BATON ROUGE — The 12th-ranked LSU volleyball team won their 12th consecutive match with a 30-21, 30-24, 30-21 win over Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon at the Maravich Center to remain undefeated in Southeastern Conference play.
The 12-match winning streak, which is tied for the sixth longest in school history, has put the Tigers at 14-1 on the season and 6-0 in SEC play, the best start to conference play since 1990. LSU now leads the league by a game over Florida and holds a two-game lead over Alabama in the Western Division standings. The Tigers will now travel to take on the second and third ranked teams in the West this week as LSU will face Arkansas on Wednesday, which currently stands in third place in the West, before taking on the Crimson Tide on Sunday.
The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 10-6 for the year and 1-5 in conference play. Mississippi State has now lost five straight after defeating Ole Miss in its SEC opener. The Lady Rebels, which the Tigers swept on Friday, topped the Lady Razorbacks in Fayetteville, 3-2, on Sunday.
“This was a great weekend for us,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “I think we did some really, really good things. We changed our line-up around a little bit and we’re creating different opportunities, trying to gain some depth and experience. The fact that we could remain balanced while doing that is a tremendous asset for the rest of the season. We keep getting better and that is a key for us. We don’t stagnate. We keep creating opportunities for us to improve and we’re still growing.”
Melody Clark tied for the match high with 11 kills, while also hitting at a match-best .391 clip with two service aces. In addition, the senior from Colorado Springs, Colo., tied for the match lead with six blocks.
Lauren DeGirolamo and Marina Skender also posted double-figures in kills for the Tigers with 10 each. DeGirolamo tied Clark with six blocks for the match. Kassi Mikulik led LSU with 13 digs, followed by Daniela Romero with 10, who also posted 37 assists for her team-best ninth double-double.
Orshi Kriegel led Mississippi State with 11 kills, the only Bulldog in double figures with kills. Jamie Joyner led MSU with three blocks, while Megan Lukasek led the match with 17 digs for the Bulldogs.
As a team, the Tigers posted 45 kills, to only 36 for Mississippi State. In addition, LSU recorded a .217 team hitting percentage, while holding the Bulldogs to a .071 clip. The Tigers held a commanding lead in blocking, with 13.0 blocks to only 4.0 for Mississippi State. LSU posted three more digs than the Bulldogs, recording 49 to 46 for MSU.
The Tigers came out on top in the face off between the top two serving teams in the league. LSU posted five service aces, although below its season average of 2.02 a game, but held the SEC’s top serving team to just two aces. Mississippi State came into the match averaging 2.54 aces per game.
“I think we did very well today handling the toughest serving team in the league,” said Flory. “They have the most aces and are the toughest serving team we have faced this year and that was a point of preparation this week. I think we did a great job of handling that. I just think we were really balanced today both offensively and defensively. We gave away some points on some silly hitting errors that we need to correct but overall it was a great weekend for us.”
In the first game, the Tigers scored the first point and never trailed the rest of the way. LSU led 6-1 and jumped out to the 19-9 advantage before the Bulldogs slowly crept back into contention. The Tigers led 25-16, but could not close it out quickly as Mississippi State got it to within eight, 29-21, before a block by Clark and Skender gave LSU the 30-21 win.
The Tigers scored the first point of the second game and never trailed, although the score was tied on five occasions. LSU pulled out to a 14-11 lead, but the Bulldogs came back to within one, 15-14. Again the Tigers took the lead, 21-17, but Mississippi State scored four straight to tie it up at 21 all. LSU then used a 5-0 run to pull away for good, going into the locker room with the two-game advantage, 30-24, on a kill by Skender.
For the first time in the match, the Tigers trailed in the third game. Mississippi State held the 5-3 lead, its largest of the match, before LSU tied it up at five and took the lead at 7-6 for good. The Tigers pulled out to a 13-7 advantage then used an 8-3 run to take the 21-10 lead. The Bulldogs would get no closer than seven the rest of the way as LSU earned the match win on a solo block by Romero, 30-21.
“We were very good offensively in game one, hitting our shots and Dee (Romero) was creating great opportunities,” said Flory. “Mississippi State did a good job in games two and three of blocking us. They changed their blocking scheme after game one because what they came in prepared to do, didn’t really work and we were pretty prepared for what they were going to do.
“They adjusted and then we had to re-adjust. They caused a problem for us with that, but it was certainly a tribute to our hitters that they remained patient and didn’t try to do too much or go for the home run and waited for the right opportunity to put the ball on the court.”
LSU now takes to the road for two weeks. The Tigers will travel to face Arkansas for a mid-week contest 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.
“We don’t talk about winning matches or winning games,” said Flory. “We talk about execution and winning points and winning contacts and then the big picture takes care of itself. That has been the mentality of this team and I think we’ve done a very good job. This team has also done a good job of not looking past the next opponent. It doesn’t matter who we are playing and I bet they wouldn’t even know who we are playing in two weeks. They know now that when they go home tonight that we are going to start preparing for Arkansas and that is the most important match.”
No. 12 LSU def. Mississippi State, 30-21, 30-24, 30-21
Mississippi State (10-6, 1-5 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Orshi Kriegel 110-0; Jamie Joyner 8-0-3; Eva Kriegel 6-1-1; Martina Gregushova 3-0-0; Lauren Kowal 3-0-1; Erin Seago 0-0-2; Ioana Demian 1-0-0; Jennifer Hauskey 0-0-0; Cristina Jucan 4-0-0; Megan Lukasek 0-1-0; Emily Tooker 0-0-0; Totals 36-2-4.0. (Assists) – Eva Kriegel 28. (Dig leaders) – Megan Lukasek 17.
No. 12 LSU (14-1, 6-0 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Melody Clark 11-2-6; Lauren DeGirolamo 10-0-6; Marina Skender 10-1-2; Kyna Washington 8-0-3; Brittnee Cooper 4-0-4; Daniela Romero 1-1-2; Lauren Leaumont 1-0-0; Michelle Hensgens 0-0-0; Kassi Mikulik 0-1-0; Totals 45-5-13.0. (Assists) – Daniela Romero 37. (Dig leaders) – Kassi Mikulik 13, Daniela Romero 10.