BATON ROUGE – Madie Jones ripped 10 kills on a .500 hitting percentage as the No. 16 LSU volleyball team clinched its sixth consecutive SEC Western Division title with a 3-0 rout of South Carolina [25-16, 25-20, 25-19] Friday in-front of season-high 1,238 fans at the Maravich Center.
LSU (24-3, 15-3) secured the outright division crown after Kentucky’s 3-1 win at Ole Miss. The Tigers also won their 12th consecutive home match.
“Madie was very good tonight, she had 10 kills on 20 swings with no errors,” head coach Fran Flory said. “You can’t ask an outside hitter to do much more. She took big, smart, aggressive swings, and she also hit smart shots. That’s a really nice effort from Madie.”
LSU’s defense dominated at the net and racked up a 10-1 blocking advantage. In the process, the Tigers bottled up South Carolina (7-21, 4-14 SEC) to a miniscule .081 hitting ratio. It marked the sixth time that LSU has held its opponent under the .100 mark.
On the back row, LSU secured a crisp 70 percent sideout efficiency for the match. Lauren Waclawczyk pulled in 13 digs to extend her streak to 14 consecutive matches with double digit scoops. Meghan Mannari and Angela Bensend came away with 11 digs each.
“We were very disappointed in our blocking last weekend, and we worked on it quite a bit this week,” Flory said. “We did more talking and discussing than we did practicing this week. The best part is when you come out and have that occur, it balances your defense. It takes the pressure off your back court and creates dig-to-kill opportunities.”
Brittney Johnson handed out a match-best 32 assists as LSU connected for a .241 hitting clip. She also tacked on four digs, three kills and a pair of blocks.
Jones powered home nine of her team-high 10 kills after the first set. The Plano, Texas, native has reached double figure kills in 10 SEC matches.
LSU’s middle attack of Desiree Elliott and Michele Williams posted strong all-around efforts. Elliott smacked eight kills and added four blocks, while Williams garnered seven kills to go along with her match-high five stuffs.
“It’s really important for us to bounce back from a loss and prove what kind of team we are,” Jones said. “We worked very hard in practice this week and it definitely paid off today.”
The Gamecocks were paced by Juliette Thévenin and Megan Lauglin, who popped 12 and 11 kills, respectively. On the defensive end, Hannah Lawing sprawled out for 19 scoops and claimed the SEC’s rally scoring single season digs record.
LSU closes out its regular season home slate Sunday against No. 1 Florida. Fans can receive free admission to the match by bringing their Ole Miss football ticket stub. Following the match, the Tigers will honor their senior class of Bensend, Johnson and Schatow.
Cox Sports Television’s Lyn Rollins and Garrett Walvoord will be on the call. The match also is live at www.ESPN3.com as part of the SEC on ESPN package.
Live stats are available on LSUsports.net inside the Geaux Zone. Fans also can follow live in-match updates on the team’s official blog at http://lsuvolleyball.posterous.com.
No. 16 LSU vs. South Carolina – November 19, 2010
Head Coach Fran Flory
On the team’s play tonight …
“I thought South Carolina played very well. Their defense was very, very good. They just couldn’t quite get on track offensively to match their defensive intensity, and I think that we have to credit our defense with that. I thought our blocking was very good and created lots of problems for them. We didn’t dig a ton of balls, but we created when we did. That led to us being able to get transition kills.”
On the team’s blocking success …
“We’re very happy with that. We were very disappointed in our blocking last weekend, and we worked on it quite a bit this week. We did more talking and discussing than we did practicing this week. The best part is when you come out and have that occur, it balances your defense. It takes the pressure off your back court and creates dig-to-kill opportunities.”
On the performance of Madie Jones …
“Madie was very good tonight, she had 10 kills on 20 swings with no errors. You can’t ask an outside hitter to do much more. She took big, smart, aggressive swings, and she also hit smart shots. That’s a really nice effort from Madie. I also thought she blocked pretty well for a nice all around effort.”
On the team’s defensive effort …
“We got back into the basics this week. In practice, we worked on sideout percentage and point-scoring opportunities. I thought we did a nice job tonight of bringing that into the match against someone else.”
On the performance of Meghan Mannari …
“Meghan just makes the play that nobody expects her to make. Teams try to out-quick her and get the ball on her fast. Somehow, Meghan gets the ball to the target. The great thing about her is that when she touches the ball, the ball goes to the target. She’s accurate with her defense as well. She doesn’t just get it up. It goes to the target, and we’re going to have a transition-kill opportunity.”
On the next match against No. 1 Florida …
“We just need to go in, play and have a great time. We need to show great composure and compete for every touch. This doesn’t mean anything in the big race or the little race. It’s an opportunity for us to play the No. 1 team in the country on our home court. It’s a team that we feel like is legitimately the No. 1 team. So, we want to see how we match up against them going into the NCAA Tournament.”
Outside Hitter Madie Jones
On bouncing back from Sunday’s loss to Kentucky …
“It’s really important for us to bounce back from a loss and prove what kind of team we are. We worked very hard in practice this week and it definitely paid off today.”
On the team’s defensive play …
“We were getting some great digs. Our defenders were in the right spots, and Brittney [Johnson] was giving us some very good sets. We were all just doing our jobs and were clicking. It helped out the offense a lot.”
On the match vs. Florida on Sunday …
“We’re definitely trying to look at Sunday as not too big of a match. However, we definitely are going to regroup after tonight’s match and get refocused. We’re going to be playing very hard for our seniors on Sunday and want to win for them. We want to beat Florida on our home court, so we’re going to play very hard. I’m very excited about it.”
Defensive Specialist Meghan Mannari
On the importance of winning in three sets …
“It felt really good because it is our seniors’ last Friday night home match. So, to get in and get out and take care of business felt very good.”
On the team’s passing effort …
“We were working all week in practice on sideout efficiency. I think it is really paying off. We worked on tempo passing and it’s all paying off.”
On her play lately …
“I think the blocks have really helped out because when the block is in their play, it is easy to get mine. The coaches have just put us in the right spots, and it has been working.”
On Sunday’s match vs. Florida …
“It’s really big. We want to get revenge, and it’s our seniors’ last home match. We want to go out with a bang for them.”