TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Up by three points in the fourth set and hoping to take it to deciding fifth, the LSU volleyball team got into a dogfight with Alabama in a thrilling extra-point affair to decide the rest of the match, with the Crimson Tide having just enough to pull out the set and the match 3-1 (15-25, 25-22, 21-25, 33-35) Sunday afternoon in Foster Auditorium in Tuscaloosa.
Hitting the road for the first time in league play, the Tigers (5-6, 0-2 SEC) came in knowing they were going to need an all-around effort to keep up with a streaking Alabama (14-2, 2-0) on its home floor, getting some solid play in some spots but not in the end to topple the Tide in the end.
“I was proud of our fight at the end, and disappointed with our lack of fight early in the match,” head coach Fran Flory said. “If we would have had that type of intensity and tenacity earlier before our backs were against the wall, then we would have put ourselves in a better position to leave here with a win.”
Briana Holman earned her first double-double of the year, leading LSU with 17 kills on a .406 hitting percentage to go along with her 12 blocks which led all players. Cati Leak finished with nine, while Helen Boyle produced eight and Katie Lindelow had seven.
Malorie Pardo led with 28 assists for LSU, while Elly Ogle earned a season high with 11 and her six digs. Haley Smith had 15 digs for LSU, as four different Tigers earned at least six or more on the afternoon. Where the Tigers really did its damage was at the net, accounting for a team season best 17 blocks to Alabama’s seven.
Alabama did go much outside of its rotation, getting three double-digit kill matches during the day led by Krystal Rivers’ match-high 26, as she also finished with 12 digs for the double-double.
Alabama hit .248 in the match and had 66 kills as a group, while LSU had an attack percentage of .179 with 52. LSU had two sets hitting below .100 on the day, while the Crimson Tide hit above .200 in two of the three, to go along with its 65 percent sideout percentage.
“I like the group that we put out there today,” Flory said. “There was a good flow and rhythm, and some amazing plays, but there were too many negatives and the bottom line is that we have got to find a way to play on a consistent level throughout.”
In the first set alone, the Tigers were unable to keep up with the Alabama attack, while also struggling offensively to the tune of a .061 hitting percentage with only eight kills as a group to the Crimson Tide’s 15. Of the eight kills for the Tigers, four came from Leak with three from Holman, as Leak finished the set hitting .800.
There were only a total of two ties and one lead change, that coming in the first four points of the match, but with the set tied at 2-2, the Crimson Tide outscored LSU 10-5 to go up 12-7 and force an LSU timeout. The team regrouped after getting a string of kills to get to 11 points to pull within three at 14-11, but not before Alabama went on a three-point swing to go up 17-11 and force the Tigers into another timeout.
LSU would only be able to earn four more points from there on out, as Alabama closed the match earning the last five points it needed in a row to win 25-15.
In a raucous second set, the Tigers regrouped and had a few points go their way, much to the chagrin of the Alabama faithful, having to fend off a furious rally by the Crimson Tide to pull out the set late. The Tigers were virtually unstoppable offensively, hitting .536 with 15 kills and just one error as a team, getting five kills from Lindelow and four each from Holman and Boyle, while producing three team blocks.
With the second knotted at seven, Alabama earned a kill, but not before the Tigers came back to get three in a row thanks to a Holman kill and block with Leak and a Crimson Tide attack error to make it 10-8. Throughout the set, the Tigers would get the benefit of a couple of calls that helped push the momentum the team’s way, getting to the 20-point mark up 20-16 on a Boyle kill.
After an LSU timeout up 21-19 to halt one of the Crimson Tide’s runs, LSU scored three of the next five to go up 24-21 to force an Alabama timeout. After getting the first point out of the break, an attack into the wall of Emily Ehrle and Pardo ended the set sending the teams into intermission tied at one set a piece.
Unfortunately, the Tigers wouldn’t be able to continue the solid play in all facets in the third, hitting below .100 for the second time on the day, getting just eight kills with Holman having three. However, the Tigers were able to account for eight team blocks in the frame, the most for either team in a set up until that point, with Holman having six.
It was a topsy-turvy set from the jump, as much of the six ties in the set came in the first 30 point of the third. Slowly chipping away at the Alabama lead, the Tigers were able to eventually put a scare into the Crimson Tide midway through, turning an 11-8 deficit into a 14-12 lead. However, Alabama headed into a media timeout earning three of the next five points to tie the set at 15-15, and from there it was all Alabama as they earned the next five points to take a 20-15 lead.
After an LSU timeout down 22-16, an Ehrle kill, Alabama attack error and Pardo and Holman block made the score 22-19 with Alabama calling a timeout. Three points would be the closest LSU would get to Alabama from there, with the home side taking the set 25-21.
In an absolutely excruciating fourth, the two sides battled throughout as neither wanted to give an inch to the other side, with each team producing 20 kills in the fourth alone, and having over 15 assists and 15 digs. Five different LSU players had at least two kills in the set, with Holman having seven of the team’s total.
Once again having to rally to overcome being behind, the Tigers finally put together a solid rally by breaking a 16-all tie with a 4-0 run behind a Madi Mahaffey kill, ball-handling error, and back-to-back blocks featuring Holman and Lindelow and Holman and Mahaffey to make it 20-16.
The Tigers were just two points away from set point up 23-21, but then the match changed for good and it became a breathless back-and-forth affair going forward with both sides exhausting all of its timeouts and leaving it in the hands of the players on the court. Of the 21 ties and nine lead changes during the set, eight and seven were from the 25-point mark on.
Down 32-31, an Ehrle kill started a two-point swing for the Tigers with a block from Pardo and Ehrle making it 33-32 and LSU serving for set point. Unfortunately, that would be the final point for the team in the match as Alabama got two kills and a block to take the set 35-33 and the match 3-1.
“We have it now and they felt it,” Flory said. “I think we will look at this match as one that makes our team, because if this doesn’t drive us to be better in the gym then we don’t really want to be much better, and that was my message to them in the locker room.”
LSU will be back in action on Friday, hosting the Florida Gators at 6 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
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