STARKVILLE, Miss. — The 11th-ranked LSU volleyball team completed the season sweep over Mississippi State with a 30-23, 30-28, 30-27, win on Friday night in the Newell-Grissom Building.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 24-4 overall and 16-3 in Southeastern Conference play. LSU has now won four straight and eight of its last nine matches. The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 16-13 on the season and 7-12 in league play. The Tigers avenged a 3-1 loss to Mississippi State on the road last season and did not drop a game to the Bulldogs this year.
Senior Melody Clark led the Tigers with 14 kills, while posting a .458 hitting percentage with three blocks. Sophomore Marina Skender posted 11 kills with a match high four service aces. Sophomore Kyna Washington recorded 10 kills in the match with an ace, seven digs and two blocks.
Freshman Lauren DeGirolamo led the match with a .500 hitting percentage on nine kills with a match high five blocks. With her final block assist, she moved into the top 10 in single-season block assists in school history. Senior Kassi Mikulik led the match with 17 digs for the Tigers.
“What a great match for Melody and Lauren,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We knew in our game plan that we were going to rely on our middles to be successful and they did a great job answering the call. You have to give credit to our passing and ball control. I think that Kassi and Marina, Elena Martinez and Michelle Hensgens once again did a great job of putting the ball into Daniela Romero‘s hands in situations where she could be successful.”
Martina Gregusova led the match with 15 kills for Mississippi State, the only Bulldog player in double-figures. In addition, she led Mississippi State with 11 digs, followed by Eva Kriegel and Megan Lukasek with 10 each. Earn Seago led the Bulldogs with four blocks.
“Any time your middles can lead your team in kills, then you are doing a pretty good job of ball control,” said Flory. “Mississippi State is the toughest serving team in the league on their home court. I’m really proud of our team. It was a great effort and a good win for us.”
In the first game, the Tigers fell behind 6-4 and trailed until tying it up at eight. Again LSU found themselves in a hole, 12-9, but fought back to tie it again at 12. At 17-17, the Tigers took the lead for good, 18-17, on a Mississippi State error. With LSU leading by one, 24-23, the Tigers scored the final six points of the game to win, 30-23.
LSU stormed out to a 6-1 lead in the second game. The Tigers pulled away, 19-12, before the Bulldogs went on a 10-3 run to tie it up at 22. With the game tied at 24, Mississippi State took its first lead of the game, 25-24, and led again, 26-25. LSU then tied it up as part of a 5-2 run to close out the second game and take a two-game lead into the locker room, 30-28.
Like the second game, the Tigers took a big lead to start game three, 7-1. The Bulldogs began inching their way back into it, cutting the lead to two, 14-12, before getting it to one, 18-17. LSU pulled out to a three-point lead again, 20-17, and lead by four, 25-21. Mississippi State made one final push at the end, tying it up at 27. The Tigers, however, closed the door with a 3-0 run to end the game and the match on a kill by Washington, 30-27.
Following the match, the Tigers will travel to Oxford, Miss., to close out the conference season at Ole Miss on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. LSU will conclude the 2006 regular season in Orlando on Thanksgiving Weekend in the SEC/Big East Challenge. The Tigers will face St. John’s and Marquette in the two-day tournament.
No. 11 LSU def. Mississippi State, 30-23, 30-28, 30-27
No. 11 LSU (24-4, 16-3 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Melody Clark 14-0-3; Marina Skender 11-4-2; Kyna Washington 10-1-2; Lauren DeGirolamo 9-0-5; Daniela Romero 4-0-0; Vanessa Freeman 3-0-1; Elena Martinez 0-0-0; Michelle Hensgens 0-1-0; Kassi Mikulik 0-1-0; Brittnee Cooper 3-0-1; Totals 54-7-8.0. (Assists) – Daniela Romero 42. (Dig leaders) – Kassi Mikulik 17.
Mississippi State (16-13, 7-12 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Martina Gregushova 15-2-1; Jamie Joyner 7-1-2; Orshi Kriegel 5-0-0; Eva Kriegel 5-2-1; Christina Jucan 4-0-1; Erin Seago 4-0-4; Jennifer Hauskey 0-1-0; Megan Lukasek 0-0-0; Totals 40-6-6.0. (Assists) – Eva Kriegel 31. (Dig leaders) – Martina Gregusova 11, Eva Kriegel 10, Megan Lukasek 10.