LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The freshman trio of Marissa Maas, Madi Mahaffey and Avery Striebel posted career-highs to claim double digit kills and lift the LSU volleyball team to an efficient 3-0 sweep of Grambling [25-7, 25-15, 25-13] Friday to conclude day one of the Hotel Encanto Classic at the Pan American Center on the New Mexico State campus.
Maas was magnificent and near perfect as the Richmond, Texas, native pounded 10 kills on 11 swings for a .909 hitting clip. It was second-best single match effort in program history for a player registering 10-14 attempts.
Mahaffey hammered home 11 kills on a .667 hitting ratio and added two blocks, while Striebel belted 10 kills in addition to six digs. Madie Jones and Nicole Willis turned in nine and six kills, respectively.
Shelby Pursley directed the LSU’s offense to a scorching .524 hitting percentage as the Tigers cranked out 51 kills on 82 swings with only eight hitting miscues for the match. Pursley equaled a career-high and dished out 36 assists to go along with three digs and two kills.
Defensively, the Tigers (5-1) kept Grambling (0-5) in-check with only 19 kills on a .161 hitting percentage. On the back row, Meghan Mannari scooped up eight digs and ripped three aces. Lauren Waclawczyk tacked on six digs and slapped four aces.
“The reality of what we were trying to do in the morning match versus what we did in this match from a tempo standpoint was a complete 180,” head coach Fran Flory said. “We slowed it down a bit. In the first match, I felt like we were trying to go too fast for our own good. Shelby did a great job of settling into a rhythm, and it was a solid performance all the way around.”
LSU scored 12 of the first 13 points of the opening set behind three Mannari aces coupled with two kills apiece from Maas and Striebel. The Tigers never looked back and closed out the 25-7 rout with a Maas-Striebel stuff and a Striebel spike. Maas connected on all seven of her swings during the frame.
“We were able to play a young lineup which will do nothing but make us better,” Flory said. “It’s tough for Marissa Maas and Madi Mahaffey to get reps when you have players like Michele Williams and Desiree Elliott in the middle. Marissa has been very good performer in practice. Her pace picked up a bit for what she has shown in practice. It can’t get any better than 10 kills on 11 swings for her.”
The Tigers continued with much of the same in the second set. Ahead 8-4, LSU pieced together an 8-2 spurt to build a 16-6 advantage and seize control of the stanza. Maas and Mahaffey ripped a pair of kills to fuel the run. LSU used another Mahaffey spike to complete the 25-15 victory.
After splitting the first 12 points of the third set, LSU founds its rhythm behind five Willis kills. The Tigers posted their best offensive effort of the match with 17 kills on a .640 hitting percentage and secured their fourth sweep of the season with a 25-13 win.
LSU concludes the Hotel Encanto Classic Saturday with a 3 p.m. CT showdown with tournament host New Mexico State.
Live stats will be offered through the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net. In-match updates also are available via the program’s social media outlets at http://twitter.com/lsuvolleyball or LSU Volleyball on Facebook.
“New Mexico State is a great team who went five sets with Nebraska last weekend,” Flory said. “They’re confident on their home court. The fans will be rowdy leading into their football game, and it will be a great environment to play in to prepare for us for SEC play. Hopefully, Malorie [Pardo] feels well enough to return to the lineup and run our offense. If not, Shelby has proven to be able to answer the bell. I think our team will be ready for the challenge.”