BATON ROUGE – The No. 15 LSU volleyball team meets No. 22 Tennessee in a Top 25 showdown Sunday at the Maravich Center. First serve is slated for 1:30 p.m. and the Tigers will honor the servicemen and women of Louisiana as part of the Salute the Troops Day prior to the match.
LSU (15-1, 6-1 SEC) has equaled the 15-1 start by the 2006 team and holds a one-match over Ole Miss in the SEC Western Division race.
Sunday’s matchup pairs two of the conference’s best offenses statistically with LSU leading in assists per set [13.62] and kills per set [14.61] and second in aces per frame [1.73]. The Lady Vols (13-3, 5-2 SEC) paces the league in hitting percentage [.291] in addition to being second in assists per set [13.23] and kills per set [14.33].
“Tennessee is a physical, fast team. They’re a team that will battle, will play hard,” head coach Fran Flory said. “They serve tough. They have all the components. They have five or six people who are putting balls away and this is going to be a big challenge. They’re a much more balanced team. Our game plan is not going to be as specific against them. We’re going to have to be a little broader in our game plan, our defensive game plan. We’re going to have to play our system really well. We’re going to have to work hard on siding out on Sunday.”
The Tigers notched a 3-0 sweep over Kentucky on Friday as Michele Williams and Angela Bensend combined to rip 27 kills of the team’s 45 spikes. The duo is ranked first and sixth in kills per set.
Nikki Fowler and Kayla Jeter have won the last two SEC Player of the Week awards and ranked inside the SEC’s Top 10 in kills. The Lady Vols will present a stiff challenge for a stingy LSU defense, which currently leads the conference in opponent hitting percentage [.157] and digs per set [16.30].
The Tigers are led defensively by Lauren Waclawczyk, fifth in the conference with 4.07 digs per set, while Williams has recorded 1.00 blocks per frame on ninth.
Prior to Sunday’s match LSU will take part in Salute the Troops Day with a special pre-match ceremony honoring Louisiana servicemen and women.
Live video and live stats for Sunday’s match will be available in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net. Fans also can follow live in-match updates on the team’s official blog at http://lsuvolleyball.posterous.com.