TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It was the third straight five-setter between the Tigers and the Crimson Tide, and for a third straight meeting the LSU volleyball team won the five-set decision (25-22, 23-55, 25-13, 20-25, 15-13) over Alabama on Sunday afternoon in front of 432 in The CAVE.
After swapping wins in the first two sets, the Tigers dominated the third set and were up by as many as six and looking to be in complete control in the fourth. But Alabama would not go quietly, fighting back to force a fifth set.
The Tigers scored the first three of the fifth set and held an 8-4 advantage when the teams switched sides of the net. Up 14-10, Alabama fought off three match points, but LSU capitalized on the fourth to take a 15-13 decisive-set victory.
“Every LSU-Alabama match is a war,” LSU head coach Fran Flory said. “You have to win the little battles in between the big battles to win in the end. I think we did a nice job of that. This was certainly a big win for us and hopefully we should gain some confidence from it.”
With this win the Tigers (11-6, 6-4 SEC) have defeated every team in the SEC West in the first meeting of the year and extended their lead in the division standings over second-place Ole Miss, which lost to Kentucky on Sunday and dropped to 8-10 (4-5 SEC). Alabama, previously third in the West, dropped to 10-8 (3-6 SEC) with the loss. This is also just the third time the Tigers have won in Tuscaloosa in this decade. They won in five sets last year and before that back in 2001.
LSU has won all three five-set matches it has played in 2008.
The Tigers hit .292 for the match while holding the Tide to .236. LSU also talliked 61 kills to 54 for Bama and topped the Tide in assists (56-49), blocks (10.0-8.0) and digs (55-49).
Twenty-eight of those digs came from senior libero Elena Martinez, who recorded her second-straight 20-plus dig performance of the season. It was her second highest output of the year behind the 31 she collected against Texas A&M in the season-opener. Those numbers also moved her up to sixth place all-time in career digs in the LSU record books as she now owns 1,174 for her career.
Freshman Michele Williams also went off offensively, shattering her previous career-best of six kills with 15 on a .462 clip. That was in addition to two service aces, two blocks and a dig.
“Michele is beginning to develop into a true go-to player,” Flory said. “It took her a couple of matches to get that rhythm since we had not trained her in the middle, but she is gaining a great comfort level in the middle and proving to be very difficult to defend and becoming a very important part of our offense.”
Kyna Washington led all Tigers with 16 kills on a .314 attack percentage. Brittnee Cooper was a dominant presence at the net, knocking down eight blocks, three of them solo efforts. She added nine kills to the mix as well on a .240 clip.
Sam Dabbs paced the offense with 42 assists, while Brittney Johnson compiled another complete performance for the Tigers. She tallied eight kills on a .467 clip in addition to eight assists, five digs and four blocks.
“I think our keys today once again were Brittney Johnson and Michele Williams,” Flory explained. “It’s nice to see those two young players provide such a stabilizing force for us. Kyna Washington also showed a great level of maturity today. She struggled early offensively, but she maintained her poise and composure and ended up being a huge factor in our win late in the match.”
The Tigers quickly found themselves in an 8-3 hole early in the first set, but they dug themselves out to get to within one at 8-7 and managed a tie at 11-all. The Tigers then took their first lead at 12-11. From there it was a back-and-forth affair until LSU opened up a 21-17 lead of its own. The Crimson Tide got back to within one, but in the end the Tigers secured a 25-22 first-set triumph.
Both teams hit above .500 in the opening frame, Alabama slightly more efficient at .455 to .438 for LSU. Williams posted five kills in the first set on a .571 percentage to lead the match.
LSU found itself with a 7-3 lead early in the second set. Bama fought back, however, and things were knotted back up at 8-all. The Crimson Tide took their first lead of the set at 9-8. The teams stayed within a point of each other until Alabama grabbed a two-point 15-13 lead. The Tide extended it to four at 20-16 and again at 21-17, but LSU came to within one at 21-20 and forced a 21-21 tie following a Bama timeout. They regained the lead at 22-21 and the Tide used their final timeout of the set.
Alabama scored the next two to take a 23-22 advantage and prompt an LSU timeout. The Tide scored again, and though LSU fought off one set point, they eventually succumbed, 25-23, in set two.
The Tigers hit just .091 in the second frame to Alabama’s .195. They also allowed two Tide players to knock down five kills apiece while no Tiger recorded more than two.
LSU again gained an early lead in the third set, up 7-3 over Alabama just as in the previous set. But unlike last set, the Tigers didn’t lose this one. They used a 5-0 run to go up 11-3 and allowed just 10 more points the rest of the way. The third set was never in doubt, as the Tigers handled the Tide for a 25-13 decision.
LSU dominated the third set statistically, nearly doubling the number of kills at 13-7 and out-hitting the Tide, .321-.000. Martinez racked up an impressive nine digs in the third set alone to lead the match.
It seemed the Tigers had control of the match and were about to close it out, but they let a sizeable lead slip through their fingers. LSU had led by as many as six, but the Tide captured their first lead at 19-18 and never looked back. Alabama won set four, 25-20.
The Tigers were out-hit, .385-.240, in the fourth set and had just 11 kills to 14 for Alabama. But they reversed that in the final set, hitting .421 with nine kills to roll over the Tide and complete the victory.
LSU welcomes two SEC East foes to the Maravich Center next weekend, first defending league champion Florida on Friday followed by South Carolina on Sunday.