BATON ROUGE — The No. 19 LSU volleyball team heads into the home stretch of the regular season Friday at Ole Miss. First serve against the Rebels is slated for 7 p.m. at the Gillom Sports Center.
The Tigers (18-5, 12-2 SEC), winners of 11 of their last 12 matches, have opened up a 5.5 match lead over Auburn in the SEC Western Division race. LSU’s magic number is down to one to clinch its fifth straight division crown as the Tigers embark on a string of five of their last seven matches on the road.
“We were fortunate in the first half of the SEC schedule to have a lot of home matches,” head coach Fran Flory said. “Our team has done an excellent job throughout the season on the road. We’ve been more focused and determined away from home. When you have a senior group, that’s the best time that you could end up with this type of schedule.”
Reigning SEC Offensive and CVU National Player of the Week Brittnee Cooper fuels the offense. She has powered home 287 kills and her 3.42 per set average ranks sixth in the SEC. The Houston, Texas product also paces the SEC and ranks 20th nationally with a crisp .384 hitting percentage.
Cooper continues to be a force on defensive side of the net where she paces the SEC and ranks 14th nationally with 1.39 blocks per set.
“Cooper continues to get better as the season goes on,” Flory said. “When you receive those types of honors, it’s easy to sit back and relax a little. Brittnee hasn’t done that. She is gaining confidence and has been a sponge learning in the gym.”
Marina Skender has contributed 282 kills and her 3.36 per set average is seventh in the SEC. She also has tallied 2.64 digs and 0.54 blocks per set. The Croatia native recently moved into seventh place on the program’s career digs list and heads into the Ole Miss match two kills away from reaching that feat.
A big part of why LSU headlines the SEC and ranks 12th in the nation with 2.80 blocks per set are Lauren DeGirolamo and Michele Williams. The duo joins Cooper in the SEC’s Top Six in blocks per frame in league matches.
DeGirolamo has popped 50 kills on a .311 hitting percentage over her last seven matches and corralled seven or more digs in 16 of 23 matches highlighted by a trio of 16-dig performances.
Sam Dabbs ranks second in the SEC and dispersed 11.06 assists per frame. She has set the Tigers to over a .300 hitting percentage in 10 matches, including four of LSU’s last seven outings. Dabbs also has notched a double-double in three of her last five matches.
Angela Bensend has tallied over a .400 hitting clip six times in LSU’s last 11 matches. The Tigers are 13-1 over the last three seasons when Bensend reaches double-digit kills. Madie Jones has chipped in eight kills over last weekend.
“The key is to be balanced and not one-dimensional on offense,” Flory said. “We’ve become more difficult to defend as the season has progressed. Madie has had two great weeks of practice and is back to being at a high level. I don’t know if teams usually add a lot of versatility late. Usually, you are what you are at this point in the season. It’s fun as coaches to watch this continue to develop.”
Lauren Waclawczyk and Sam Delahoussaye spark the back row. Waclawczyk has reeled in double-digit digs in 11 of her last 14 matches, while Delahoussaye has tallied a perfect reception percentage over nine of her last 12 outings.
Ole Miss (8-16, 2-12 SEC) has lost five consecutive but three of the decisions have come against Top 25 opponents, including a 3-0 sweep by LSU back on Oct. 18. Five Rebels have produced 150 or more kills headlined by Katie Norris, who is fourth in the SEC with 3.74 kills per set. Morgan Springer leads the defense and is eighth in the SEC with 4.01 digs per set.
“Ole Miss at home is a tough go,” Flory said. “Their fans are very enthusiatic and they have a great homecourt advantage. Katie Norris, one of the staples in their lineup, should be back into their lineup. We’re going to have to be ready because they’re going to be prepared for us, and we’re going to have to excecute at a high level.”
Live stats for the Ole Miss match are available in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net. Fans also can follow in-match updates of the four-time defending SEC Western Division champions via www.twitter.com/lsuvolleyball.