BATON ROUGE — Led by a double-double by freshman Lauren DeGirolamo, the 11th-ranked LSU volleyball came from behind to defeat Auburn, 30-24, 28-30, 22-30, 30-17, 16-14, on Sunday afternoon in the Maravich Center.
With the win, the purple and gold improved to 21-4 overall and 13-3 in Southeastern Conference action. It marked the first 13-win season in league play since going 13-1 and winning the SEC title in 1991. In addition, LSU matched last season’s win total for the most since recording 21 wins in 1993.
AU dropped to 12-15 on the season and 4-12 in league play. The purple and gold completed the season sweep of Auburn after having knocked off AU, 3-0, on the road earlier in the season. LSU is now three games ahead of Alabama in the SEC Western Division standings with five matches remaining, while holding at two games behind Florida in the overall conference race.
“This was obviously a very important win for us if we are going to maintain our goals for the rest of the season,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “The SEC championship has not been decided, even through Florida certainly has the driver’s seat and everybody anticipates that they will win out and take care of business, but we have to continue to put ourselves in a position that if we can’t be SEC overall champions we can still be champions of the West.”
“It’s really tough to come back,” Flory said about coming back after the Florida loss on Friday. “You prepare and no matter how much we try to keep them focused on the big picture and not just the Florida match, all athletes point to the big one and to rebound from that with a win against a very solid team today makes me very proud.”
As a team, the purple and gold out killed Auburn, 69-53, while posting a .122 hitting percentage to only a .096 mark for AU. Auburn out dug LSU, 87-86, while the purple and gold had a season best 19.5 blocks, compared to 10 for AU. The purple and gold also finished with seven service aces, compared to two for Auburn, but the purple and gold also committed 12 service errors for the match, while AU posted 11.
“We have to understand that there are a lot of goals out there for us and we need to keep going and prepare,” said Flory. “We did not do a very good job of preparing for a very much improved Auburn team. They didn’t surprise me. We have watched film on them and we knew they were a great defensive team and they were going to stay in rallies.
“We knew the only drawback that they had was that their offense was not as efficient as their defense. If we could put pressure on their offense and not allow their defense to change the outcome of this match then we could be successful. They did a great job of getting into offense and turning the tables on us in that area. We had to fight through because our offense was not that good.”
DeGirolamo led the purple and gold with 15 kills, one shy of her career high, while also recording a career-best 11 blocks, giving her the third double-double of her career. Kyna Washington posted 14 kills for LSU with a match-best three service aces, followed by Melody Clark with 13 kills and Marina Skender with 10.
Kassi Mikulik led the match with 25 digs, followed by Skender with 18, Daniela Romero with 16 and Michelle Hensgens with 11. Romero also recorded 55 assists, for her 14th double-double of the season. Beyond DeGirolamo’s 11 blocks, Washington and Clark each posted six, while Romero and Vanessa Freeman had four each.
Rachel Shanks led Auburn and the match with 20 kills, followed by Jessica Glover 11 kills. Shanks also led AU with 23 digs, followed by Glover with 18, and Jelena Sekulic and Whitney Jacob with 15 each. Julie Bosler led Auburn with six blocks.
In the first game, LSU took a 4-1 lead before Auburn came back to tie it up at five all. With the purple and gold leading 7-6, LSU went on a 7-0 run that saw them extend the lead to 14-6. AU came back to get within four on four occasions, but they could get no closer as the purple and gold took game one, 30-24, on an Auburn error.
LSU fell behind early in the second game, 10-6, but came back to tie it up at 10. AU retook the lead, 13-10, but the purple and gold would not go away and tied it up at 13. LSU went ahead, 17-15, its largest lead of the game, before Auburn tied it up at 17. With the score tied at 20, AU went on a 3-0 run that saw them pull ahead for good. Auburn earned game point, 29-26, but LSU fought off a pair of game points before a kill by Glover finally gave AU the game by the slimmest of margins, 30-28.
Out of the locker room, Auburn stormed out to a 10-4 advantage before the purple and gold got back to within three, 13-10. With LSU trailing, 15-12, AU went on a 5-0 run that put Auburn ahead, 20-12. The purple and gold would not go away that easily and got it to within three, 23-20, but Auburn scored seven of the final nine points to win game three, 30-22.
“We just talked about playing one point at a time and not playing with pressure, not looking at the big picture, but looking at the small picture and trying to execute every touch,” Flory said she told her team after the game three loss. “We also made a couple of changes and we put Vanessa Freeman in the lineup where we had Brittnee Cooper. Cooper played great but Vanessa is kind of a security blanket for this team and with her in there it made things flow a little more easily. Certainly the addition of her in the lineup had a lot to do with us winning.
LSU had its best game of the match in game four to keep the match alive. The purple and gold stormed ahead, 10-6 and AU would get no closer than three the rest of the way. With LSU leading 15-11, Mikulik served out for 10 straight points that put the purple and gold in the driver’s seat, 25-11. LSU sent the match to game five with a decisive 30-17 win.
After Auburn scored the first point of game five, the purple and gold scored three straight and six of the next seven to take a 6-2 lead. However, AU clawed back to tie it up at seven all, but LSU never let Auburn take the lead. After two more ties, the purple and gold took two straight points to hold a 12-10 lead. LSU got it to match point, 14-12, but AU scored two straight to tie it up and send it to extra points. The purple and gold then benefited from back-to-back Auburn errors to take the game and the match, 16-14.
“Auburn made some great plays to get themselves back into it at the end,” said Flory. “If we were going to shut the door on them and truly have home court advantage we would have won when we had the first chance. That’s a tribute to their tenacity and their fight. They were not going to be denied and we’re fortunate to get out of here. I’m really proud of our team.”
LSU improved to 28-11 all-time against Auburn with the win and has now won 11 straight over AU. The 2006 purple and gold senior class will conclude their LSU careers having never lost to Auburn, going 7-0 in four seasons.
LSU will close out the regular season home schedule this week. The Fighting Tigers will host 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, on Friday at 7 p.m. for Senior Night.
Pom-poms will be available as local cheer teams get in free with “Advocate” tickets for the Arkansas match as part of “Pep Rally at the PMAC.” Against the Crimson Tide there will be an autographed senior jersey giveaway to help send out the four magnificent seniors in style
No. 11 LSU def. Auburn, 30-24, 28-30, 22-30, 30-17, 16-14
No. 11 LSU (21-4, 13-3 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Lauren DeGirolamo 15-1-11; Kyna Washington 14-3-6; Melody Clark 13-0-6; Marina Skender 10-1-2; Brittnee Cooper 6-0-2; Daniela Romero 4-0-4; Lauren Leaumont 2-0-0; Vanessa Freeman 5-0-4; Elena Martinez 0-0-0; Michelle Hensgens 0-0-0; Kassi Mikulik 0-2-0; Totals 69-7-19.5. (Assists) – Daniela Romero 55. (Dig leaders) – Kassi Mikulik 25, Marina Skender 18, Daniela Romero 16, Michelle Hensgens 11.
Auburn (12-15, 4-12 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Rachel Shanks 20-0-3, Jessica Glover 11-0-1; Julie Bosler 8-0-6; Jelena Sekulic 2-0-1; Whitney Jacob 2-0-3; Joanna Pappas 2-0-1; Dalia Naidzinaviciut 8-0-2; Whitney Hobbs 0-2-0; Totals 53-2-10.0. (Assists) – Joanna Pappas 47. (Dig leaders) – Whitney Jacob 23, Jessica Glover 18, Jelena Sekulic 15, Whitney Jacob 15.