BATON ROUGE – The LSU volleyball team opens up a four-match road swing and squares off with Arkansas as part of ESPNU’s Wednesday Night television package. First serve is slated for 7p.m. with Adam Amin and Elizabeth Moreau calling the action.
LSU (14-7, 7-4 SEC) is looking to bounce back from a 3-2 setback Sunday to Ole Miss, while the Razorbacks (14-8, 6-5 SEC) have posted wins in four of their last five outings. The winner of Wednesday’s contest will gain possession of first place in the SEC Western Division race.
Arkansas is fueled by Jasmine Norton, a two-time All-SEC performer along with Kelli Stipanovich. The pair is ranked eighth and ninth in the SEC kills rankings en route to 50.4 percent of the team’s total. On the back row, Christina Alvarez is the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Week and her 3.49 digs per set are ninth in the SEC.
“Arkansas will be very ready for us,” head coach Fran Flory said. “It’s another tough SEC West match, another important match in the SEC West race and an extremely difficult place for us to play. We’re going to have to be very balanced offensively to be successful and have to have done a great job of being recovered mentally, emotionally and physically from Sunday’s Ole Miss match.”
Malorie Pardo has handed out 13.38 assists per set over the last two weeks and garnered back-to-back SEC Freshman of the Week selections. She is not only tops in the SEC with 11.80 helpers per set but tied for fifth nationally. The League City, Texas, native equaled a season-high with 60 assists and added 14 digs versus Ole Miss to claim her team-leading eighth double-double of the season.
Desiree Elliott and Madie Jones continue to rank among the SEC’s Top 10 in kills per set. Elliott blasted a career-best 23 kills during the Ole Miss match and her 3.64 per set average is fifth-best in the SEC. Jones has elevated her play in conference action and tacked on double figure kills performances in 11 of her last 14 outings.
Michele Williams enters the Arkansas contest 16 kills shy of becoming the 18th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills. She is third on the team with 2.99 kills per set and paces the team with 0.94 blocks per set.
LSU’s back line of Sam Delahoussaye, Meghan Mannari and Lauren Waclawczyk have sparked the Tigers to a SEC-leading 17.26 digs per set, a full 2.21 scoop higher than its nearest opponent. Mannari has captured a SEC-best 5.05 digs per set behind five 20-plus scoop performances.
Delahoussaye has garnered five of her seven double figure dig efforts versus SEC opponents, while Waclawczyk has advanced to eighth place on LSU’s all-time digs list with 1,182 career scoops.
Live audio and live stats for the Arkansas match are offered inside the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net, while in-match updates also are available via the program’s social media outlets at http://twitter.com/lsuvolleyball or LSU Volleyball on Facebook.