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Match 1 Recap: LSU def. Pacific, 3-1
Strong Defense Pushes No. 23 Volleyball Past Pacific
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS – Angela Bensend ripped 13 of a career-best 18 kills over the final two sets to propel the No. 23 LSU volleyball to a 3-1 victory over Pacific [20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 26-24] in the season opener for both teams Friday at Reed Arena on the Texas A&M campus.
With the win, LSU improved to 11-2 in season openers under head coach Fran Flory. The Tigers return to the court against Siena at 8 p.m. to conclude day one of the Texas A&M Invitational.
“We started the match the way I thought we would, over anxious and over excited because we’re young in so many spots,” Flory said. “It took us time to settle into a rhythm. It was an adventure throughout, but I credit our team for finding a way to win.”
Michele Williams also powered home 13 kills to go along with eight blocks, while Desiree Elliott chipped in 10 kills and five blocks in her LSU debut. Moving into the primary setter role, Brittney Johnson dished out 45 assists and tallied a career-high 15 digs. Madie Jones slapped seven kills and added two blocks.
“I thought Johnson played fairly well,” Flory said. “She had a hard time finding a rhythm in that building. We play a faster offense. At times, it’s tough to find the right tempo. A tribute to her to fight throughout and her defense was probably the best of her career, which is an awfully good sign for the Tigers.”
LSU (1-0) dominated at the net en route to a 13-4 blocking advantage and held Pacific (0-1) to a .078 hitting percentage for the match. Tania Schatow aided the cause with seven stuffs.
Another key was LSU’s back row anchored by double figure dig efforts from Lauren Waclawczyk, Meghan Mannari and Sam Delahoussaye. Waclawczyk registered 20 digs and garnered a perfect passer rating in 35 attempts from the libero position. Mannari tacked on a career-best 12 digs of her own.
“A win is always a great way to start the season,” Bensend said. “We were pushing hard to get our tempo going. Our defense picked everything up. The blocking got our back row where we needed to go. We kept our nerves to a minimum and that’s what helped us to the win.”
The Tigers (1-0) fell behind 12-4 in the opening frame before getting back to within four points on two occasions. Pacific recorded back-to-back sideouts to secure the 25-20 win.
Behind 20-18 in set two, LSU turned the tables on defense and forced Pacific into four straight attack errors sparked by a pair of blocks from Elliott and Schatow to make it 23-20. Two Elliott kills up the middle closed out the 25-22 victory to even the match at 1-1.
LSU saved its best offensive effort for the pivotal third set as Johnson fueled the Tigers to 19 kills on a match-best .349 hitting percentage. Bensend provided six of her nine kills after the two teams split the first 20 points of the frame to pull away for a 25-19 triumph.
After falling behind 6-0 and facing a quartet of set points, LSU pieced together six consecutive points to garner a 26-24 comeback victory in set four. Jones and Williams teamed up for two kills and two blocks apiece to ignite the surge.
“This team is a group of fighters, and they’re not going to give up,” Flory said. “We’ve trained them real hard that we have a chance to win whether we’re up or down. If you still have a point to play, you still have a chance to win. They proved to take that message to heart and made some tremendous plays.”
Svenja Engelhardt knocked 16 kills and Rebekah Torres corralled 26 digs to lead Pacific.
LSU faces off against Siena Friday at 8 p.m. to wrap up day one of the Texas A&M Invitational. Live stats are available at LSUsports.net.
For the latest information on Tiger volleyball, log on to http://www.lsusports.net/volleyball, follow the program’s twitter page at http://twitter.com/lsuvolleyball and check out live in-match updates on the team’s official blog at http://lsuvolleyball.posterous.com.