BATON ROUGE — Coming off a four-game win over Ole Miss on Wednesday to re-take the Southeastern Conference Western Division lead, the 25th-ranked LSU volleyball team faces Arkansas in a vital match on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Center that will mark the “Dig for the Cure” finale.
As part of the LSU “Dig for the Cure” campaign, all fans wearing pink will get into the match for FREE and both teams will wear special pink shirts for warm-ups prior to the contest. In addition, all fans who donate a dollar or more will be entered to win a digital camera, which will be announced next Tuesday prior to the Notre Dame match.
“We’re really hopeful that we can help out this wonderful cause,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We had a ton of digs against Alabama and have done really well with pledges. We hope that we can end on a very positive note.”
Fans are then asked to bring their filled piggy banks from the Alabama match and donate the spare change to breast cancer research. Fans returning their piggy banks will receive free admission and, after making their donation, will get to keep their piggy banks. Those returning the change from their piggy banks will also have a chance to win great prizes throughout the match. The first 200 fans will also receive free LSU volleyball t-shirts.
The Tigers (16-4, 8-3 SEC) are currently a half game ahead of Alabama and a game ahead of Ole Miss atop the SEC Western Division standings. LSU rebounded from tough five-game losses at Tennessee and Kentucky last weekend to sweep the season series with Ole Miss on Wednesday with a 3-1 victory.
“We know that these matches are crucial,” said Flory. “We went to Arkansas and won at their place, so they are going to come after us hard. They will be looking to get that match back. Certainly, we have got to be ready. Up to this point in the season, this week’s matches are the key matches for us.”
Arkansas enters the weekend after its best week this season, having won two straight and four of its last five. The Lady’Backs now sit at 10-10 on the year and 4-6 in SEC play, three and a half games behind LSU in fourth place in the Western Division standings. The Lady’Backs knocked off previously undefeated and fifth-ranked Florida in five games at home last Friday before sweeping South Carolina last Sunday.
“This is an Arkansas team that knocked off No. 5 Florida last weekend in a tough, tough match,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “That was probably the surprise win of the SEC schedule so far, but it just shows that when you walk out on the court in the SEC anything can happen. I have preached for the last couple of years that parity has arrived in volleyball in the SEC. It’s not only true in this conference, but it is true nationally as well.”
In their first meeting this year, the Tigers earned a four-game win over Arkansas in Fayetteville. LSU dropped the first game, 30-24, but rallied back to win the next three, 31-29, 35-33, 30-24, in one of the closest matches of the season. The Tigers recorded 71 kills in the match, while holding the Lady’Backs to just 55. In addition, LSU hit .188, while Arkansas managed just a .144 clip. The Tigers and Lady’Backs were tied with 77 digs each, while LSU held a slight advantage in blocking, 11.0 ? 10.0.
“Arkansas didn’t really play very well against us at their place,” said Flory. “They are a much improved team and certainly we have got to be ready for this match.”
Junior libero Elena Martinez broke the school record for digs in a match against Arkansas, posting 33 digs in the four-game win. The New Orleans native broke Luciana Reis’ previous record of 31 digs against Kansas in 1993. With 67 assists, Maggie Lonergan tied for the 10th most assists in a four-game match in school history, tying former All-American Daniela Reis against Long Beach State in 1991.
Kyna Washington led the Tiger offense 20 kills, while also recording 17 digs and four service aces. Both Lauren DeGirolamo and Brittnee Cooper broke their then-career bests with 19 and 14 kills respectively. Cooper also led the match with eight blocks. Angela Bensend posted 10 kills and four blocks, while Marina Skender had 14 digs and three service aces.
For the season, LSU and Arkansas are evenly matched, but the Tigers hold slight advantage in most categories. LSU leads the Lady’Backs with 15.5 kills per game, compared to 14.7 for Arkansas, and LSU holds a slight advantage in hitting efficiency with a .219 clip for the year, while the Lady’Backs are hitting .213. Defensively, the Tigers lead Arkansas in blocking with 3.0 blocks per game, compared to 2.9 for the Lady’Backs and LSU also holds a commanding lead in digs per game with 16.7 compared to 14.2 for Arkansas.
Against Ole Miss on Wednesday, Cooper tied her career high and led the match with 11 blocks as the Tigers tied their season high with 19.0 team blocks in the match. In addition, Cooper posted 12 kills for her third double-double of the season. DeGirolamo added eight blocks, while Bensend posted a career-best six and Skender had five.
Cooper and DeGirolamo also rank in the top 10 in the SEC in blocks per game, as Cooper ranks third and DeGirolamo ranks fifth. They are the only two players from the same team to rank in the top 10 in the league in blocks per game. DeGirolamo also ranks in the top 10 in the conference in hitting percentage and is second on the team in kills per game.
Washington continues to lead the Tigers offensively with 4.26 kills per game, third most in the conference. A two-time SEC Player of the Week in 2007, Washington has recorded double-figure kills in 17 of LSU’s 20 matches this season. In addition, Washington leads the team and ranks second in the league with 0.58 aces per game. For her career, she needs only 15 kills to become just the 14th player in LSU history to record 1,000 career kills and only the fifth to accomplish the feat as a junior.
Martinez leads the SEC with an amazing 5.67 digs per game. In her first season as the starting libero, Martinez broke the school records with 34 digs in a five-game win Iowa and 33 digs in the four-game win over Arkansas. She currently ranks fifth in single season digs in LSU history with 448, and is only one dig away from moving into fourth place and just 87 digs from breaking the school single-season record.
Jessica Dorrell leads the Lady’Backs with 4.08 kills per game, while no other Arkansas player is averaging over three kills per game. Sarah Freudenrich and Catherine Fowler lead the Lady’Backs with 1.48 and 1.12 blocks per game respectively. Ashley Miller leads Arkansas with 4.55 digs per game, while the Lady’Backs run a 6-2 with Lindsay Scanlan and Nicole Martin splitting the setting time.
The Lady’Backs lead the overall series with the Tigers, 22-7, but LSU has won four straight and five of the last seven over Arkansas. Last season marked the first time in school history that the Tigers swept the season series with the Lady’Backs, winning, 3-1, in Fayetteville and 3-0 in Baton Rouge. Earlier this year, LSU earned a hard fought four-game win over Arkansas in Fayetteville.
The “Dig for the Cure” campaign was originally started in 2003 by Charlotte head coach Lisa Marston, whose mother was a breast cancer survivor, and has spread to volleyball programs across the country in recent years. Last year, the campaign raised over $72,000 nationally.
LSU steps out of SEC play next week as the Tigers host Notre Dame on Tuesday at 7 p.m. LSU will then return to the road and resume league action at No. 10 Florida and South Carolina. The Tigers will face the nationally ranked Gators next Friday at 6 p.m. CDT as part of the SEC Regional Sports Network package in Baton Rouge on Fox Sports Southwest, cable channel 38. LSU will then travel to take on the Gamecocks on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CDT.