BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Malorie Pardo set a balanced attack as the LSU volleyball team ripped a .302 team hitting percentage and three players collected double digit kills during a 3-0 rout of Wake Forest (25-13, 25-17, 25-13) Friday to open the WKU Tournament at E.A. Diddle Arena on the campus of Western Kentucky University.
LSU (7-1) won its fourth straight match and secured its fifth sweep of the season. The Tigers also posted their 16th consecutive September victory dating back to the 2009 season.
Pardo handed out a match-high 41 assists and added 10 digs to secure her second career double-double. For the match, LSU’s offense racked up 47 kills on a crisp .302 hitting percentage. The Tigers have attacked at over a .300 hitting ratio during three of Pardo’s five starts on the season.
“I thought we had a great overall performance,” head coach Fran Flory said. “We got off to a little bit of a slow start, but did an excellent job of adjusting to the game plan that Wake Forest had prepared for us. The good news to come out of this match is that we were able to adapt to a way that another team was trying to affect our offense and still succeed at a very high level.”
The Tigers (7-1) rode the quick, efficient right-arms of Desiree Elliott, Madie Jones and Michele Williams. The trio combined for 36 of the squad’s 47 spikes on a collective .397 hitting percentage.
Williams fueled the charge and powered home 13 kills on 21 swings with only one error to notch a blistering .571 hitting clip.
Jones blasted 12 kills on a .302 hitting ratio to return to double digit kills for the first time since opening weekend, while Elliott hammered home 11 spikes to go along with a match-best four blocks.
“We can probably start to call them the big three [Desiree Elliott, Madie Jones and Michele Williams] because they’re going to carry the load for us,” Flory said. “We worked really hard this week in practice on shot selection and finishing plays. I thought the entire team did a fantastic job with that aspect of their game during this match.”
Defensively, the SEC’s top unit flustered Wake Forest (2-3) into a season-low .063 hitting percentage. It marked the sixth time on the young season that the Tigers have held the opposition to under a .100 clip.
LSU amassed an astounding 61 digs behind Meghan Mannari‘s match-high 16 scoops. She has garnered 10 or more digs in six of her first seven appearances on the season. Helen Boyle also chipped in 14 digs for the Tigers.
“The performance of our back row was outstanding,” Flory said. “They did a wonderful of staying patient and allowing plays to materialize. When you have three defensive players finish with 10 or more digs in a three-set match, it’s an extremely impressive effort all the way around.”
The Tigers overcame an early 3-0 hole in the opening set. Ahead 11-10, LSU used a strong finishing kick and ran 14 of the final 17 points to win going away, 25-13. Elliott, Jones and Williams teamed up to pop 14 of the Tigers 17 kills during the frame.
Set two was much of the same as LSU found its bearings during the middle of the frame. Holding a 13-11 edge, the Tigers seized momentum behind a pair of Williams kills coupled with a block from Elliott and Nicole Willis to surge ahead 19-13. The Tigers forced Wake Forest into a match-high seven attack errors during the set and another Williams spike provided the finishing touches to a 25-17 win.
The third set proved to be a carbon copy of the previous two stanzas. After five ties and two early lead changes, LSU took control at 13-10 to finish off the sweep in style on a 12-3 spurt. The Tigers ran off the final six points of the match capped by two blocks involving Marissa Maas for the 25-13 triumph.
LSU continues the WKU Tournament Friday with a 4:30 p.m. tilt versus Xavier. Live stats are 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.
“Xavier runs a faster pace of an offense, similar to what we run,” Flory said. “It’s a completely different challenge and pace than the match we just had. We’re going to have to be prepared to change tempos and rhythms within the match. It’s a challenge that I hope we’re ready for.”