OMAHA, Neb. — It was another five-setter for the No. 21 LSU volleyball team and another victory as well. After defeating Texas A&M in five sets Friday, the Tigers beat the host Creighton Bluejays (22-25, 16-25, 25-18, 25-19, 15-10) in the Bluejay Invitational on Saturday in the Omaha Civic Auditorium.
The Tigers lost the opening two sets and had to fight back from a 2-0 deficit for Saturday’s victory. The last time LSU had lost the first two sets and come back to win was Sept. 15, 2006, against No. 13 Tennessee.
“I’m certainly proud of how we came back and fought after a very poor start,” LSU head coach Fran Flory said. We did not prepare well mentally for this match. It’s early in the season and this team just has not found its rhythm. The fact the we can succeed against some pretty good teams is a tribute to our athleticism. I’m proud and certainly excited about the win but this team and staff know we ave a lot of work ahead of us to truly be the type of team we anticipate and want to be.”
It was the first meeting in program history between the LSU and Creighton volleyball teams, as LSU improved to 2-0 for the season with their first victory over the Bluejays and Creighton dropped to 0-2 after a loss Friday to No. 16 Minnesota.
LSU will face the 16th-ranked Golden Gophers in a match Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in its final match of the tournament.
For the Tigers, it was the second decisive fifth set in as many matches and the 14th total in the past two seasons. They have won 10 of those 14.
LSU again led its opponent in every major category. The Tigers had 58 kills to Creighton’s 52, 55 assists to their 48, 69 digs to their 59, 11 team blocks to 10.5 and seven service aces to six. The Tigers’ .190 hitting clip also topped the Bluejays’ .150.
Senior outside hitter Kyna Washington again posted impressive stats in the Tiger victory, leading the team in kills (16), digs (16) and service aces (2). It was her second double-double of the season and 32nd for her career. Sam Dabbs also had another solid outing at setter to follow Friday’s triple-double. She finished the match with 37 assists, eight digs and six kills.
Lauren DeGirolamo and Tania Schatow each had five total blocks while Elena Martinez added 14 digs for the Tigers on defense.
LSU opened its match against Creighton the same way it played Texas A&M on Friday ? tight all through set one. And just as against the Aggies, the Tigers’ opponent broke away for the last few points and captured the first set, 25-22.
The Bluejays continued the momentum to the second set, scoring four of the first five points to go up 4-1. They even managed to extend the lead to 7-2 before the Tigers got anything going. LSU got within two at 11-9, but Creighton went on another run to get back up by five at 14-9 and then controlled the rest of the set, going on to win it 25-16.
LSU hit just .167 in the second frame, while the Bluejays notched an impressive .424.
The Tigers came out of the locker room firing, going up 5-1 in the third set and forcing the Bluejays to call timeout. LSU stayed in control for most of the set, coming away with a 25-18 win.
Another Tiger made her debut in set three ? as freshman outside hitter Michele Williams recorded her first career kill early in the frame. It was a service ace by Williams that closed out the third set. She finished the match with five kills and two total aces.
“While she didn’t have an outstanding match statistically, Michele did some very specific things with blocking and came through with some big kills when we absolutely needed to have them,” Flory said. “Her contributions were key to us winning the match.”
LSU hit at a .185 clip in the third set, and just as the Tigers did against A&M in the fourth set Friday, held Creighton to a negative percentage (-.114).
The fourth set was all LSU, as the Tigers went on to win it 25-19 and force a second decisive fifth set in as many days. They closed things out there, winning the final frame, 15-10.
The Tigers wrap up play in the Bluejay Invitational later Saturday against No. 16 Minnesota at 5:30 p.m.