BATON ROUGE – The LSU volleyball team took its initial steps toward the 2012 season with a pair of workouts inside the auxiliary gym of the Maravich Center. The Tigers spent close to three hours on the practice court during both the morning and afternoon sessions.
“I thought we had a nice start,” head coach Fran Flory said. “It’s quite obvious our players have put in a lot of time and hard work during the summer in the weight room, on the track with conditioning and in the gym. This group is a special group. The bonds that they’ve established in the summer are already there. We’re almost at midseason form in terms of being of a team.”
LSU returns five starters in Helen Boyle, Desiree Elliott, Madie Jones, Meghan Mannari and Malorie Pardo who all garnered All-SEC accolades last season. All five players along with Sam Delahoussaye saw action in over 100 sets last season.
“The best part of today was the players started practice early without us,” Flory said. “They were already training themselves when we (the coaches) walked into the gym. We have great leadership from our seniors, specifically Madie Jones. I think the commitment to be everything that each of them can be for this team and accept whatever role they have to accept on this team is certainly there.”
Joining the veteran group is a top 30 recruiting class from PrepVolleyball.com which includes Khourtni Fears, Jackie Gerig, Cati Leak, Katie Lindelow and Haley Smith. The quintet is anxious to continue to build on LSU’s championship tradition.
The Tigers will spend the first few days of preseason camp focused on passing, defending and first contact drills before moving into offensive rhythm and tempo.
“We don’t have to spend a lot of time in the gym in terms of training to get a fitness level because they came in ready and fit,” Flory said. “We can spend more time teaching, training and developing their skill sets. In our system, we play very fast. However, we can’t play too fast for the physically of our athletes. Our goal is to establish what our rhythm and tempo are both offensively and defensively because those two things are what volleyball is all about.”
LSU will hold its annual Purple & Gold Scrimmage on Saturday, August 18 at 4:30 p.m. inside the Maravich Center. Admission to the scrimmage and all 2012 home matches at the Maravich Center are free compliments of the Advocate’s “Geaux Free” program.
Leading into the scrimmage, the Tigers will instruct basic volleyball skills starting at 2 p.m. during a free kid’s clinic. The clinic is open to all children eighth grade and under. To reserve your spot, contact Lauren at promotions@lsu.edu by Wednesday, August 15 and include how many children will be attending the event.
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger volleyball, visit www.lsusports.net/volleyball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsuvolleyball along with @lsuvolleyball and @lsucoachfran on Twitter.
2012 LSU Volleyball Preseason Practice Schedule – Times Subject to Change
Thursday, August 9
8:30-11 a.m.
2-5 p.m.
Friday, August 10
1-4 p.m.
Saturday, August 11
8:30-11 a.m.
2-5 p.m.
Sunday, August 12
8:30-11 a.m.
2-5 p.m.
Monday, August 13
1-4 p.m.
Tuesday, August 14
8:30-11 a.m.
2-5 p.m.
Wednesday, August 15
8:30-11 a.m.
2-5 p.m.
Thursday, August 16
1-4 p.m.
Friday, August 17
8:30-11 a.m.
2-5 p.m.
Saturday, August 18
4:30 p.m. – Purple & Gold Scrimmage
Sunday, August 19
4:30-6:30 p.m.
Monday, August 20
2-5 p.m.
Tuesday, August 21
2-5 p.m.
Wednesday, August 22
2-5 p.m.
Thursday, August 23
Depart for Austin, Texas