BATON ROUGE — In front of the third largest crowd in LSU volleyball history, the 11th-ranked Tigers put up a good fight, but could not overcome No. 7 Florida, falling 29-31, 24-30, 30-27, 24-30, on Friday evening in the Maravich Center.
With the loss, the LSU dropped to 20-4 on the season and 12-4 in Southeastern Conference play, two games behind the Gators in the overall conference race. Florida improved to 21-2 overall and 14-1 in league play, having now won 13 consecutive matches.
Despite recording more kills, more digs and more blocks than Florida, LSU unfortunately also posted almost twice as many attacking errors in the match, which proved to be the decisive factor. The Gators came up with some timely defensive plays when they needed to keep several rallies going, while the Tigers could just not come up with the decisive kills when they needed them.
“I was really disappointed because we had more kills than them, more digs than them, more blocks than them, and we scored more points than them,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory, “but the defining factor is we have almost 20 more errors than them. We did a very poor job of being patient offensively. We tried to do a little too much and they frustrated us.
“Their defense was very good. They came through with huge plays and won rallies and they frustrated the heck out of our offense. We didn’t do a very good job of staying true to the things we do. We tried to do just a little too much and pushed a little too hard and that leads to errors.”
Sophomore Marina Skender led the match with a career-best 23 kills, while also posting a career-high 23 digs and a match-best five service aces. Sophomore Kyna Washington recorded 20 kills along with 14 digs, marking the second consecutive match with both sophomores having 20-plus kills. Junior Vanessa Freeman also had double-figure kills with 10.
Freshman Lauren DeGirolamo led the match with seven blocks, followed by senior Melody Clark with six. Senior Kassi Mikulik posted a career-high 28 digs, with the third most digs in a four-game match in school history. In addition to Mikulik and Skender, senior Daniela Romero also recorded over 20 digs with a career-best 22. Sophomore Elena Martinez also recorded double-figure digs with 13.
Amber McCray led Florida with 19 kills, followed by Kisya Killingsworth with 13. Kristina Johnson and McCray tied for the match high with four blocks each. Elyse Cusack led the match with 48 digs for the Gators, followed by Marci Hampton with 19, Rhian Davis with 15 and Angie McGinnis with 13.
The crowd of 1,684 saw the Tigers jump out to an early lead in the first game. LSU lead 12-8 before Florida came back to cut the lead to one, 13-12. Again the Tigers stormed out ahead, leading by as many as seven, 21-14 and again, 22-15. The Gators, however, scored eight of the next nine points to tie it up at 23.
After four more tied scores, Florida scored two straight to send it to game point, 29-27. LSU rallied back to tie it up at 29, but could not take the lead. The Gators then used back-to-back attacking errors by the Tigers to take game one, 31-29.
With LSU leading 14-13 in the second game, Florida scored nine straight points to put the game out of reach. The Gators capitalized on several Tiger hitting errors and recorded four kills on the run that put Florida ahead, 22-14. LSU clawed back to within four, 25-19, and got within five again, 29-24, but could not push through as the Tigers committed an attacking error on the Gator’s third game point to send Florida into the locker room with the two-game advantage, 30-24.
The third game saw 10 tied scores and two lead changes as LSU took the lead, 12-11, and never again lost it. The Tigers went on a 5-2 run that put them ahead by three, but Florida came back to tie it at 19. The game would be tied twice more before LSU again took the lead to stay, 24-23. With the Tigers holding game point, 29-27, a kill by Skender sent the match to a game four, 30-27.
LSU came out strong in game four, taking a 5-1 early lead, and holding a 14-10 lead mid-way through. The Gators, however, proved to be resilient as Florida came up with some timely defensive plays when they needed them to tie it up at 15. The Gators took the lead for good, 20-19, as part of a 3-0 run that put the Tigers in a hole late in the game. Florida score 10 of the final 15 points to earn the game and the match, 30-24.
“I don’t think that we would change too much in what we did in the game play,” said Flory. “We got them out of system with our serving strategy. Everything we wanted to do worked, but we just didn’t execute offensively and that’s the bottom line.”
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.
No. 7 Florida def. No. 11 LSU, 31-29, 30-24, 27-30, 30-24
No. 7 Florida (21-2, 14-1 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Kisya Killingsworth 13-0-2; Kelsey Bowers 9-1-2; Marcie Hampton 7-0-2; Kristina Johnson 6-0-4; Angie McGinnis 4-2-2; Alli Cecchini 0-0-0; Rhian Davis 0-2-0; Christina Diaz 0-1-0; Stefanie Douglas 0-0-0; Elyse Cusack 0-1-0; Kari Klinkenborg 0-0-0; Amber McCray 19-0-4; Totals 58-7-9.0. (Assists) – Angie McGinnis 46. (Dig leaders) – Elyse Cusack 46, Marcie Hampton 19, Rhian Davis 15, Angie McGinnis 13.
No. 11 LSU (20-4, 12-3 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Marina Skender 23-5-3; Kyna Washington 20-0-2; Vanessa Freeman 10-0-4; Lauren DeGirolamo 7-0-7; Melody Clark 5-0-6; Daniela Romero 3-0-4; Lauren Leaumont 0-0-0; Elena Martinez 0-0-0; Michelle Hensgens 0-0-0; Kassi Mikulik 0-0-0; Brittnee Cooper 0-0-0; Totals 68-5-14.0. (Assists) – Daniela Romero 57. (Dig leaders) – Kassi Mikulik 28, Marina Skender 23, Daniela Romero 22, Kyna Washington 14, Elena Martinez 13..