TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The LSU volleyball team fell in five sets in the team’s opening match of the 2014 Four Points by Sheraton Seminole Invitational to the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears, 18-25, 25-14, 12-25, 25-23, 13-15, Friday afternoon in Tully Gym in Tallahassee.
Down 2-1 in sets and trailing in the fourth, the Tigers (1-3) showed the moxie that it could come back from a deficit and took the fourth in thrilling fashion to send it to a fifth, but UCA (3-5) proved to be too much in the deciding set to pull out the match over LSU.
“The pace of the match was fast, and you have to credit Central Arkansas because they played a fast system and we couldn’t catch up,” head coach Fran Flory said. “We gave a good effort, but certainly not good or gritty enough to win.”
Cati leak led LSU with a season-high 16 kills and added seven digs and four blocks in the loss, followed by Katie Lindelow who had nine kills and 10 digs for the cause. Malorie Pardo had 30 assists and had six kills and six digs, hitting .455 on the afternoon. Haley Smith had a season-high 19 digs for the Tigers, as LSU finished with 50 in the match.
UCA proved to be a tough matchup from the start as the opposition hit .253 against LSU, featuring three players who finished with double-digit kills, including Fulani Petties and Heather Schnars who finished with 17 each. Amy South finished with 55 assists for UCA, while Shelbee Berringer led all players with 22 digs.
It was a tough night for both teams serving-wise, combining for just 10 service aces to 29 service errors. One area that LSU found to be fruitful was at the net blocking, earning 12.0 total team blocks led by Madi Mahaffey‘s five, followed by Leak’s and Pardo’s four.
“Our No. 1 goal is to win the serve-and-pass battle, and Central Arkansas won that,” Flory said. “When you give that up you have to have an extra-special performance by someone or something. I thought Cati played her heart out, and played great, but ultimately it wasn’t enough to carry us.”
LSU had a rough go of it in the first set, as the squad fell into a big enough hole that UCA was able to capitalize and go up and hold the lead in cruising to the first set victory. The Tigers only hit .280 in the set with Mahaffey and Pardo chipping in three kills each, but the team committed five service errors, while UCA had 15 kills and hit .444, while, converting 14-of-19 sideout chances.
There were seven ties and three lead changes for LSU, all coming in the first 14 points. After a kill from Pardo and a service ace from Briana Holman to make it 7-6, the Sugar Bears came back and scored the next three and four of the next five to take a 10-8 lead. The Tigers pulled within one a 12-11 after a Leak kill and a UCA service error, but UCA rattled off four-straight to take 15-11 lead and hold off LSU to earn the first set win.
The second was the complete opposite of the first as the Tigers dominated early and throughout, hitting .391 and forcing UCA to just eight kills and a .032 average. Helen Boyle helped to provide a spark as she, Leak and Holman each had three kills, while getting six blocks to completely stifle the Central Arkansas attack. The Tigers also cleaned up its serving, getting two aces to two errors, while UCA had one with four.
Neither team gave up an inch in the first 12 points, as LSU broke a 6-6 tie with a Boyle kill and block from Holman and Boyle to make it 6-8. After a point by Central Arkansas, LSU earned three straight points to go up 11-7 and from that point cruised throughout the rest of the set, including going on a 6-0 run to storm out to a 20-12 lead to win the second 25-14.
Just as LSU seemed to be able to gain momentum after its play in the second set, things came apart as Central Arkansas took control from the opening serve and cruised to the 25-12 third set victory, hitting .615 in the frame and getting 18 kills, while LSU had just seven kills and hit .250. At one point Central Arkansas was up 21-10, outscoring the Tigers 10-7 when up 10-3 to eventually win 25-12.
The will of the Tigers was tested throughout the fourth set, as the two sides had to fight through seven ties and three lead changes. With the set tied at 14-all, LSU went on a run of three consecutive points thanks to two UCA attack errors and a kill mixed in to go up 17-14 and force a Sugar Bear timeout. It was the team’s first lead of the set having to battle back after being down early, but it wouldn’t be the only adversity the team would have to battle through as UCA made a set of it late, going up 23-22 before the Tigers closed it out with two blocks from Kelly Esch and Pardo.
With the match on the line in the fifth, the Tigers once again had to rally as the team trailed 9-4, before going on a 5-0 run to tie the crucial fifth at 9-9, forcing a UCA timeout. The set would only be tied two more times at 10-10 and 11-11, with each team holding the lead for a single point before UCA took the next three in their 4-0 run to go up 14-11, with the Tigers getting two more points before the Sugar Bears ended the match with a kill.
LSU will be back in action tomorrow at 12 p.m., taking on the Samford Bulldogs on Cox Sports Television.
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