BATON ROUGE — For the second time this season, the nationally ranked LSU volleyball team will face nationally ranked Florida with the top spot in the Southeastern Conference on the line as the 11th-ranked Tigers host the seventh-ranked Gators on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Center for the SEC “Match of the Week”.
The “Gold Digger Student Night” match will serve as the student-point game, where LSU students will earn points that can be utilized in the event of high demand ticket situations for athletics events including football away and postseason games.
Following the match, the Benjy Davis Project will perform for everyone in attendance in a joint effort sponsored by LSU athletics and Student Government. Students who are planning to travel to Tennessee for the football game as part of the Student Government’s annual bus trip can come to the volleyball match, stay for the concert and then load the bus for the trip from the Maravich Center.
“It’s a huge student point night for LSU students and there is actually a concert going on after the match,” said Flory. “It is truly, for the first time since I’ve been here as the head coach, a home court advantage. We’re hopeful that more students will come out and adopt this program. We have four great matches down the stretch to end our regular season at home and we want the students to come out and support us.”
Free “Gold Digger” t-shirts will be given away to the first 100 student at the FanZone and students can sign up for a chance to win $200 in the Cash Cube during intermission. In addition, LSU volleyball t-shirts and sweatshirts will be given away during the match and a $100 Walk-On’s gift certificate will be awarded to a dance-off winner.
“It should be a great championship style match,” said Flory. “That’s the level you should expect and I certainly hope that if we can do this right and stay where we are then we’ll be able to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. I hope that this match will lead us into that. I think that everyone is ready and we just need to step into the limelight and take care of business ourselves. I hope the community understands when you have a Top 10 type match-up that it doesn’t get much better than this.”
LSU enters the match-up with a 20-3 overall record and a 12-2 mark in SEC play, while Florida is 20-2 on the season and a game ahead at 13-1 in the conference. The Tigers have won four straight since falling to the Gators on Oct. 15, while Florida has won 12 straight since dropping its only SEC match of the year at South Carolina in the conference-opening weekend.
“We started our season in August with the opportunity to win a championship and the best part is about today is that every goal is still ahead of us,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We have created an opportunity, but the bottom line for our team is that one match is not going to define our season positively or negatively. Certainly whoever wins the match on Friday night will take the leader’s role towards the SEC Championship.
“However, there’s a lot of volleyball left to be played and matches on the road in the SEC this year have become adventurous. There are no gimmes. Parity has arrived and it is very difficult to win on the road. I think that the AD’s have done a great job of raising the coaches’ awareness of success and opportunity in the south with volleyball and they raised the level for us. It is great to have the opportunity to maybe have six teams in the NCAA Tournament again. It is also a whole lot more fun to be standing here as one of the top teams.”
The last time the pair met, the Gators came away with a 30-26, 30-22, 30-22 win in Gainesville. It was the first time both teams were ranked when facing off since the 13th-ranked Gators upset the eight-ranked Tigers, 3-1, in Baton Rouge. Florida went on to claim its first outright SEC title, while LSU finished in second. The Gators have gone on to win at least a share of every conference championship since then, dropping only four matches over the last 14 seasons.
“We knew from the start that we were going to have to go through Florida to get there,” said Flory. “They were the ones we were going to chase. We were a little disappointed the last time we played them. We didn’t have everyone show up and we didn’t play real well. I think we’re anxious to have another opportunity but we have an unbelievable amount of respect for them. Friday night will be a great match to be part of and to certainly see as a spectator so we certainly hope we have a great turnout.”
In that first meeting this season, Tiger sophomore Marina Skender led the match with 16 kills, while also posting 10 digs for a double-double. Freshman Lauren DeGirolamo was second on the team with nine kills. Skender and senior Melody Clark tied for the team lead with three blocks each. Seniors Kassi Mikulik and Daniela Romero led LSU with 14 digs each.
Amber McCray led Florida with 14 kills, followed by Kisya Killingsworth with 12 and Marcia Hampton with 11. Kristina Johnson and McCray tied for the match high with four blocks each. Elyse Cusack led the match with 23 digs for the Gators, followed by Angie McGinnis with 10.
