BATON ROUGE – Malorie Pardo equaled a career-high with 60 assists, fueled five hitters to double figure kills but it wasn’t enough as the LSU volleyball team lost a 3-2 marathon decision to Ole Miss [25-12, 20-25, 25-16, 31-33, 13-15] Sunday at the Maravich Center.
The setback trimmed LSU’s (14-7, 7-4 SEC) SEC Western Division lead down to one match after Arkansas swept Alabama earlier in the day. The Tigers and Razorbacks will meet for the first time this season Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a nationally-televised match on ESPNU.
LSU lost for only the fourth time in 56 matches against a SEC Western Division opponent since 2006. Ole Miss (6-14, 2-10) has handed the Tigers three of those setbacks and snapped a nine-match losing streak in the process. It also marked LSU’s first home loss to a SEC Western Division rival going back to 2004, a span of 35 matches.
LSU’s offense knocked 80 kills compared to Ole Miss’ 63 spikes. The difference in the match was the Rebels ability to side out especially during the final two sets when Ole Miss converted on a combined 36-of-45 attempts.
“Definitely disappointed in the outcome but not in the effort,” head coach Fran Flory said. “Our kids played really hard and with great heart. We just left too many easy plays on the court where we were close but we let them go instead of making plays on the in-and-out balls. We had been preaching communication for the last two weeks especially this last week. Honestly, our communication failed us. Those are the grind it out matches that communication takes you over the top or unfortunately can bury you. Today, that happened to us.”
Pardo also stretched out for 14 digs to collect her team-leading eighth double-double of the season. She also had five hitters record 10 or more kills, the last time LSU reached that impressive feat was during a five-set upset at No. 13 Tennessee in 2006.
Desiree Elliott ripped a career-high 23 kills and added a match-best six blocks, while Madie Jones hammered home 20 kills on a .421 hitting percentage. Michele Williams belted 16 kills on a blistering .560 hitting clip.
“I think they contained Desiree and really matched up,” Flory said. “I was trying to get Michele more swings and move her more to the outside. Late in the match we tried, and we just couldn’t get the right match-up for her. When we played Ole Miss there, they committed to our middles and made our pins beat us. They did the same thing here. It was no surprise, we just couldn’t quite execute well enough to win the match.”
Helen Boyle chipped in 10 kills and secured 15 digs for her first double-double since the Xavier match on Sept. 9. Nicole Willis also tacked on a strong all-around effort with 11 kills, seven digs and four blocks.
Defensively, the LSU back line racked up a 96-77 digs advantage as Meghan Mannari corralled a match-high 32 scoops for her second-highest career performance. Lauren Waclawczyk also tallied 14 digs.
Ole Miss was fueled by Allegra Wells, who popped 18 kills. Amanda Philipot distributed 47 assists and scooped up 13 digs, while Morgan Springer registered 24 scoops for the Rebels.
“Allegra Wells was really sporadic early and then found a groove,” Flory said. “We weren’t able to contain her very well. I think we played great defense. We didn’t dig very accurately and create offensive opportunities. I thought they dug and they attacked us on out-of-system balls better than we attacked them. I think that was the difference.”
After splitting the first two sets, LSU grabbed an early 11-7 lead to start the third frame behind a trio of kills apiece from Elliott and Jones. The Tigers stretched the lead to 20-13 after a Waclawczyk ace and won going away, 25-16, after consecutive Elliott spikes.
LSU was poised to win the match during the fourth set. After overcoming an 18-14 hole and fending off a set point at 24-23, the Tigers proceeded to earn seven match points. Ole Miss responded with critical sideout after sideout to keep the stanza alive. At 31-31, the Rebels forced LSU into back-to-back hitting miscues from Willis and Elliott to escape with the 33-31 triumph. Wells connected for six kills to spark Ole Miss in a frame that featured 19 ties and three lead changes.
The Rebels carried that momentum into the deciding frame and built an early 6-2 advantage aided three LSU attack errors. After burning both of their timeouts early, the Tigers got back to within one point on three occasions, the latest at 14-13. A back row attack on an out-of-system ball from Boyle went into the net to vault Ole Miss to the 15-13 victory.
“Honestly, those match points [in the fourth set] were back and forth,” Jones said. “We were way past 25 points, those are the most fun parts of the game. Unfortunately we couldn’t pull it out, but that was the most fun of the volleyball match when you’re neck and neck with a team that you like playing against.”
