GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Two of the top teams in the Southeastern Conference will face off for the second time this season as the LSU volleyball team travels to face 10th-ranked Florida in the SEC Match of the Week on Friday in the O’Connell Center at 6 p.m. CDT.
The match will be televised on the SEC Regional Sports Network in Baton Rouge on Fox Sports Southwest, cable channel 38. In addition, live statistics will be available on the official website for LSU athletics, LSUsports.net.
The Tigers (18-4, 9-3 SEC) are currently a half game behind Alabama for the SEC Western Division lead. LSU defeated Ole Miss in four games last Wednesday before sweeping Arkansas on Friday. In a mid-week non-conference match, the Tigers topped Notre Dame in five games stretching their winning streak to three matches.
Bouncing back from its only loss of the season, Florida knocked off Auburn and Georgia on the road last weekend. The Gators’ only loss came in five games at Arkansas when the Lady’Backs came back from a 14-10 deficit in game five to win, 20-18. Florida leads the SEC overall and the SEC Eastern Division, holding a game and a half lead over Alabama and two game lead over LSU overall, with a three-game lead over Kentucky in the East.
“Anytime you have a matchup against a Top 10 team, it’s a great opportunity and we need to view it as just that,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “We know we are going to have to play physically, be very efficient and play fast.”
Having lost only six regular-season conference matches since the arrival of head coach Mary Wise in 1991, the Gators have won the last 16 regular season SEC championships. LSU has won back-to-back Western Division crowns and is one of only four teams to defeat Florida in over 16 years. On Sept. 23, the Gators defeated the Tigers, 25-30, 24-30, 30-27, 24-30, in the Maravich Center.
“Florida always has a great atmosphere,” said Flory. “It will be a championship-type environment and one that true competitors will, and hopefully should, thrive in.”
In their first meeting this year, LSU sophomore Brittnee Cooper led the match with 11 blocks, her first of four double-figure blocking marks this year. Her nine block assists tied for sixth in a four-game match in school history, while her 11 total blocks tied for the sixth most in a four-game match. She also finished with12 kills, second best on the team, with a .261 hitting percentage.
Kyna Washington led the Tigers with 14 kills against the Gators, while adding two service aces, five digs and three blocks. Elena Martinez led LSU with 21 digs, her ninth of 15 20-dig matches this year. Marina Skender led the Tigers with four of LSU’s 11 service aces, while Lauren DeGirolamo finished with five blocks.
Sophomore Maggie Lonergan posted 36 assists to lead the Tigers, while also posting three aces. Brittney Johnson came on to set on the front row in the third and fourth games and finished with nine assists and three blocks.
Although neither team hit very efficiently, with LSU recording a .123 clip, its lowest of the season, Florida was held to a .221 mark, its second worst of the year. The Gators out killed the Tigers, 65-55, just the third time all year LSU had been out killed. The Tigers lead Florida in the match with 16.5 blocks after recording only four through the first two games. Florida finished with 12.0 blocks, recording only five over the final two games. A big statistical difference came in digs as the Gators posted 73, compared with only 53 for LSU.
For the season, Florida leads LSU statistically in several categories. The Gators are leading the SEC and out killing the Tigers, 16.9 to 15.6, while posting a conference best .305 hitting percentage to a .222 clip for LSU. Florida also holds a slight advantage in service aces per game, coming in with 2.0 to 1.9 for the Tigers. LSU holds a slight advantage in digs per game, averaging 17.1 to the Gators’ 16.9. The pair are even on the year with 3.0 blocks per game each.
With the fourth of her 14 kills against Notre Dame on Tuesday, Kyna Washington recorded her 1,000th career kill. In addition to becoming just the 14th player in LSU history to reach the milestone, she is also only the fifth player, and the first since Carmis Franks in 1995, to accomplish the feat during her junior season. She leads the Tigers offensively for the season and ranks third in the conference with 4.15 kills per game.
Washington also leads the team and ranks second in the SEC with a 0.56 service ace per game average. Skender ranks fifth in the league with a 0.49 ace per game average and is 55 kills away from also recording her 1,000th career kill.
It was also a monumental match for Cooper against the Fighting Irish. The Houston native recorded a career high 21 kills, topping her previous high by three, while hitting .613 , another career high, which was just shy of a top 10 performance in school history. With 13 blocks, she again broke her career best and tied for the seventh most total blocks in a five-game match in LSU history. Of those 13 blocks, 11 were assists, which tied for the eighth most in a five-game match.
For the season, Cooper leads the Tigers and ranks second in the SEC with 1.54 blocks per game. DeGirolamo ranks fifth in the SEC with 1.36 blocks per game, while ranking sixth in the league with a .340 hitting percentage. She is also second on the team with 3.43 kills per game after setting a career high with 23 against Notre Dame.
Martinez leads the SEC with an amazing 5.62 digs per game. This season, she 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 third in single season digs in LSU history with 460, and is only 11 digs away from becoming just the third player in LSU history to record 500 digs in a season and only 49 digs from breaking the school single-season record.
Marcie Hampton leads Florida and ranks second in the SEC with 4.40 kills per game, while Angie McGinnis boasts a team-best .367 hitting percentage. Kelsey Bowers leads the Gators and ranks sixth in the SEC with 1.35 blocks per game, followed by Kisya Killingsworth with 1.14. McGinnis is also averaging over a block a game at 1.02 and leads Florida with 12.97 assists per frame. Reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year Elyse Cusack leads Florida and ranks second in the SEC with 5.47 digs per game.
Florida leads the overall series with LSU, 27-12, and the Gators have won 23 straight over the Tigers. Florida is the only SEC team that current LSU senior Michelle Hensgens has never defeated. The last time the Tigers topped the Gators was on Nov. 11, 1991, as Florida has only lost five conference matches since that time.
LSU will continue play on the road at South Carolina on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CDT. The Tigers swept South Carolina, 3-0, in their first meetings this season. LSU returns home next weekend as the Tigers try to avenge two of their three conference losses. Having lost to both Kentucky and Tennessee in five games on the road, LSU will try to get those matches back as the Tigers face the Wildcats on Friday at 7 p.m. and the Lady Vols on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.