BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU volleyball team returns home on Sunday to take on the Georgia Bulldogs at 1 p.m. inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.
Before the match, LSU will host its annual BOOzar outside of the PMAC from 11:30 am.-1 p.m. Fans will have the opportunity to win prizes and participate in the Halloween costume parade by being dressed in the costume of their choice. With the annual BOOzar, a special trick-or-treat event, to be hosted prior to the match on the PMAC Plaza featuring all LSU student-athletes.
Sunday’s match will also serve as a Dad’s and Daughters event, and a Girl Scouts event, with the first 1,000 fans through the assembly center doors receiving a LSU volleyball koozie. All matches at home on campus are free for fans to attend thanks to the “Geaux Free” campaign.
Winners of their last six matches, including the last four on the road, the Tigers look to continue their momentum this week, hosting the next two matches at home beginning this weekend, with South Carolina coming to town next Friday night. Sitting at 11-7 on the year and 6-3 in Southeastern Conference action, LSU is hoping to roll into the second half of the league season with the same outcomes it has started getting used to.
“I think we knew we could get to this point, it just took a little longer than we thought,” head coach Fran Flory said. “I’m not sure if we would still have the record we would had we started the season this way, but certainly everyone is playing confident and comfortable with how we’re rolling. We’re not sure how long we can keep going, but we’re going to ride this streak for as long as we can.”
While holding its own impressive streak, LSU put to bed some pretty impressive others as the team closed its four-match road trip with a sweep of the Ole Miss Rebels on Wednesday night in Oxford. The win was huge as the Tigers finished the trip without a loss, while giving Flory her record-309th win which puts her in first place all-time at LSU in head coaching victories in program history.
LSU has not held back in piecing it all together against opposing teams during this stretch, hitting over 50 points higher than their season average, while holding teams 30 points lower than the season average to put matches away in the long run. For the fourth time, the Tigers hit above .300 in a match, moving to 4-0 when doing so and 8-0 when just hitting .250 or better in matches, while the Rebels were another team flustered by the LSU defense in hitting just .188.
It has been hard to pinpoint a singular cause for LSU’s recent successes since going on its tear, but looking across the board the team has found bright spots to help push it to success with a loaded schedule and tough SEC slate.
With five players averaging over two kills per set, it’s been hard for teams to stop any one player beginning with sophomore Briana Holman, after leading all players with 16 kills against Ole Miss, continues to lead the team averaging 3.71 per set, while hitting at a .379 clip with 1.65 blocks per set. Following Holman is Cati Leak at 2.69, while also racking up 2.13 digs, while Katie Lindelow is at 2.09 with 2.28 digs per set.
Close behind is the youth of the team on display in freshmen Mimi Eugene and Gina Tillis. The duo combined for 24 kills while hitting above .300 against the Rebels, as Tillis once again came off of the bench to be a factor, while Eugene continues to be a factor in the group’s starting lineup.
With her first two digs, and then the three after, senior Malorie Pardo was finally able to crack the 1,000-dig plateau, becoming the 14th player in team history to do so, while also serving up 47 assists and continuing her climb up the career assists charts. The League City, Texas native is averaging over 10 assists per set on the season and during the streak, with three double-doubles.
For the first time all season, the team didn’t have a player earn double-digit digs, with Leak and Haley Smith both having nine which tied the match high. Still, Smith is still recouping four digs per set both in and out of conference which has her in the top five in the league.
Georgia comes into the match 10-10 on the season and 2-6 in the SEC after dropping a heartbreaker to Texas A&M on the road on Friday night in College Station, as the Bulldogs have struggled on the road this season. UGA’s only two league wins of the year have come at home against Missouri and Tennessee, but is 0-5 in road conference contests.
The Tigers have won three of the last five matches against Georgia, while holding a 32-21 series advantage in all-time meetings. The two teams split two matches last year, with LSU winning in Athens in five sets, as five of the last seven have required a deciding fifth-set.
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.