LEXINGTON, Ky. — For the second time in three days, the 18th-ranked LSU volleyball team dropped a five-game match on the road, falling to Tennessee on Friday losing to Kentucky,19-30., 25-30, 30-26, 30-26, 15-10, on Sunday afternoon in Memorial Coliseum.
LSU now drops to 15-4 on the season and 7-3 in Southeastern Conference play, tying the Tigers with Ole Miss and Alabama for the SEC Western Division lead. The Wildcats rebounded from a five-game loss to Ole Miss on Friday to improve to 16-5 on the year and 7-3 in league play.
“I am really disappointed in the loss,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “I thought our middles played well enough for us to win the match, but I don’t think we had the balance we needed offensively.
Once again, looking at the statistics is deceiving as LSU posted much better numbers than Kentucky, but could just not come up with the timely points when it needed them. The Tigers out killed the Wildcats, 74-66, with a .211 hitting percentage, while the Wildcats hit only .179. LSU also out blocking and out dug Kentucky, with the Tigers recorded 13.0 blocks and 70 digs to 11.0 blocks and 64 digs for the Wildcats.
“For the second time in two matches, we could not come up with the big play at the time when we had to have the big play,” said Flory. “We made errors rather than aggressively attacking and being sure within our offense. I think our defense played hard, but we were not as good defensively as we were on Friday, but I think we still had the right opportunities. We just couldn’t come through with the big kill.”
Lauren DeGirolamo led the match with 19 kills and a .349 hitting percentage, followed by 18 kills from both Kyna Washington and Brittnee Cooper, who led the Tigers with a .387 clip. Marina Skender added 12 kills for LSU along with six blocks. Cooper and DeGirolamo also posted six blocks in the match.
Elena Martinez broke into the top10 in single season digs in LSU history with a team-best 21 for the match. She now has 418 for the year, putting her in eighth place in LSU history, one behind Daniela Reis with 419. Skender also added 13 digs, followed by Washington with 12 and Michelle Hensgens with 11.
The first game was not a clinic in efficiency as LSU hit only .184, which was considerably better than Kentucky’s -.048 clip. The Tigers cause was aided by six blocks, including three each by DeGirolamo, Cooper and Skender. LSU jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Wildcats came back to tie it up at five. With the score tied at eight, the Tigers took the lead for good on a kill by Washington. LSU slowly continued to build it lead as the Tigers used runs of three and four points at a time to earn game one, 30-21.
The hitting efficiency went up considerably in the second game, with LSU .472 in the second frame, while Kentucky improved to .324. The Tigers continued to add to their blocking figures with four more in the second frame, including two each by DeGirolamo and Skender. With the score tied at nine all, LSU took the lead for good on a kill by Cooper as part of 5-0 run by the Tigers. LSU led by as many as six, 28-22, before closing it out on a block by Cooper and Skender, 30-25.
Kentucky came out much faster and more physical in the third game. After a 5-5 tie, the Tigers fell behind and the Wildcats led the rest of the way. Kentucky stretched its lead to as many as eight, 22-14, but LSU would not go down that easily. The Tigers clawed their way back into the game, going on separate four-point and three-point runs to get as close as three, 24-21, but could get no closer as the Wildcats kept the match alive, 30-26.
“Kentucky did a nice job of adjusting in game three and took us out of what we were successful with in games one and two,” said Flory. “We did not adapt to that very well. Certainly a disappointing loss and we better get in the gym and get better before Wednesday.”
In the fourth game, the pair went back and forth early one, with LSU finally taking the lead at 7-6. The Tigers stretched the lead to four, 13-9, and again later at 19-15. Kentucky then began its comeback, chipping away at the LSU lead to eventually tie it at 20 all. It looked like LSU might be helped by three untimely service errors by the Wildcats late in the game. But with the score tied at 22 all, Lonergan committed a service error of her own that gave Kentucky the lead for good. The Wildcats went on to score the final four points to send the match to a fifth game, 30-26.
The Tigers picked a tough time to have trouble finding the court in the fifth game. With the score tied at six, LSU allowed just the second Kentucky ace of the match before hitting three balls out of bounds to fall behind, 11-6. The Tigers fought back to within three, 12-9, but two errors in the final four points, one on a block on match point by the Wildcats, gave Kentucky the match, 15-10.
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.
Kentucky def. No. 18 LSU, 21-30, 25-30, 30-26, 30-26, 15-10
LSU (15-4, 7-3 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) ? Lauren DeGirolamo 19-0-6; Kyna Washington 18-1-2; Brittnee Cooper 18-0-6; Marina Skender 12-0-6; Angela Bensend 5-0-0; Elena Martinez 2-0-0; Maggie Lonergan 0-1-1; Brittney Johnson 0-0-1; Totals 74-2-13.0. (Assists) – Maggie Lonergan 61. (Dig leaders) – Elena Martinez 21; Marina Skender 13; Kyna Washington 12; Michelle Hensgens 11.
Kentucky (16-5, 7-3 SEC) (Kills-aces-blocks) ? Brooke Bartek 18-1-2; Lauren Rapp 14-1-3; Queen Nzenwa 12-0-7; Nicole Britenriker 10-0-4; Sarah Mendoza 8-0-2; Sarah Rumely 4-0-2; Totals 66-2-11.0. (Assists) – Sarah Rumely 58. (Dig leaders) – BriAnne Sauer 23; Alisa Pierce 11; Nicole Britenriker 8; Lauren Rapp 8.