LSU rolled to a 25-12 win in the opening set behind seven Elliott kills and an overall .382 hitting percentage. The Tigers secured 12 of the first 15 points of the match highlighted by eight straight on Mannari’s serve.
Ole Miss regrouped in set two for a 25-20 decision. The Rebels scored 10 of the final 15 points of the frame and Wells slapped six kills to even the match at 1-1 heading into the locker room.
LSU embarks on a critical four-match road trip and will make its fourth television appearance of the season Wednesday at Arkansas. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPNU.
Live audio and live stats are offered inside 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.
LSU HEAD COACH FRAN FLORY
On the match …
“Definitely disappointed in the outcome, but not in the effort. Our kids played really hard and with great heart. We just left too many easy plays on the court where we were close but we let them go instead of making plays on the in-and-out balls. We had been preaching communication for the last two weeks especially this last week. Honestly, our communication failed us. Those are the grind it out matches that communication takes you over the top or unfortunately can bury you. Today, that happened to us.”
On the fourth set …
“What a fun set. It was fun to coach, and I would think it was fun to play. Certainly, more fun to win thought. What a grind it out kind of set. You train for those opportunities and when you get the chance, I thought Lauren Waclawczyk was going to have that for us on the one swing she had on the front row. She just didn’t quite hit it hard enough. A lot of people made great plays, but unfortunately they made more than us, and you have to credit them.”
On the performance by Ole Miss …
“Allegra Wells was really sporadic early and then found a groove. We weren’t able to contain her very well. I think we played great defense. We didn’t dig very accurately and create offensive opportunities. I thought they dug and they attacked us on out-of-system balls better than we attacked them. I think that was the difference. They were scoring from the back row, our back row defense against back row attacks was very poor and the determining factor.”
On the Ole Miss defense …
“I think they contained Desiree Elliott and really matched up. I was trying to get Michele Williams more swings and move her more to the outside. Late in the match we tried and we just couldn’t get the right match-up for her. When we played Ole Miss there, they committed to our middles and made our pins beat us. They did the same thing here. It was no surprise, we just couldn’t quite execute well enough to win the match.”
On pressure for the rest of the season …
“Any loss makes it much more difficult for us to have a chance to be playing in December. We have to take care of the matches on your home court, and certainly we preach it all the time. I don’t think we gave it away, Ole Miss earned it. I’ve said it all season, they are a very dangerous team. They were going to break out, and I think they broke out a little bit today. That’s a higher level than they have played in a while. As far as what we do, we just have to get back in the gym. We’re young, we have a lot of opportunity out there with some people that haven’t played, and I’m going to tweak some things. We’ll be ready, we’ll keep going.”
On this week’s road match against Arkansas …
“Arkansas will be very ready for us. That’s another SEC West match, another important match and an extremely difficult place for us to play. We’ve kind of been up and down in Barnhill Arena over the years. We’re going to have to be very balanced and do a great job of recovering mentally and emotionally as much as physically. We’ll have them ready.”
Outside Hitter Madie Jones
On the match …
“We had a lot of match points in that fourth set, and unfortunately we couldn’t pull it through. We fought really hard. We were point-for-point with them in the fifth set, and we had to come back a little bit. It’s disappointing to lose at home to a team that you really like beating, especially in five sets. We just have to bounce back even more this week because we have a match Wednesday. It’s a super fast turnaround, and we’ll be ready.”
On goals for the season still being in tact …
“In the beginning of the season you look at what you want to accomplish for the year, and a loss like this definitely puts a damper in the plans. That just means you have to be more resilient, bounce back and take a win off of teams like Tennessee, Florida or Kentucky who are at the top of the SEC.”
On the road game against Arkansas this Wednesday …
“This is the first time all year that we’ve had a Wednesday away game. We’re really going to have to mentally be prepared. I think one thing we’ll be ready for is tomorrow’s practice. We’re going to put this behind us and do our best at Arkansas.”
On Malorie Pardo‘s performance …
“On the bench, we were wondering if that thud we heard was her head on the ground. She hit her head really hard. Shelby Pursley came in, did some great things and she’s always ready to come in. Malorie came back in, got some blocks and didn’t even act like anything was wrong. That’s hard to do, and we definitely appreciate that type of effort on her part.”
On the fight in this team …
“Honestly, those match points were back and forth. We were way past 25 points, those are the most fun parts of the game. Unfortunately we couldn’t pull it out, but that was the most fun of the volleyball match when you’re neck and neck with a team that you like playing against.”