BATON ROUGE — After coming from behind to knock off nationally ranked Tennessee in Knoxville earlier this season, the 12th-ranked LSU volleyball team will go for the Southeastern Conference season sweep of the Lady Vols on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in the Maravich Center.
The match will be televised on SEC-TV in Baton Rouge on Fox Sports Southwest, cable channel 38. In addition, live statistics will be available on the official LSU athletics website, LSUsports.net. Fans with tickets to either the volleyball or soccer games are encouraged to use those ticket stubs to attend the other event for FREE.
Starting at 2:30 p.m., inflatables will be available for children as volleyball celebrates “Mike the Tiger’s Birthday”. Pictures with Mike the mascot and a Mike the Tiger cake will help fans celebrate the occasion. Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts can get into the match free with “Advocate” tickets by showing up at the PMAC ticket office in their Scout uniforms. Scout volleyball badges will help fans celebrate the occasion.
The Tigers are now 17-3 on the season and 9-2 in SEC play, which puts LSU in sole possession of first place in the SEC Western Division, a game ahead of Alabama, while a game back of Florida in the overall SEC race. Tennessee is 15-6 overall and 6-5 in conference action after falling to Arkansas on the road on Friday night.
In the first meeting this season, the Tigers dropped the first two games before rallying back to win the final three for the win. It marked the first win over the Lady Vols in Knoxville since 2001 for LSU. As a team, the Tigers recorded 87 kills with a .227 hitting percentage overall, while recording 73 digs and a season-best 18 blocks and six service aces. Tennessee posted 61 kills for the match with a .160 attacking mark, with 65 digs. In addition, the second best blocking team in the league was held to 15 blocks in the match and no service aces.
“Tennessee has changed their system since the last time we played them and they are using their personnel differently so it’s almost like we are playing a different team than the one we played at Tennessee,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “I think they are more efficient. I think they are better offensively. I think they were a solid defensive team already and with a more balanced offense I think they are going to be a bit more difficult to beat at this point in the season than they were at that point in the season.”
Marina Skender led the Tigers and the match with 22 kills in the first meeting, while also recording 15 digs and four service aces. She was one of five LSU players in double-figures in kills. Kyna Washington posted 17 kills, followed by Lauren DeGirolamo with 16. DeGirolamo also tied for the match high with a career-best 10 blocks for her first career double-double.
Vanessa Freeman posted a team-best .370 hitting percentage with 14 kills, while also tying her career high with seven blocks. Melody Clark recorded 12 kills with eight blocks, a season best for the senior. Daniela Romero led the match with 17 digs, while also recording a career-best 74 assists. Skender and Kassi Mikulik each posted 15 digs, while Elena Martinez had 13.
Sarah Blum led Tennessee with 18 kills, while Yuliya Stoyanova posted 17 and Kelsey Fautsch recorded 12. Stoyanova also tied for the team lead with 14 digs with Chelsea Noble, while Annie Sadowski posted 12. Blum tied DeGirolamo for the match lead with 10 blocks.
For the season, LSU leads the Lady Vols on the offensive side of the net; recording 16.8 kills per game, compared to 15.6 for Tennessee. The Lady Vols, however, post a slightly high team hitting percentage at .244, while the Tigers hit .233 as a team.
Defensively, Tennessee leads LSU in blocks, posting 3.2 a game, compared to 2.9 for the Tigers. However, LSU leads the Lady Vols in digs per game, averaging 16.8, while Tennessee has 16.0. The Tigers rank first in the SEC in opponents hitting percentage, holding opponents to just a.147 clip, while the Lady Vols rank sixth at .187.
DeGirolamo leads the Tigers and ranks 14th in the nation with 1.642 blocks per game. After redshirting last year, the Belleville, Ill., freshman has recorded seven matches with eight or more blocks this season. In addition, she is averaging 3.19 kills per game with a .337 hitting percentage.
Offensively, LSU is balanced with four players averaging over three kills a game and six players averaging over two kills per game. Skender leads the way with 3.80 kills per game, followed by Washington at 3.32. In addition, Skender leads the SEC with 0.70 service aces per game, which ranks fourth nationally.
Mikulik leads the Tigers with 4.55 digs per game. The Flatonia, Texas, libero is just 25 digs from moving into fifth place in career digs in LSU history. She also needs only 62 digs to break into the top 10 in single-season digs.
Romero leads the SEC and ranks 14th in the NCAA with 13.371 assists per game. Currently ranked second in career assists in school history, the senior from Arlington, Texas, needs 96 assists to record her 4,000th career assist. In addition, she is 28 digs away from breaking into the top 10 in career digs in LSU history.
Stoyanova leads Tennessee and ranks fifth in the SEC with a 3.91 kills per game average, followed by Fautsch at 3.53 and Blum with 3.25 kills per game. Blum also leads the Lady Vols and the league with 1.76 blocks per game, while Noble posts a team-best 2.78 digs per game.
“We need to be prepared to defend a little different style with some left-handed players on the left side of the court, so our game plan and preparation are going to be vital our the success in this match,” said Flory.
LSU leads the all-time series with Tennessee, 265-15, including an 11-3 mark in Baton Rouge. The Tigers are 5-2 in their last seven meetings with Tennessee. Last season, LSU swept the Lady Vols in Fayetteville, Ark., in a match moved to a neutral site due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The Tigers will be on the road next weekend to take on Georgia and South Carolina. LSU swept both teams in Baton Rouge earlier this season. The Tigers will take on Georgia next Friday at 6 p.m. (CT) before traveling to face the Gamecocks on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. (CT).
LSU will return home again on Nov. 3 to face nationally ranked Florida at 7 p.m. The Tigers fell to the Gators last weekend in Gainesville, one of only two losses for LSU in SEC play this season. The Tigers will then take on Auburn on Nov. 5 at 1:30 p.m.