BATON ROUGE — For the second-straight match, the 20th-ranked LSU volleyball team fell behind by a game, but managed to come back to knock off Mississippi State, 19-30, 30-22, 30-19, 30-25, in Southeastern Conference play on Sunday afternoon at the Maravich Center.
With the win, coupled with a loss by Alabama to Ole Miss, the Tigers (15-2, 7-1 SEC) move two games ahead of the Crimson Tide for the SEC Western Division lead. LSU remains one game behind Florida for the overall conference lead, with the Tigers; only loss in league play coming in four games to the No. 6 Gators. The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 6-11 on the year and 1-7 in conference play.
“I’m really proud of the way we bounced back this weekend, but I’m really disappointed that we had to bounce back,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We did a very poor job of remaining consistent and focused and I’m not really sure why that is. I’m not sure if we’re tired or if we’re mentally tired, but we’ve got to get that fixed before next weekend.”
Kyna Washington and Lauren DeGirolamo led the match with 18 kills each, while DeGirolamo led the match with a .457 hitting percentage and nine blocks. Brittnee Cooper added six blocks, while Angela Bensend had five and Marina Skender had four. Elena Martinez posted her 11th 20-plus dig match of the year with a team-best 23, while Marina Skender posted 12 digs and led the Tigers with four service aces.
Coming in off the bench in the second game, Maggie Lonergan led LSU with 34 assists. With LSU’s offense limited by shaky serve receive off of the tough serving Mississippi State players, Lonergan was able to keep the Tigers in system more effectively than Brittney Johnson, who started the match and finished with eight assists. It was Johnson who came on in relief of Lonergan on Friday in almost an identical situation, sparking LSU off the bench in the win.
“I’ll take the blame for that because I don’t think we prepared this team well enough for that today,” said Flory about her team’s inability to handle the Mississippi State serve. “But, I expect that even when we’re not in system, we can be pretty good. We’re pretty athletic and pretty good offensively but we’re not swinging with authority and we’re not swinging to put the ball away. We’re going to get in the gym and work on those issues.”
As a team, LSU dominated Mississippi State in most of the statistical categories, but had a lot of trouble with the Bulldog serve. The Tigers rallied from a nine-kill game one to post 59 kills for the match, 14 more than Mississippi State. Although LSU finished with only a .174 hitting percentage for the match, the Tigers were impressive in coming back from a negative hitting percentage in game one. In addition, LSU held Mississippi State to only a .101 clip as a team, dropping the Bulldogs down after they hit .200 in game one.
Defensively, the Tigers posted 17 blocks in the match, tying them for the most blocks in a match LSU has had all season. After allowing three blocks to Mississippi State in game one, the Tigers limited the Bulldogs to only three blocks in the final three games as MSU finished with six. The Bulldogs did out dig LSU for the match, 67-61.
The Tigers posted nine service aces for the match, while also recording nine service errors, the second-fewest committed by LSU in a match this season. Unfortunately, the Tigers were aced on 11 occasions by Mississippi State, the most aces LSU has given up to a team this season.
The Tigers were very sluggish out of the game in game one. LSU fell behind 10-4, recording only one kill in the first 14 points. The Tigers got the score to within four, 14-10, but got no closer the rest of the way as LSU hit -.067 for the game with only nine kills in falling 30-19.
“Our intensity level and focus was not very solid,” said Flory. “Part of it is our ball control is not what it was. Mississippi State backed us off first-ball ball control and we knew that was going to be a key because they are a different type of tough serving team. We did not adjust to that very well.”
The lethargic play continued in the start of the second game. With the Tigers trailing, 11-7, LSU began to pick up the pace and rallied back to tie it up at 16 all. With the score tied at 18, the Tigers went on an 8-1 run to put the game out of reach, 26-19. LSU went into the locker room tied at one game each, 30-22.
Coming out after the break, the Tigers had a renewed pep in their step and in their play. LSU scored the first six points of the game to take the 6-0 lead. Mississippi State got it to within four, 9-5, but got no closer the rest of the way. A 6-1 run followed to put the Tigers ahead, 15-6. With LSU leading 19-9, the Tigers played nearly even with the Bulldogs, but never allowed Mississippi State to gain ground as LSU closed out the game, 30-19.
The Tigers ran out to a 10-3 lead in the fourth game. Unlike the third game, however, LSU could not shake the Bulldogs. Mississippi State tied it up at 16 all before the Tigers went on a 4-0 run that finally took the energy out of the Bulldogs. LSU went on to take the game and the match, 30-25.
LSU has dominated the overall series with Mississippi State, 42-7. The Tigers now have won three straight and four of the last five. LSU has not lost to the Bulldogs at home since 2004.
LSU returns to action on the road next weekend as the Tigers travel to face Tennessee and Kentucky. LSU will take on the Lady Vols on Friday at 6 p.m. CDT before closing out the weekend on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CDT against the Wildcats. The Tigers will return home for a mid-week match against Ole Miss on Oct. 17 which will be televised on Cox Sports Television, before taking on Arkansas on Friday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m.
No. 20 LSU def. Mississippi State, 19-30, 30-22, 30-19, 30-25
Mississippi State (6-11, 1-7 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) ? Cristina Jucan 15-5-0; Ioana Demian 12-0-2; Eva Kriegel 6-1-0; Jamie Joyner 5-0-2; Lauren Kowal 4-0-4; Erin Seago 3-0-2; Megan Lukasek 0-4-0; Kayla Woodard 0-1-0; Totals 45-11-6.0. (Assists) – Eva Kriegel 34. (Dig leaders) – Megan Lukasek 27; Eva Kriegel 15; Cristina Jucan 11; Jamie Joyner 9.
LSU (15-2, 7-1 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) ? Kyna Washington 18-1-1; Lauren DeGirolamo 18-0-9; Marina Skender 8-4-4; Angela Bensend 8-0-5; Brittnee Cooper 6-0-6; Brittney Johnson 1-0-1; Maggie Lonergan 0-2-3; Elena Martinez 0-2-0; Totals 59-9-17.0. (Assists) – Maggie Lonergan 34. (Dig leaders) – Elena Martinez 23; Marina Skender 12.