BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU volleyball team closes out one of the longest early-season road stretches in recent memory this weekend, traveling to San Antonio to take part in the UTSA Classic against Baylor and the host Roadrunners.
The Tigers open play on Friday at the Convocation Center in San Antonio against Baylor at 12 p.m., whom LSU will face again in the team’s final match of the tournament on Saturday at 12 p.m. also. Later that evening on Friday, LSU takes on UTSA at 6 p.m. Live stats of the match will be available on the volleyball schedule page at LSUsports.net as well as a free live stream against UTSA, with continuous updates through the team’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
By the end of the weekend, LSU will have played each of its first nine matches on the road, matching a feat the 2012 team also dealt with, as that squad had to move a home tournament to Rice in Houston due to Hurricane Isaac. Fortunately, the long trek will come to a close next Wednesday, as LSU will open league play in the friendly confines of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center against Kentucky.
LSU is coming off of a 1-2 performance in the Four Points by Sheraton Seminole Invitational at Florida State this past weekend, dropping a pair of matches to Central Arkansas and No. 6 Florida State, while earning a four set victory over the Samford Bulldogs to head into the final non-conference weekend 2-4 on the season with SEC play looming next week.
The Tigers have made a habit of extending matches no matter the outcome, playing a five-setter and two four-setters over the course of the weekend. In the matches against the Bulldogs and Seminoles, LSU took the first set in each of those contests after dropping the opening frame in each of the first four.
While LSU was able to make more strides in finding a court identity heading into the crucial part of the season, head coach Fran Flory is hoping that the team will be able to turn its fortunes around after two tournament outings against some quality opponents.
“I think this was an important weekend in that we grew as a team,” Flory said. “We certainly did not have the result that we wanted. But we improved and I think our team understands the passion and drive that they need to play with, and I think they answered the call on Saturday against Samford and Florida State.”
Although the group was only able to pick up a single victory in the two-day event in Tallahassee, the play of the LSU volleyball team is certainly not going unnoticed by opposing fans, or the coaching staffs.
“The FSU coaching staff said to me after the match that this team is a whole lot better than they think they are,” Flory said. “When we start believing that we are as good, and we are capable and can win those matches, and we gain that confidence, then that will start happening.”
When discussing the court play of the weekend, the first place to start is with junior outside hitter Cati Leak.
Leak, the Guntersville, Alabama, native who was named to the all-tournament team at the conclusion of the match against FSU, was a consistent threat for LSU in a myriad of phases as she earned two double-doubles and averaged over 3.40 kills and 2.30 digs per set. Leak has produced double-digit kills in every match so far this season, earning 18 kills in the finale which is a season-high so far.
Still producing at a level that has her leading the SEC in points per set, sophomore Briana Holman continued to showcase some dominant play, racking up an team individual high of 19 kills against Samford, as she has hit no lower than .345 in any match so far this season.
While making some strides offensively, the team is continuing to work on its defensive prowess and showed a bit of it throughout the weekend as LSU had four players average over two digs per set, led by junior Haley Smith who averaged 4.46. Smith earned a season-high 22 against Florida State, as her season average of 4.08 is currently sixth overall in the league.
Over the course of the weekend, LSU used no less than 10 players in any match, while playing a max of 13 against UCA last Friday, and with seven freshmen on the roster, six have already seen playing time within the first three weeks of the season.
Starting all six matches so far, Mimi Eugene had one of her best matches of her young career with a nine-kill, .412 hitting percentage night against Samford, while Gina Tillis produced back-to-back matches of eight kills against Samford and Florida State.
Kelly Esch made her debut against the Sugar Bears and came away with a kill and three blocks at the net for the Tigers in the opener, while Kelly Quinn played in all three matches coming in to serve and play defense for LSU and earned a service ace and three digs. Cheyenne Wood also continued to see floor time and earned consecutive matches with at least five digs.
Although originally scheduled to feature four teams, the tournament underwent a redesign after Middle Tennessee State had to drop out due to a schedule conflict. Unable to add another team so late in the process, LSU and the Bears will match wits twice this weekend, with just a solitary match against the Roadrunners.
Against the two teams, LSU is a combined 6-2 all-time, with the Tigers winning all three matches against UTSA, while winning four of the last five against Baylor in the series history.
Baylor comes into the tournament 9-2 on the year, winners of each of its last five including a win over Northwestern State on Tuesday night. UTSA will play Houston tonight before opening tournament play, as they are looking to right the ship at 2-6 after losing its last four, even though the team has one of its two wins over currently ranked Texas A&M.
“All three of these matches are ones that are very important in terms of possible postseason opportunities for us and for them,” Flory said. “Everybody’s backs are against the wall. It’s the last non-conference opportunity to make your statement, and I think all three will be really good, tough matches.”
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.