STARKVILLE, Miss. – The LSU volleyball team continues its run of six consecutive matches versus the SEC Western Division with a Sunday matinee versus Mississippi State. First serve is slated for 1 p.m. at the Newell-Grissom Building, and the match will be televised by Comcast Sports Southeast/Cox Sports Television with Melissa Lee and Maria Taylor calling the action.
LSU (14-8, 7-5 SEC) is looking to erase a two-match losing skid and enters Sunday’s tilt a half-match behind Arkansas, a three-set winner Friday over Mississippi State, in the SEC Western Division race.
“Our team knows that we need to rebound,” head coach Fran Flory said. “As a coach, you learn more about your team after you lose than when you win. With that being said, having to deal with and overcome adversity are great challenges for a young team to have. Now, we have to step across the line and be the winner at the end.”
The Bulldogs (10-12, 5-8 SEC) have been swept in four straight outings, but are extremely tough on their homecourt. MSU took down then-No. 25 Kentucky in-front of 4,525 fans back on Oct. 14.
Caitlin Rance has powered home 4.28 kills per set from the outside, second-highest ratio in the SEC. She recently became the 10th player in MSU history to reach 1,000 career kills. In the middle, Hannah Wilkinson has connected for a .321 hitting percentage to rank fourth among the SEC leaders. Hillary Parker has claimed 3.50 digs per set to check in at the No. 9 spot in the SEC rankings.
During LSU’s 3-0 victory over the Bulldogs earlier this season at the Maravich Center, the Tigers bottled up Rance and Wilkinson for a combined 10 kills as State was limited to a paltry .069 hitting clip. Desiree Elliott, Madie Jones and Michele Williams collected 39 of LSU’s 51 kills sparked by Jones’ 19 spikes on a crisp .333 hitting clip.
“Mississippi State is awfully difficult on its homecourt,” Flory said. “They’ve stretched everyone out and already beat Kentucky earlier this season. It’s going to be a difficult task. Our players want to be great and are playing extremely hard. We have some limitations and it’s our job as coaches to help the players get through those limitations.”
Elliott, Jones and Williams have racked up 68.2 percent of the teams spikes this season. The trio has smacked 10 or more kills on a collective 45 occasions.
Over her last five outings, Elliott has blasted a team-high 78 kills at a 4.33 per set average. She hammered home a career-best 23 kills versus Ole Miss last Sunday.
Jones has garnered double figure kills in 11 of her last 15 performances. She has provided both of her 20-plus kill efforts on SEC Sundays, including 20 kills on a .421 hitting percentage against Ole Miss.
Williams is looking to put her .000 hitting performance from the Arkansas match in the rear view mirror and heads into Sunday’s contest nine kills away from being the 18th member of the program’s 1,000 career kills club.
A recipient of the last two SEC Freshman of the Week awards, Malorie Pardo has control of the league’s top spot with 11.77 assists per set. She has garnered a team-high eight double-doubles on the season.
Nicole Willis has chipped in a quartet of double digit kill outings in SEC action. She ripped a team-best .364 hitting clip in LSU’s previous meeting with MSU.
LSU’s defense continues to rank second in the SEC with 16.22 digs per set and have held the opposition to a stout .167 attacking mark. Meghan Mannari also has recorded the second-highest digs per set average at 4.68 behind six 20-plus scoop efforts, while Helen Boyle has garnered 10 or more digs during eight of her 12 SEC appearances.
Live audio and live stats for Sunday’s match are offered inside the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net, while in-match updates also are available via the program’s social media outlets at LSU Volleyball on Facebook or http://twitter.com/lsuvolleyball.