BATON ROUGE ? The LSU volleyball team fell 3-0 [22-25, 15-25, 21-25] against No. 16 Kentucky Sunday at the Maravich Center. The match was televised by ESPNU marking the first SEC regular season contest to air on the ESPN family of networks as the Tigers paid tribute to former head coach Scott Luster and the 1991 Final Four team to conclude Alumnae Weekend.
LSU (7-4, 1-1 SEC) dropped to 33-5 in SEC home matches since the 2005 season. Kentucky and Florida are the only two league schools to defeat the Tigers at home during that stretch.
Gretchen Giesler and Sarah Mendoza paced UK with 10 kills apiece highlighted by a .625 hitting clip from Giesler. Sarah Rumely dished out a match-best 31 assists, while BriAnne Sauer corralled a match-high 16 digs for the Wildcats.
Kentucky (11-1, 1-0 SEC) also registered 14.5 blocks as Giesler, Rumely and Becky Pavan all tallied six stuffs apiece limiting LSU to a .126 hitting percentage for the match.
“We have to come to play every single match and every single time we put the uniform on,” head coach Fran Flory said. “I didn’t think our team came to play today. They looked physically tired, they looked mentally tired. In SEC play, you can’t be tired. You have to step up and we didn’t do that today.”
Michele Williams and Marina Skender recorded 10 kills each for the Tigers. Skender surpassed Carmis Franks (1993-96) for 11th place in program history. Angela Bensend powered home a season-best seven kills. On the back row, Lauren Waclawczyk and Sam Delahoussaye reeled in 14 and 10 digs, respectively.
Kentucky led wire-to-wire in the first two sets. Trailing 20-15 during the opening frame, LSU received back-to-back Brittnee Cooper kills coupled with a Cooper and Skender block to trim the deficit to 20-18. The Tigers continued to chip away and made it 23-22 after a Mendoza attack error. The Wildcats responded with a Giesler spike along with a Giesler and Rumely block to emerge with a 25-22 win.
UK sprinted out to a 13-4 in the second set sparked by Giesler, who knocked four kills and was involved in all three blocks. The Wildcats never looked back in a 25-15 triumph.
LSU used three Cooper kills and a trio of blocks to build a 9-8 lead to start set three. The Wildcats ran off five consecutive points to go up 13-9 as Pavan slapped two kills paired with two LSU attack errors. The Tigers charged back to 16-14 after a Williams kill, but Kentucky answered with a 7-3 spurt en route to a 25-21 win to secure the sweep.
“They controlled every aspect of the game,” Flory said. “We knew they are a team that we would have to make earn points, and we didn’t make it very difficult on them at all today.”
LSU opens a four-match league road swing Friday at Auburn. First serve against the Tigers is on-tap for 6 p.m. with live stats available on LSUsports.net
“Road wins in the SEC are the key to any championship type of season,” Flory said. “We’re going to have to regroup and get a lot tougher. I don’t think we’ve shown very much mental toughness. It’s just a matter of reaching inside and choosing to use it.”
LSU vs. Kentucky postgame quotes
September 20, 2009
LSU MIDDLE BLOCKER BRITTNEE COOPER
On struggling offensively during the match…
“It was hard because we never got into our offensive rhythm. We were kind of going through the motions.”
On having to face a team who didn’t play Friday night…
“We looked really tired. I felt like we were just going through the motions the whole first set, and then after that we couldn’t pick it up. We’re definitely going to go back to practice and work harder.”
LSU HEAD COACH FRAN FLORY
Opening statement…
“They controlled every aspect of the game and we could never break through. We knew they are a team that we would have to make earn points and we didn’t make it very difficult on them at all today.”
On changing the lineup…
“I didn’t think we improved much. We got a little bit out of it. Sam Dabbs is this team’s security blanket, so we went back with her thinking senior leadership would come through in the last set and that didn’t come through. We challenged our seniors this past week to provide that leadership and it lasted one day. We have to decide what type of team we’re going to be.”
On the upcoming four-game road trip…
“Road wins in the SEC are the key to any championship type of season. We’re going to have to regroup and we’re going to have to get a lot better. We’re going to have to get a lot tougher. I don’t think we’ve shown very much mental toughness. They have it, and it’s just a matter of reaching inside and choosing to use it.
On having to face teams on Sunday who didn’t play a match on Friday…
“We’re the team without a travel partner, so we’re going to run into that every weekend. If we’re not tougher than that, we’re not going to go very far this season. We have to come to play every single match and every single time we put the uniform on, and I didn’t think our team came to play today. They looked physically tired, they looked mentally tired. In SEC play, you can’t be tired. You have to step up. All the work they did this summer should now be paying off, so we need to look at how we’re training them and we have to create a better environment.”