BATON ROUGE ? In front of a raucous crowd in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, the LSU volleyball team started off strong and carried that play to victory over Alabama, 25-12, 16-25, 25-14, 25-14, on Friday night.
LSU (13-9, 8-7 SEC) kept its half-game lead in the SEC West over Ole Miss while Alabama fell to 12-11 overall and 5-9 in conference play.
“We know our backs are against the wall, and we have to take care of what we have left on the schedule,” LSU head coach Fran Flory said. “I liked our attitudes at practice this week, and we did a great job tonight. We found our rhythm and were able to take Alabama out of what they wanted to do, and our serving took over in the final two sets.”
The Tigers recorded a season-high 12 service aces, led by senior Kyna Washington who had four. With those four aces, Washington moved into sole possession of 10th place on LSU’s all-time career list with a career total of 149. Elena Martinez and Lauren Waclawczyk each contributed three service aces as well.
LSU jumped out in front early on the Crimson Tide by racing out to a 5-1 lead to open the match. Alabama never came within four points of the Tigers after that as LSU ran away with the set, 25-12. Alabama reversed the tables in the second set as the Tide built an 11-5 advantage and pulled away for a 25-16 win. LSU hit at a .500 clip in the third set and scored seven-straight points to win the set after going up 18-14. The Tigers recorded four service aces in the fourth set, including two by Washington to put away Alabama, 25-14.
Offensively, LSU was led by Brittnee Cooper and Michele Williams who each pounded out 11 kills. Cooper hit at an outstanding .500 clip while Williams set a career high with a .476 hitting percentage.
Defensively, Martinez recorded her seventh-straight match with at least 20 digs as she finished with a match-high 22 on the night. LSU also recorded five team blocks, and Cooper led the way with a total of three, including one solo block.
As a team LSU outhit Alabama with a .325 percentage to the Crimson Tide’s .172. The Tigers also recorded more kills (48-40), assists (44-37) and digs (61-53) than the Tide.
Alabama was led offensively by Brooks Webster who finished with a match-high 17 kills with a .240 hitting percentage. Defensively, Amy Pauly recorded 13 digs while Stephanie Riley tallied 10 to lead the Crimson Tide. Callie Johnson finished with two blocks assisted.
The Tigers will now turn their attention to Mississippi State (6-19, 1-13 SEC), which lost in three sets at Georgia on Friday night. LSU will face Mississippi State at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday in the PMAC.