KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Desiree Elliott and Michele Williams pounded home 10 kills apiece, but No. 14 Tennessee emerged with a 3-0 victory [19-25, 18-25, 15-25] over the LSU volleyball team Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Despite the loss, LSU (18-11, 11-8 SEC) clinched a share of its seventh consecutive SEC Western Division title after No. 16 Kentucky picked up a 3-2 comeback victory over Arkansas.
“We’re not happy with the overall result of today’s match but certainly are proud about winning a part of another SEC West championship,” head coach Fran Flory said. “It’s something that our program doesn’t take for granted. Our young team has had to go through a lot of battles this season. It’s a tribute to them for keeping LSU’s championship tradition alive.”
Elliott connected for a .292 hitting percentage and added two blocks. Nicole Willis slapped six kills, and Helen Boyle tacked on five kills to go along with seven digs. Defensively, Meghan Mannari scooped up a team-best 10 digs.
“Desiree was good, but we couldn’t get her the right swings especially in transition to open some things up for her,” Flory said. “Nicole had a good offensive effort, and I was happy we were able to create more for her than we were able to Friday night.”
Tennessee (26-3, 18-1 SEC) connected for 48 kills and a blistering .436 hitting clip. Kelsey Robinson knocked a match-high 16 kills and collected 13 digs, while Tiffany Baker turned in a solid all-around effort with 11 kills, eight digs and four blocks. From the middle, Leslie Cikra and DeeDee Harrrison chipped in eight kills apiece.
“Tennessee is a great team and didn’t give us much to work with only committing eight hitting mistakes during a three-set match,” Flory said. “We had to make plays with them, but we made too many unforced errors. Our back court defense played as well as they could, I’m really proud of our kids because they gave a tremendous effort.”
The two teams tied seven times and exchanged four lead changes early in the opening set. LSU grabbed a 14-13 edge on a Pardo kill. After a UT timeout, the Lady Vols ran off eight of the next 10 points to snatch the momentum and build a 21-16 advantage. Baker fueled the spurt with three kills and a block. Tennessee went on to claim a 25-19 victory.
Set two followed the same script as the first stanza. LSU surged ahead 9-8 on a Willis kills before Tennessee answered with a 9-2 spurt to take a six-point lead at 17-11 capped by one of Robinson’s eight spikes of the frame. Behind 24-16, LSU wiped away two set points. Baker provided a sideout spike to lift the Lady Vols to the 25-18 win.
Tennessee raced out to a 16-9 advantage to open the third set. Robinson forced LSU to use its final timeout with an ace. The Lady Vols saved their best efforts, a .571 hitting ratio and an 86 percent sideout clip, for set three. Cikra popped back-to-back kills as Tennessee finished the sweep, 25-15.
The victory allowed Lady Vols to secure a share of not only the SEC Eastern Division, but the SEC overall championship.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that Robinson is the most outstanding player of the SEC this season,” Flory said. “She had a tremendous summer with the USA A2 National Team and done a fantastic job of carrying the load for them in every capacity. I can’t say enough about the impact she has had on our league, and she has been a big part to them winning at least a share of the SEC championship.”
LSU wraps up the regular season Saturday against Arkansas. First serve is slated for 1:30 p.m. inside the Maravich Center. Admission is free courtesy of the Advocate’s Geaux Free program.
Live video and live stats also 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.
For every home match, LSU volleyball will be collecting books as part of its season-long book drive, “Geaux Books”, to benefit the Everybody Reads Program through Volunteer in Public Schools. Fans are asked to bring new or used elementary level books to help local students.