Editor’s Note: Seventh in a series of 12 volleyball articles recapping the outstanding 2006 season, previewing the 2007 season, giving fans basic volleyball rules, terminology and scoring basics leading up to the season-opening Mizuno Tiger Classic tournament in the Maravich Center on Aug. 24-25.
BATON ROUGE — After winning their first Southeastern Conference Western Division Championship in school history and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 13 years, the LSU volleyball team looks to build on that momentum as they enter the 2006 season with even higher hopes.
LSU has an outstanding pre-conference schedule in 2007 that will help ease the newcomers into the lineup early in the year and gradually test the Tigers as the season progresses. The slate includes three pre-conference tournaments, among which is the LSU-hosted Mizuno Tiger Classic, the 20-match conference schedule and two non-conference matches. LSU will match up against eight teams that advanced to the 2006 NCAA Tournament, including Notre Dame and a league-record six teams that advanced from the SEC.
“I think our schedule is ideal,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We’ve worked really hard to develop a schedule that is good for us. After losing the type of kids in our line-up that we had last year, it will give us a chance to slowly work into the season. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to see some kids in some different positions early in our opening weekend and then kind of jump into the fire before SEC’s start.”
For the second straight year, the Tigers will open the season with the Mizuno Tiger Classic in the Maravich Center. As part of the tournament, LSU will host in-state rivals New Orleans and UL-Monroe, while also facing Saint Louis in a rematch of a 3-1 win in St. Louis last season.
Following the Tiger Classic, LSU will travel to Houston for the Mizuno Invitational II hosted by Rice. Along with the tournament host, the Tigers will face Illinois and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. LSU closes out the pre-conference schedule by traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, for the Iowa Challenge. The Tigers will take on tournament host Drake along with Iowa and Iowa State.
“We will play some very difficult teams in Rice, Illinois, Iowa and Iowa State,” said Flory. “All four of those teams are going to be at the top half, if not top, of their conference or division within their conference. I think we have some great challenges, but I think they are the right type of challenges for this team.”
The SEC will be playing a double round-robin regular season format for the second year in 2007. In 2006, the SEC made the first dramatic alteration of the volleyball format in 15 years by doing away with the SEC Tournament. Under the new format, LSU won its second-straight SEC Western Division title and finished second overall in the conference race.
“We are excited about the SEC schedule,” said Flory. “We are continuing to play a double round, playing everyone on our home court again and at their place again.”
While in the midst of the conference schedule, LSU will step outside of the SEC and face a pair of opponents in the Maravich Center. The Tigers will host Notre Dame on Oct. 23, before closing out the regular season against Tulane on Nov. 24. LSU will then await an NCAA Tournament bid as tournament action begins at sub-regional sites on Nov. 29.
“I think our overall schedule is one of the best schedules we could have for this team,” said Flory. “It worked out just perfect for us. It’ll give us the opportunity to have significant wins and the opportunity to be seen as an NCAA Tournament team early in the season. Then we can hopefully continue our quest to be SEC West champions and step into another championship as well.”
The team will open the season on Aug. 24 against New Orleans in the Maravich Center in the Mizuno Tiger Classic at 7 p.m. The Tigers will then take on Louisiana-Monroe on Aug. 25 at 11 a.m. before closing out the two-day tournament against Saint Louis at 7 p.m. Admission to all volleyball matches is only $5 for adults and $3 for children. Team posters and schedule cards will be available to pick up throughout the tournament.