For the season, LSU and Florida are very evenly matched statistically. The Tigers lead the Gators and the SEC with 17.01 kills per game, just ahead of Florida at 16.92. The Gators lead LSU and the SEC in hitting percentage, posting a .296 clip, while the Tigers are fourth in the league hitting .237.
Defensively, the pair rank 1-2 in the league in digs, with Florida coming in just ahead of LSU, 18.14 to 17.05. The Gators rank second in the SEC in blocks, averaging 3.22 a game, while the Tigers come in third at 3.05 a game. Solid offensive numbers may be hard to find against either team as Florida leads the league with a .147 opponent’s hitting percentage, while LSU is just behind at .148.
DeGirolamo leads the Tigers and ranks ninth in the nation with 1.65 blocks per game. After redshirting last year, the Belleville, Ill., native has recorded eight matches with eight or more blocks this season, including a pair of double-figure blocking performances against Tennessee and Kentucky. In addition, she is averaging 3.04 kills per game and leads the team with a .321 hitting percentage, 10th best in the SEC.
Offensively, LSU is balanced with three players averaging over three kills a game and six players averaging over two kills per game. Skender leads the way with 3.63 kills per game, ninth best in the league. In addition, she leads the SEC and ranks third in the NCAA with 0.73 service aces per game.
Mikulik leads the Tigers with 4.64 digs per game, fourth best in the conference. The Flatonia, Texas, libero is just 64 digs from moving into fourth place in career digs in LSU history and only eight digs from cracking the top 10 in single-season digs.
Romero leads the SEC and ranks ninth in the NCAA with 13.54 assists per game. Ranked second on LSU’s career assist list, she currently needs 198 assists to break into the top 10 in single season assists in LSU history. In addition, she is two digs away from cracking the top 10 in career digs.
“In terms play, Dee Romero is having an All-America-type year,” said Flory. “A little concern for our team in terms of postseason honors is we are so balanced. We don’t have an individual player that puts up the numbers of say an Shonda Cole at South Carolina that we just matched up against who is averaging almost six kills a game, which is incredible by NCAA standards.
“We don’t have one player that is our leader. We are very balanced, so we are a little concerned about what happens with our kids. But the greatest part about this team is they care about the team. They don’t care about what happens to each other, they care about what happens with each other.”
Kisya Killingsworth leads a trio of Gators averaging over three kills a game with an average of 3.64. Amber McCray has posted 3.56, while Marcia Hampton has recorded 3.01. Kelsey Bowers leads Florida with a .440 hitting percentage, followed by Kristine Johnson at .429.
Defensively, Bowers leads the Gators with 1.54 blocks a game, followed by Johnson at 1.05 2. Elyse Cusack leads Florida and the SEC with 5.22 digs per game. The freshman libero missed five matches earlier in the season with a stress fracture in her foot, including the Gators’ loss to South Carolina.
Florida leads the overall series with LSU, 25-12, and the Gators have won 21 straight over the Tigers. Florida is the only SEC team that the current LSU seniors have never defeated. The last time the Tigers topped the Gators was on Nov. 11, 1991, as Florida has posted a 212-4 mark in conference play since that loss.
LSU will remain at home on Sunday to host Auburn at 1:30 p.m., before facing Arkansas, which is currently in third in the SEC West, on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Alabama, which sits behind the Tigers in second in the West, next Friday at 7 p.m. to close out the remaining home matches this season.
Against Auburn, LSU and Mizuno are encouraging youth volleyball teams to come to the match as part of “Mizuno Team Day”. Local teams get into the match FREE with “Advocate” tickets available through the LSU Promotions office. Teams should wear their uniforms to get into the match for FREE. In addition, 100 LSU backpacks will be given away in the FanZone at the match.
“We have a very, very difficult stretch coming up,” said Flory. “One match, the Florida match, is not going to define us. We are not going to focus on one; we are focusing on four. We have a big task ahead of us. It’s the end of the year and to have that type of stretch at the end of the year when you are physically and mentally and emotionally tired is a tough go. We will be prepared. Our seniors will lead us through and we certainly hope that we’ll end up in the positive for the end.”