BATON ROUGE – Riding the wave of a big winning streak, the LSU volleyball team returned home to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and fought off a tough Georgia Bulldog squad to extend its season-long tear to seven matches in a 3-1 (25-15, 17-25, 28-26, 25-20) victory in front of 1,418 fans Sunday afternoon.
After taking the first set, the Tigers (12-7, 7-3 Southeastern) were put to the test by Georgia (10-11, 2-7) soon after, going into the intermission break tied at a set each, with LSU getting a big boost of energy by rallying to take the third and completely controlling the fourth to go on and claim the match.
“We started really comfortably, but we didn’t finish very comfortably,” head coach Fran Flory said. “Credit Georgia, they played very well through the middle portion of the match and forced us to make some plays. This was not the level of intensity that we are used to playing with, so we’ve got to get in the gym and get better.”
The Tigers had three players finish with double figure kills led by Briana Holman who led all players with 15 kills, hitting .407 to go along with her game high five blocks. Katie Lindelow and Cati Leak each earned double-doubles for LSU, as both finished with 11 kills, with Lindelow having 15 digs and Leak providing 13.
“Of course, every win just makes the X’s on our back even bigger,” Holman said. “Every game we have something to defend and something to prove.”
Malorie Pardo served up 47 of the team’s 58 assists on the night, while having six kills and eight digs, as Mimi Eugene and Gina Tillis each also having six kills each as well. Leading the way defensively was Haley Smith who finished with 16 digs, which was also was a match high on the day.
Georgia did not have a single player finish with double-digit kills, as Tirah Le’au led the Bulldogs with nine. Kaylee Kehoe had 19 assists for Georgia while Gaby Smiley and Le’au each had 11 digs.
The Tigers were very deliberate with their play in the first set, completely dominating the Bulldogs offensively by powering home 18 kills in the set for a .429 average, while Georgia had only nine with a .129 average. All six LSU positional players had no less than two kills, led by Eugene and Leak who each had four, while Holman and Lindelow each had two.
There were only two ties in the first set, those coming in the first four points, as LSU broke a 2-2 tie to go up 4-2 with a Lindelow kill and solo Holman block. After a three-point lead turned into just one at 9-8, the Tigers scored five of the next seven points to go up 14-10 and force a UGA timeout. The Bulldogs would trail further as the Tigers went on a 6-2 run to go up 20-12 and force Georgia’s final timeout, doing little good as LSU went on to take the first 25-15.
The tables were reversed in the second set, as the Tigers were looking to continue its solid play but could never seem to get anything going, while Georgia hit into just one error with a .333 percentage to regroup from its first-set drubbing. Lindelow led LSU with four kills in the second, while three players finished with two.
Georgia raced out to a quick start, getting the first four points of the set and never looked back from that point, as after pulling within two points of the Bulldogs at 14-12, UGA got back-to-back kills to go up four and force LSU into a timeout. LSU would pull within two again at 15-17, but UGA came back to score three of the next four to go up 20-16 to force LSU’s final timeout with Georgia taking it 25-17.
The third was owned by Holman who had seven kills and hit .333 to help spur the Tigers, which was needed for the team to push the match back into LSU’s favor. LSU hit .256 spurred by 19 kills, rallying back from nine errors to tie the match late and convert a needed 59 percent of side out chances.
With 10-ties and five lead changes up until that point, the final eight points proved to be the most thrilling, as LSU fought all the way back to tie the match at 23-23 after trailing since the set was tied at 7-7. Each side had multiple opportunities at set point, as UGA went on top 26-25 to put LSU on the brink. A Lindelow kill tied it back up and that would be the point the team needed as a Pardo kill and Leak rocket ended the set 28-26.
“The pressure got on us, and once we finally decided to make it about us and about our side and not let everything else affect us, thats when we took off,” Leak said. “I think that’s what we are going to have to do for the rest of the season.”
After getting to the five-point mark, LSU saw as the Bulldogs rallied to knot the set at 5-5 to put the pressure back on the Tigers to try and close out. The team did that by going on a 4-0 run to force a UGA timeout up 9-5. From there the lead only got bigger as it seemed like the Tigers were going to cruise, but with a six-point lead at 19-13, Georgia scored five points to pull within one at 19-18.
Hoping to not lose grip of its lead, LSU got a Tillis kill to make it 21-19, before another Georgia kill making it a one-score game again. That would be the final point for the Bulldogs as LSU closed out the match getting the final five points consecutively to close the door 25-20.
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