BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU volleyball team will close out a three-match home stand on Wednesday night at 8 p.m., as the team welcomes the Mississippi State Bulldogs to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for a televised contest on ESPNU.
All matches this season are free and open to the public thanks to LSU’s partnership with The Advocate’s “Geaux Free” promotion throughout the year. Fans unable to catch the match in person or on television can also watch from a desktop computer on ESPN3 or through the WatchESPN app available for tablets and mobile phones and other streaming devices.
Wednesday is Greek Night, as LSU’s various fraternities and sororities are encouraged to attend, as all LSU students will be treated to a pizza and ice cream social before the start of the match later that night. Along with that, the first 750 fans through the PMAC doors will receive an LSU volleyball “Compelled” t-shirt.
The Tigers snapped a three-match losing streak on Sunday, defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks in five sets to improve to 6-7 on the season and 1-3 in Southeastern Conference play. Although it was the longest losing streak for the team this year, the squad couldn’t afford to drop a fourth and came away with a confidence-building victory heading into the new week.
“I was proud of how the team responded, mainly because I didn’t put them in the best situation and they fought through,” head coach Fran Flory said. “Hopefully that is a confidence builder for them and they understand that they can win these matches, and they need to be who they are by not putting as much pressure on themselves.”
While the Razorbacks came into the match on Sunday sitting atop the league with a 2-0 record, the next two matches will be against teams in Mississippi State and Tennessee who are also struggling to get out of their own slumps since league play began, while LSU with their record is 48th in the first release of the RPI and playing the fifth toughest schedule in the country up until this point.
Fortunately, the Tigers might be finding their stride at the right time with the emergence of freshman outside hitter Gina Tillis.
After earning 15 kills against Florida last Friday, the Rockwall, Texas, native exploded for 26 against the Razorbacks, hitting .283 with six digs and a block in the victory. With three double-digit kill matches already on the season, LSU may have found the extra gear needed to press on through the heart of the SEC schedule in the coming weeks.
“I thought Gina came in and was just really, really good.” Flory said. “We had players making defining plays and that was the change we needed to finally get over the hump.”
After winning the first set against Arkansas, the team would need to regroup quickly after dropping the next two and get solid play throughout its lineup to make the charge for the comeback, and did getting key play all around in a true team effort.
Briana Holman, who currently leads the league in blocks, while sitting in the top five in both kills and points per set, earned 10 for her 11th double figure kill match of the season on Sunday, as she leads the team averaging 3.76 per set, while adding five blocks for a 1.67 average.
Coming on late in the match was Cati Leak, the junior outside hitter who had five of her 11 kills come in the crucial fifth set, to finish the night hitting .250 with four digs and two blocks. Katie Lindelow was the final player to earn double-digit kills, earning 10 with nine digs and a block, as the Mandeville product is averaging at least two kills and two digs per set.
Offensively, the Tigers got numbers all around as Emily Ehrle hit .500 with four kills while Helen Boyle had three. Serving up kills for the team and earning her first match with at least 50 assists was Malorie Pardo who finished with 54, which was a season high for the senior. Pardo also knocked home three winners with three digs and three blocks.
Defensively, the team shined not only out-blocking the Razorbacks 8.0-6.0, the Tigers roped in a season best 78 digs as a group, led by Haley Smith who had a season high 25 in earning her fourth match this year with at least 20. Her 4.11 digs per set overall is fifth in the conference, while her 4.65 in league play is third.
Mimi Eugene and Cheyenne Wood each earned their first double figure dig match with 10 each, as six different players earned at least five digs on the afternoon.
Mississippi State enters the weekend 5-14 on the year, losers of their last six including a 0-4 start against league competition. It’s been a rough go for the Bulldogs as they have been swept nine times so far this year and in each of the last five. Still, the Bulldogs lead the league in digs averaging over 17 per set, while also showing competency at the net averaging 1.85 blocks per set.
“Mississippi State always plays well against us,” Flory said. “We get into a battle with them every single time, and the bottom line is we are a team that everybody in the league thinks they can beat. We always have to understand that on any given night we are going to have to play like it’s the most important match of the season and take very match that way no matter who it is.”
LSU has won the last 15 meetings against Mississippi State, sweeping each of the last two meetings against the Bulldogs in Baton Rouge in 2012 and 2013.
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.