AUBURN, Ala. – Helen Boyle ripped a career-best 18 kills on a .405 hitting clip, corralled a team-high 18 digs and secured her fifth double-double of the season to vault the LSU volleyball team to a tightly-contested 3-1 win over Auburn [28-26, 33-35, 27-25, 25-23] Friday at the Student Activities Center.
With the victory, LSU (16-8, 9-5 SEC) claimed its 21st straight victory against Auburn (10-15, 4-11 SEC) in the series. The Tigers also ascended back to the top of the SEC Western Division race after Georgia upended Arkansas Friday in five sets.
The match featured an astounding 51 ties and 26 lead changes with all four sets being decided by the minimum two-point margin.
Boyle’s 18 kills eclipsed her previous career mark of 16 spikes which took place during the Miami match back on opening weekend. She also sparked LSU’s back row defense to a team-leading 18 digs.
“Everyone played with great composure and great poise,” head coach Fran Flory said. “It’s the first time all season that we’ve played a complete match like a mature team. In the past when we’ve had one touch go bad, it put us in a downward spiral. Not tonight, what a great job by Michele Williams to maintain her composure to lead this team. Helen stepped up in a big way. There’s nothing but good things that can happen for our team when she does the things that she did for us tonight.”
Desiree Elliott belted 18 kills of her own on a .333 hitting ratio and matched a career-best with eight blocks. She sparked LSU to a 15-6 blocking advantage, the 15 blocks were a season-high for the Tigers.
Madie Jones compiled a solid all-around effort. She provided 16 kills to go along with seven digs and four blocks. Michele Williams tacked on 11 kills and recorded seven blocks to give LSU four players with 10 or more spikes.
Malorie Pardo handed out a match-high 54 assists and added eight digs. LSU held a .247 to .239 edge in hitting percentage, while Auburn countered with a 71-67 kills and an 84-67 digs advantage.
“I think our players over think and over try sometimes,” Flory said. “They did a great job of settling down, trusting in their own abilities and believing in each other. I can’t be any prouder of our frontcourt. We haven’t won many matches above the net this season, and I’m proud of their effort.”
Auburn was fueled by Katia Rud, who equaled a career-best with 16 kills on a crisp .519 hitting clip. The Tigers also received a quartet of double-doubles. From the outside, Kelly Fidero tallied 20 kills and 10 digs coupled with Sarah Bulluck’s 15 kills and 17 digs. Both AU setters, Chelsea Wintzinger [34 assists and 10 digs] and Christina Solverson [20 assists and 13 digs], collected double dips.
“It was a crazy atmosphere with both teams playing well,” Boyle said. “Our team just came together and finished the match. We worked a lot on attacking the block in practice, and it paid off.”
Auburn crept out to a 15-11 lead to start the first set aided by six straight points. Brittany Rhude finished the spurt with a block and a kill to force LSU into a timeout. LSU fired back with nine of the next 10 points to surge ahead 20-16. The Tigers forced Auburn into five hitting miscues to highlight the run. Auburn regrouped to erase three set points and grabbed a 26-25 edge after a block on Elliott. Jones put LSU on her back and connected for a trio of kills to vault the Tigers to the winners circle, 28-26.
Neither team could gain more than a two-point separation during set two. The stanza racked up 20 ties and six lead changes along the way. There were 10 set points erased in all, six by Auburn and four by LSU. Even though LSU outhit Auburn by a .321 to .288 margin, LSU was plagued by seven service errors. The last one came from Jones with the score deadlocked at 33-33. Fidero followed up with her seventh kill of the frame to lift Auburn to a 35-33 win and even the match at a set apiece.
LSU overcame a 24-21 hole late in the third set. After a Solverson service error, Boyle powered home consecutive kills to knot the score at 24-24. Auburn went back ahead 25-24 on a Chloe Rowand kill, but Boyle notched another critical kill for LSU to even the tally at 25-25. LSU’s defense forced Bullock into a hitting miscue and an Elliott-Jones stuff on Rhude allowed LSU to emerge with a 27-25 victory.
Auburn was poised to take the match to a decisive stanza and built a 16-10 advantage to open set four after three straight Rud spikes. LSU found its bearings behind a 9-3 run as a Boyle ace tied the score at 19-19. After consecutive sideouts, LSU continued to push points. A Jones kill teamed up with Pardo-Williams and Jones-Williams blocks to hand LSU a 23-20 advantage. Much like LSU in the previous stanza, Auburn turned away two LSU set points. However, LSU capitalized on its third match point after a tight second contact by Auburn libero Sarah Wroblicky ended a long rally for the final 25-23 margin.
“The players got into situations where they were able to step up and make big plays,” Flory said. “I challenged Madie as an emotional leader. She did a great for us down the stretch and finished off key points late in sets.”
LSU concludes its four-match road swing Sunday at Georgia. First serve is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. CT from the Ramsey Center.
Live audio and live stats for the Auburn 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.