GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 16 LSU volleyball team had its 13-match winning streak come to a close as No. 2 Florida notched a 3-1 win [16-25, 25-20, 22-25, 18-25] to hand the Tigers their first defeat of 2010 in a battle of SEC unbeatens Friday at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in-front of 2,522 fans.
The Tigers (13-1, 4-1 SEC) registered a 56-52 advantage in kills, but Florida (11-1, 4-0 SEC) garnered a .323 to .190 hitting edge. The Gators also posted a 65-56 percent lead in sideout efficiency.
“We weren’t very efficient, but Florida was a big part of that,” head coach Fran Flory said. “Their blocking took us out of offense especially on the outside with Angela and Madie. We lost the serve-and-pass battle for the first time this season. It’s an awfully difficult road to win a match when Florida is serving you off the court. They attacked us, and we didn’t respond very well.”
LSU’s middles were strong as Michele Williams ripped a team-best 14 kills on a .345 hitting percentage. Desiree Elliott also belted nine kills on a .368 ratio to go along with five blocks.
Angela Bensend and Brittney Johnson tallied double-doubles for the Tigers. Johnson handed out a match-high 42 assists and added 10 digs followed by Bensend’s 13 kills and 12 digs. However, Bensend was forced into 12 hitting errors aided by a quartet of Florida blocks.
Madie Jones cranked 12 kills to give LSU three hitters in double figure kills. On the back row, Lauren Walclawczyk secured 12 digs and Sam Delahoussaye corralled 10 digs to join Bensend and Johnson with double digit digs.
“When we were in system, we set our middles,” Flory said. “Michele and Desiree were very good tonight. You can’t ask them to do much more. If we could have passed better, we would have been able to get them more opportunities and that would have opened up the outside more.”
Kelly Murphy contributed a complete effort with 15 kills, 15 assists, six digs and four blocks to fuel Florida. She connected for a .536 hitting percentage and didn’t commit an attack error in her 28 swings.
Kristy Jaeckel chipped in 11 kills, Chanel Brown dished out 28 assists and Erin Fleming reeled in 20 digs to support the Gators.
“Kelly played an amazing match for them,” Flory said. “She’s a tremendous player and we knew she was going to get her kills. Our goal was trying to contain their other players. At times, we did a great job of that but weren’t able to sustain it for very long.”
Florida fired out to a 10-4 lead to start the opening frame highlighted by a trio of Jaeckel spikes and an ace. The Gators never looked back en route to a match-best .464 hitting percentage for the frame and closed out 25-16 win on a Murphy kill.
LSU regrouped and traded blows with Florida to open the second set. After an astounding 16 ties and 10 lead changes, the Tigers used an 8-2 finishing kick to turn an 18-17 deficit into a 25-20 triumph to even the match. Elliott and Bensend ignited the spurt with back-to-back kills. The duo teamed for a block and Bensend slapped another kill to cap a five-point run on Delahoussaye’s serve.
The third set was much of the same as neither team could gain more than a three-point lead. LSU grabbed a 16-13 advantage on a Johnson kill forcing Florida into a timeout. The Gators charged back with four quick points capped by consecutive Bledsoe aces to go ahead 17-16. Down 22-21, LSU was poised to knot the score, but a Waclawczyk diving dig was ruled on the floor as the Tigers were setting the ball. The Gators used that momentum and tacked on an ace to pull away for the 25-22 win.
LSU jumped out to a 6-3 edge on a Williams kill to start set four. The Gators turned up the defensive pressure and forced the Tigers into eight hitting errors to run off 17 of the next 24 points to surge ahead 20-13. The Tigers cut the deficit down to 22-16 on a Johnson kill before Florida finished out a 25-18 win on a Cassandra Anderson spike.
LSU returns to action Sunday at South Carolina. First serve is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. with live stats available on LSUsports.net. Fans also can follow live in-match updates on the team’s official blog at http://lsuvolleyball.posterous.com.