BATON ROUGE — Sam Dabbs turned in a complete performance with nine kills, 34 assists and 12 digs as the LSU volleyball team pushed its winning streak to five matches en route to a dominating 3-0 sweep [25-12, 25-16, 25-23] of South Carolina Friday at the Maravich Center.
LSU (12-4, 6-1 SEC) extended its winning streak to 36 consecutive SEC matches against league opponents other than Florida and Kentucky at home dating back to Oct. 29, 2004.
“This is a senior-laden team, and great choices by Sam created opportunities to get our offense rolling,” head coach Fran Flory said. “We had one of our best matches of the season up until the last couple of points. We were very fortunate to get out in three sets. South Carolina was the most important match of the weekend until this moment. Now, the most important match is Florida.”
Marina Skender powered home a match-best 12 kills and reeled in 12 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. Michele Williams and Brittnee Cooper combined for 17 kills and nine blocks to control the front row. Williams also cranked four aces, including three straight in the second set.
Angela Bensend popped seven kills on a .438 hitting percentage , while Lauren DeGirolamo did a little bit of everything mixing in nine digs, four kills, three assists and three blocks.
Lauren Waclawczyk anchored the back row with a team-high 13 digs and distributed a career-best five assists. Sam Delahoussaye also corralled 12 digs as LSU converted on 24-of-29 sideout attempts in the first two sets. LSU has won all 23 sets when posting a 70 percent or better sideout efficiency this season.
“Our focus has always been first contact,” Waclawczyk said. “We did a really good job tonight and gave Sam [Dabbs] so many options. She took advantage of it to the fullest. She did her dump thing, she set the outside and got the ball everywhere. It was a great night for us.”
LSU sprinted out to an 8-1 advantage in the opening set behind a trio of Skender spikes and led wire-to-wire in a 25-12 romp. The Tigers connected for a .389 hitting percentage as Skender, Dabbs and Bensend finished the frame with four kills apiece.
The two teams split the first 12 points of set two. The Tigers emerged with a 5-0 run highlighted by three straight aces by Williams to surge ahead 11-6. South Carolina pulled back to 14-11 before Williams cranked three consecutive kills and added a block to make it 18-11. The Gamecocks would get no closer than five points as LSU took home a 25-16 win.
LSU charged out to an early 9-4 lead in the third set as Dabbs set a quartet of Tigers to kills. South Carolina got back to 21-19 before Bensend, Cooper and DeGirolamo stuck for kills to extend the LSU lead back to 24-19. The Gamecocks rallied and took advantage of three Tiger errors coupled with an Ivana Kujundzic kill to get back to 24-23. After a LSU timeout, Skender smacked a cross-court spike to secure the 25-23 victory.
LSU welcomes No. 6 Florida to the Maravich Center Sunday at 6 p.m. for a nationally-televised match on ESPNU. The Gators (12-2, 6-1 SEC) are the third Top-10 opponent LSU has faced in 2009. Live stats also are available on LSUsports.net. and fans can follow in-match updates of the defending four-time SEC Western champions via www.twitter.com/lsuvolleyball.
Tickets are now on-sale at www.LSUSports.net, the official Web site of LSU Athletics. Tickets also can be purchased at the ticket office on the first floor of the Athletics Administration Building or by calling (225) 578-2184. LSU students, faculty and staff are admitted free with a valid LSU ID.
LSU volleyball also is offering the Friends and Family Pass where fans receive four tickets, four hot dogs and four drinks for only $20.
LSU Volleyball vs. South Carolina
October 9, 2009
LSU HEAD COACH FRAN FLORY
Opening statement …
“We were very fortunate to get out in three (games), and kind of our choice. We didn’t make great choices on the last point of the match, but up until that point I thought they had one of the best matches of the season. Great choices created opportunities and I think our offense really got rolling. I’m excited about that, but I’m more excited about our dig total tonight; 62 digs is a great total against that type of team.”
On the team’s high side-out percentage …
“When you can side-out you can beat most teams, and the goal is to be above 60 percent. So when you’re at 80 percent, you’re pretty much owning the situation, and owning that set unless you’re playing absolutely no defense. I think our team is doing a great job of that. I think our offense works when we’re in system. You have to credit our passers; they created great opportunities. I thought we passed very, very well today. A couple of times we left Sam (Dabbs) back behind the attack line, and I thought Sam Delahoussaye and (Lauren Waclawczyk) did a great job of handling those contacts.”
On the performance of her middle blockers …
“We didn’t use (Brittnee) Cooper as much as we probably could have, but I think Sam (Dabbs) made good choices. Cooper was available, and we could’ve used any choice we wanted, just creating and keeping things rolling. Our middles are doing a really great job, and (Michele Williams) worked really hard in transition, and created opportunities for herself. The great thing is Sam (Dabbs) rewarded her by getting her the ball and of course, (Williams) came through. That’s an added aspect that we thought had kind of been missing, even in our last four matches that we won. (Williams) hadn’t been putting the ball away in transition as she did tonight, so that’s a good step forward.”
On the success of serving tonight …
“We are an aggressive serving team; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Tonight it certainly worked for us, and I thought Williams did a really great job having three aces in a row; you don’t have that happen very often. Two tape shots that fall over, that’s a little bit of luck there. When we didn’t score and server aced, we kept pressure on them. They’re a great ball control team and that really challenged our team. We needed to be the better ball control team tonight, and I thought we proved that we could play defense against a very, very good team.”
On not overlooking South Carolina to Sunday’s match against Florida …
“This is a senior-laden team, and they’re not going to not pay attention to the first match in front of them. I think the bottom line for them was that if we didn’t get this one then Florida wouldn’t count. This match was the most important match of the weekend until this moment right now. Now the most important match is Florida.”
LAUREN WACLAWCZYK, LIBERO
On not overlooking South Carolina …
“This win feels great; I think we played amazingly. We came in focused on South Carolina. I don’t think anyone had their mind set on Florida yet, and I think that’s really good, especially with all the intensity going on with the football game. The campus is crazy, and it’s awesome. Now we’re looking forward to Florida, so bring it on.”
On passing and Sam Dabbs tonight …
“Our focus has always been first contact. I think tonight we did a really good job and gave Sam (Dabbs) so many options, and she took advantage of it to the fullest. She did her dump thing, she did outside and she got it everywhere. We had single blocks everywhere, and it was a great night for us.”
On the quality of serving …
“Especially this week, we’ve been focused on (serving) like crazy. It’s paid off really well, so hopefully we’ll bring that same intensity Sunday, and hopefully it will turn out the same.”