Mississippi State on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the Maravich Center.
LSU will 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 volleyball trading cards will also be given away to the first 1,000 fans for a postgame autograph session.
The Tigers (13-1, 5-0 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. Posting a 10-1 record during the pre-conference schedule, the Bulldogs (10-5, 1-4 SEC) have now dropped four in a row after topping Ole Miss to open SEC play.
“Mississippi State is a much improved team,” said Flory. “They started this season very successfully. Although they have struggled in the SEC, they have taken games from some of the top teams and challenged all of their opponents. With the addition of several international players over the past two years, they have continued to improve their personnel and are very well trained. This is a big match up for us and we will need to be prepared to play well and be efficient on our side to be successful.”
As a team, LSU leads Mississippi State on the offensive side of the net; with an SEC-best 16.8 kills per game, compared to 15.6 for the Bulldogs. Mississippi State, however, leads the Tigers in hitting percentage with a .286 mark compared to a .242 clip for LSU.
Defensively, the Tigers hold a commanding lead over the Bulldogs in blocks, posting 3.1 a game, compared to 1.6 for MSU. In addition, LSU leads the Bulldogs in digs per game, averaging 16.3 to 14.2 for Mississippi State. The Tigers lead the SEC in opponents hitting percentage, holding opponents to just a.126 clip, while the Bulldogs rank fourth at .164.
Freshman Lauren DeGirolamo leads the Tigers and ranks fourth in the nation with 1.82 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 3.22 kills per game with a team-best .338 hitting percentage.
Offensively, LSU is balanced with four players averaging over three kills a game. Sophomore Marina Skender leads the way with 3.57 kills per game. In addition, she leads in the SEC with 0.75 service aces per game, which ranks fourth nationally.
Senior Kassi Mikulik leads the Tigers with 4.45 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 47 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 13.29 assists per game. She currently needs 70 assists to move into third place in career assists in LSU history. In addition, she is 89 digs away from breaking into the top 10 in career digs in Tiger volleyball history.
Christina Jucan leads Mississippi State with 3.85 kills per game, which ranks sixth in the SEC, followed by Orshi Kriegel at 3.70 per game, which ranks 10th in the league. There are no Bulldogs that are averaging a block a game or better, as Lauren Kowal leads Mississippi State with 0.73 blocks per game with 36 total blocks on the season, a mark that would rank fourth on the LSU team this year. Megan Lukasek leads the Bulldogs with 3.60 digs per game, followed by Jucan and Kriegel, who both post over two digs per game.
The Tigers lead the all-time series with Mississippi State, 39-7, including an 18-2 record in Baton Rouge. Although LSU has dominated the overall series, the Tigers have dropped two of the last three meetings, including one of the Tigers only two losses to the Bulldogs in Baton Rouge.
LSU will return to the road for two weeks following Sunday’s match. The Tigers will travel to face Arkansas for a mid-week contest next week before taking on Alabama on the road next weekend. LSU will then face Auburn and nationally ranked Florida on the road the following weekend. The Tigers will next be at home on Oct. 20 for a rematch with Kentucky before facing off with nationally ranked Tennessee again on Oct. 22.