BATON ROUGE — LSU volleyball freshman Lauren DeGirolamo appears in the October 9 issue of Sports Illustrated in the magazine’s “Faces in the Crowd” section.
The Belleville, Ill., native was named the Collegiate Volleyball Updated National Player of the Week on Sept. 20 after leading the 10th-ranked Tigers to Southeastern Conference wins over at then-No. 13 Tennessee and at Kentucky. It marked the first win in Knoxville for LSU since 2001 and the first win in Lexington since 1999.
The middle blocker led LSU in hitting percentage, blocks and blocks per game for the week, while ranking second on the team in kills per game. Against the Lady Vols, DeGirolamo notched 16 kills and a career-best 10 blocks, recording her first career double-double. The Tigers fell behind 2-0 before rallying to win the final three games to earn the victory.
Two days later against Kentucky, she tied her career best with 10 blocks against the Wildcats, while adding 14 kills as LSU rallied after losing the first game to defeat Kentucky, 3-1. It marked her second straight double-double and was the first back-to-back double-digit blocking total for the Tigers since former All-American Ivana Kuzmic accomplished the feat against No. 8 Notre Dame and South Carolina in September 2005.
For the week, the freshman averaged 3.33 kills per game on .381 hitting with 2.22 blocks per game. On the season, she ranks second in the SEC and third in the nation with 1.72 blocks per game. She also leads the Tigers and ranks ninth in the SEC in hitting percentage at .346, while averaging 3.23 kills per game, third best on the team.