KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The 18th-ranked LSU volleyball team lost a hard fought five-game Southeastern Conference match to Tennessee, 28-30, 30-24, 24-30, 31-29, 16-14, on Friday night at Stokely Arena, marking the first five-game loss for the Tigers this season.
LSU returns to action on Sunday as the Tigers travel to Lexington to face Kentucky at 12:30 p.m. CDT. The Wildcats lost in five games to Ole Miss at home on Friday and are currently in second in the SEC Eastern Division standings.
“This was just a hard fought match where both teams laid it on the line,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “The team that made the key errors at the key moments was the team that was going to lose. We made key errors at key situations in game one and in game five that cost us both of those games.
The loss drops the Tigers to 15-3 on the year and 7-2 in conference, remaining a game ahead of Alabama and Ole Miss in the SEC Western Division standings, behind only Florida in the overall standings. The win improved the Lady Vols to 8-8 on the year and 3-6 in league action, snapping a three-match losing streak to the Tigers and a five-match losing streak this season.
“You have to credit Tennessee because they made every play they had to make,” said Flory. “Their backs were against the wall and they played as hard as they could and did a great job. I think we played very well too.
Kyna Washington led four LSU players with double-figure kills in the match with 26, while Lauren DeGirolamo recorded a career-high 21 kills. Marina Skender added 16 kills with Brittnee Cooper posting 13. Cooper led the match with 10 blocks, marking her first career double-digit blocking match and her first career double-double.
Elena Martinez led the Tigers with 26 digs, her 12th 20-dig match of the season, followed by Skender with 23 digs, just two shy of her career high. Michelle Hensgens added a season best 18 digs while Washington had 13 and Maggie Lonergan finished with 11. Lonergan also had a career high 69 assists while tying her career high with five blocks.
Looking only at the match statistics, LSU should have won the match. The Tigers out killed Tennessee, 88-72, and out hit the Lady Vols, .237 to .223. In addition, LSU recorded one more block than Tennessee, 15 to 14, and five more digs, 99-94. One major difference between the teams came in serving with the Tigers committing 15 service errors, to seven for Tennessee, including several costly errors late in the match.
“Our defense was very solid but I think our unforced errors cost us this match and certainly we can control that,” said Flory. “It was a disappointing match, but not one that we didn’t play hard in because we fought very hard and I’m proud of our effort on defense. Our offensive efficiency was okay, but not when we had to have it. We have to have the key play at the key time and tonight we couldn’t get that.”
The first game saw 18 tied scores and nine lead changes. After LSU scored the first four points of the contest, Tennessee came back to tie it up at five. Neither team was able to gain more than a two-point advantage the rest of the way. With the score tied at 29 all, the Lady Vols got a kill by Milan Clarke to put them ahead for good. An error by Washington gave Tennessee game point. The Tigers were able to fight it off with a kill by Bensend, but a kill by Nikki Fowler gave the first game to the Lady Vols, 30-28.
Despite winning game two quite convincingly, LSU could have made it much worse, but six missed serves kept Tennessee in the game. With the score tied at six after three service errors by the Tigers, LSU went on a 13-2 run to pull ahead by 11, 19-8. The Lady Vols crept back into the game, , getting as close as five on a two occasions before a kill by Skender put the game away, 30-24, to send the teams into the locker room tied at one game each.
The service problems continue for the Tigers in game three and this time it cost LSU. The four service errors committed by the Tigers in conjunction with the two service aces by Tennessee proved to be the winning margin for the Lady Vols. LSU led by as many as four, 10-6, but the Lady Vols stormed back and stretched their lead to as many as eight points, 25-17. The Tigers, however, fought back to within three, 27-24, but couldn’t quite get over the deficit as Tennessee took game three, 30-24.
The pair were tied 10 times and traded the lead twice in the fourth game. LSU led by as many as seven late in the game 25-18, but the Lady Vols scored six straight to get within one, setting up a whole new game. Tennessee tied it up at 27 and again at 29, but the Tigers used a kill by DeGirolamo and an ace by Skender to send the match to a fifth game.
In the decisive game, LSU held the momentum most of the way, leading by three on several occasions, 9-6 and again 11-8. With the Tigers ahead, 13-11, an error by LSU and a block by Tennessee tied it up. The Lady Vols got their first game point when the Tigers led the set by Lonergan drop without attempting a swing. Skender tied it up again at 14 on a kill for LSU. On the next play, Lonergan was tripped up by Hensgens, who was on the ground after making a great dig, and Lonergan was called for the double hit giving Tennessee its second match point. Kylie Marshall then served her third ace of the match to end the game and the match, 16-14.
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. All fans wearing pink against the Lady’Backs will get into the match for FREE and both teams will wear special pink shirts for warm-ups prior to the contest.
Tennessee def. No. 18 LSU, 30-28, 24-30, 30-24, 29-31, 16-14
LSU (15-3, 7-2 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) ? Kyna Washington 26-1-4; Lauren DeGirolamo 21-0-4; Marina Skender 16-2-2; Brittnee Cooper 13-0-10; Angela Bensend 9-0-1; Maggie Lonergan 3-0-5; Michelle Hensgens 0-1-0; Totals 88-4-15.0. (Assists) – Maggie Lonergan 69. (Dig leaders) – Elena Martinez 26; Marina Skender 23; Michelle Hensgens 18; Kyna Washington 13; Maggie Lonergan 11.
Tennessee (8-8, 3-6 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) ? Nikki Fowler 20-0-6; Milan Clarke 13-0-2; Kylie Marshall 11-3-5; Leah Hinkey 11-0-7; Farren Powe 8-0-7; Yuliya Stoyanova 5-0-0; Jena Berg 3-0-1; Chloe Goldman 1-0-0; Totals 72-3-14.0. (Assists) – Jena Berg 61. (Dig leaders) – Chloe Goldman 37; Kylie Marshall 15; Jena Berg 14; Nikki Fowler 12; Jaye Loyd 1.