BATON ROUGE — After winning a hard fought five-game match against Tennessee in Knoxville to open Southeastern Conference play, the 12th-ranked LSU volleyball team had no trouble with the 25th-ranked Lady Vols, winning 30-28, 30-26, 30-19, on Sunday afternoon in the Maravich Center.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 18-3 on the year and 10-2 in the SEC. LSU leads the SEC Western Division, two games ahead of Alabama, which lost to Mississippi State on the road on Sunday. The Tigers are a game behind Florida in the overall SEC after the Gators swept Georgia.
“There is parity in the SEC so any win is an important win,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “Certainly wins on your home court are vital if you are going to have a chance to be a champion at the end of the season. You can’t give any one of those away and our team knows that and they value that. They approach every match as if it was an SEC championship match on our home court.”
Tennessee dropped to 15-6 overall and 6-6 in conference action. The Lady Vols now stand in second in the SEC East, five games behind Florida, and fourth overall. LSU completed the series sweep of Tennessee, taking both matches this season, making it three straight wins over the Lady Vols, who advanced to the NCAA Final Four last season.
“I think this was a great match,” said Flory. “Tennessee played really solid and did some great things defensively and really frustrated us and forced us to adjust and readjust and adjust again throughout the match. It was a tough match.”
As a team, the Tigers recorded 59 kills with a .235 hitting percentage overall, while recording 70 digs and 13 blocks with seven service aces. Tennessee posted only 38 kills for the match, including only six in game three, and a .120 attacking mark, with 71 digs. In addition, the second-best blocking team in the league was held to nine blocks in the match and no service aces.
Sophomores Marina Skender and Kyna Washington led the Tigers and the match with 15 kills each, followed by junior Vanessa Freeman with 10. Both Skender and Washington posted double-doubles by posting 12 and 13 digs respectively.
Senior Daniela Romero moved to within 50 assists of 4,000 for her career with 47 assists in the match. Senior Kassi Mikulik led the Tigers with 22 digs, while freshman Lauren DeGirolamo led the match with a nine blocks.
“We knew that going to a double-round in the SEC that coaching was going to come into play and we had to be very prepared,” said Flory. “Our staff – Craig and John – did a tremendous job of helping Dee (Romero) where to go, who to set and when to run a certain offensive play and certainly helped her make the right choices at the right time. I think that match preparation went a long way towards this victory.”
Individually no Tennessee player posted double-figures in kills, as the Lady Vols were led by Kelsey Fautsch, Sarah Blum and Milan Clarke with eight each. Kylie Marshall led the match with 26 digs, followed by Chelsea Noble with 12 and Fautsch and Annie Sadowski with 11 each. Leah Hinkey led Tennessee with six blocks.
The first game saw four lead changes and 10 tied scores before LSU took the lead for good, 26-25, on a kill by Freeman. A kill by Clark gave the Tigers a two-point advantage before the Lady Vols closed it to one on a kill by Blum. With LSU holding game point, 29-28, Clark put the game away on a kill, 30-28.
The second game played out in much the same as the first with seven lead changes and 14 tied scores. Tennessee led by as many as four, 14-10, before the Tigers scored four straight to tie it up again at 14. The Lady Vols again took the lead and held a two-point advantage, 16-14, but LSU tied it up at 16.
With the score tied at 17, a 3-0 run by the Tigers sent LSU up, 20-17. Tennessee tied it up and with the score knotted at 22, the Tigers went on a 3-0 run that gave LSU the lead for good. A kill by Skender sent the Tigers into the locker room with the two-game lead, 30-26.
There was not much doubt in the third game after LSU jumped out to a 10-6 lead. The Tigers then stretched it out to 15-8 after a 5-0 run. A second five-point swing later in the game sent LSU ahead, 24-15, before the Tigers closed out the game and the match on a kill by Clark, 30-19.
LSU now leads the all-time series with Tennessee, 27-15, including a 12-3 mark in Baton Rouge. The Tigers are 6-2 in their last eight meetings with Tennessee, as LSU has now won three-straight meetings over the Lady Vols.
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).
“The key for us now will be how we respond when we go on the road,” said Flory. “We feel like we have a great opportunity, but we will have to see how it goes. We’ve got to take care of business. We’ve dug ourselves a little bit of a hole, but we feel like we can bounce out of it and certainly this weekend will build our confidence and hopefully we will continue that this coming up week.”
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.
No. 12 LSU def. No. 25 Tennessee, 30-28, 30-26, 30-19
No. 25 Tennessee (15-7, 6-6 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Kelsey Fautsch 8-0-1;Sarah Blum 8-0-3; Leah Hinkey 7-0-6; Mindy Flynn 6-0-1; Chelsea Noble 0-0-4; Annie Sadowski 0-0-0; Jena Berg 0-0-0; Carol Cheade 1-0-0; Milan Clarke 8-0-3; Kylie Marshall 0-0-0; Jaye Loyd 0-0-0; Totals 38-0-9.0. (Assists) – Chelsea Noble 31. (Dig leaders) – Kylie Marshall 26, Chelsea Noble 12, Annie Sadowski 11, Kelsey Fautsch 11.
No. 12 LSU (18-3, 10-2 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Marina Skender 15-2-2; Kyna Washington 15-2-1; Vanessa Freeman 10-0-4; Melody Clark 9-0-4; Lauren DeGirolamo 7-0-9; Daniela Romero 3-0-1; Lauren Leaumont 0-0-0; Elena Martinez 0-0-0; Michelle Hensgens 0-0-0; Kassi Mikulik 0-3-0; Totals 59-7-13.0. (Assists) – Daniela Romero 47. (Dig leaders) – Kassi Mikulik 22, Kyna Washington 13, Marina Skender 12.