BATON ROUGE, La. – After a week away from competition, the LSU volleyball team returns to action this weekend taking part in the Four Points by Sheraton Seminole Invitational hosted by Florida State University this Friday and Saturday in Tallahassee.
The Tigers open play on Friday afternoon against the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears at 4 p.m. in Tully Gymnasium on FSU’s campus in the team’s only match of the day. On Saturday, LSU will take on Samford at noon, with the match being televised live on Cox Sports Television with Lyn Rollins and Missy Whittemore. Later that night, the tournament ends with LSU taking on the Seminoles in the marquee matchup of the weekend.
Links to live stats will be available on the volleyball schedule page on LSUsports.net, with a live stream of the FSU match provided by NolesTV, Florida State’s subscription video service, on Seminoles.com.
Not many teams try to schedule an off week just a few matches into a brand-new season, but head coach Fran Flory and the coaching staff used the time to work on key areas the team needed to focus on to get back into competitive play this weekend.
“We’ve made some huge progress, and I’m excited about the direction we’re headed,” Flory said. “The design of the season thus far has worked, but the proof will have to be in our play when we step on the court this weekend.”
LSU jumped out to a solid start two weeks ago in the Purdue Mortar Board Premier, going 1-2 during the tournament by earning a win over South Florida in its second game two Friday’s ago. The Tigers took a set off of nationally ranked San Diego and fought hard against Purdue in a thrilling finale to build up some confidence heading into a week with another top 10 ranked foe on the docket.
The staff tinkered with the starting lineup most of the weekend, but the one steady presence was senior Madi Mahaffey, who steps into a starting role after the Tigers lost Khourtni Fears for the season to a knee injury. Mahaffey started all three matches and against Purdue hit .800 for the match as she starts to come into her own at the spot.
“We talked earlier and Madi said that she is starting to feel comfortable this week,” Flory said. “We didn’t have a lot of time to allow her to adjust to that role and train her early because we didn’t fully know the extent of Khourtni’s injury at the time. But I think she’s starting to get acclimated and I look for her to have a great weekend.”
Mahaffey will have a lot of help in key spots as well after the solid start of the group as a whole, as the Tigers got stellar play from their key pieces in Briana Holman, Malorie Pardo and Cati Leak, among others.
Holman picked up a pair of awards after the end of the tournament, as she was named to the all-tournament team in Purdue, while days later earning the first SEC Offensive Player of the Week award of the season. The sophomore averaged over four kills and a block per set during the tournament, hitting over .400 for the young season.
Pardo accomplished a feat that hadn’t been done by an LSU Player in six years in racking up the first triple-double by a Tiger since Sam Dabbs earned the distinction against Texas A&M in 2008. The League City, Texas, native earned her 44th and 45th double-double of her career during the event, as she is currently dishing out 11.00 assists per set.
With a team-leading 99 swings already, Leak earned double-digit kills in each of the squad’s three matches, as she is currently second on the team in kills (33) and kills per set (3.00), while averaging 2.27 digs per set.
Haley Smith‘s 3.64 digs per set is currently 10th overall in the Southeastern Conference through the first two weeks of the year, as she was able to dig up 12, 18 and 10, as she and Pardo are each averaging over three digs per set so far this season.
Getting better as the tournament progressed, junior Katie Lindelow increased her kill production in every match, nearly capturing two double-doubles in the process. Helen Boyle opened the year with a bang, drilling 12 winners in the season opener against USD, as she is 178 digs away from 1,000 for her career.
Of the new faces on the team this season, the Tigers were able to get some youth incorporated to the collegiate volleyball setting, as Mimi Eugene, Elly Ogle, Gina Tillis and Cheyenne Wood all contributed in various ways. Eugene tallied 11 kills during the tournament, while Tillis got a kill and a block in a big stretch late against Purdue. Wood came in to serve and earned her first service ace and had three digs, while Ogle was tabbed in matches against USF and Purdue.
Awaiting the Tigers is a trio of teams in the Sugar Bears, Bulldogs and Seminoles that will provide unique challenges for the team throughout the weekend. FSU is currently eighth in the country at 5-0, while Samford and UCA remain in contention for their respective conference’s regular season and tournament championships year in and year out.
“We certainly hope to win three matches,” Flory said. “The first two are the most important, and in Florida State, you know you are playing a highly ranked team that has beaten a lot of good teams already this season. But we can’t overlook Central Arkansas or Samford because they are both quality programs.”
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 and @lsuvb on Instagram.