BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU freshman Gina Tillis had a LSU individual season and game-high 26 kills to lead a quartet of LSU players in double figure kills, including the final three to close out the match in the thrilling fifth set to help lead the Tigers to a 3-2 (25-17, 24-26, 14-25, 25-21, 17-15) win over the Arkansas Razorbacks Sunday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Tillis, who earned the most kills for a true freshman since 2005 in the win, helped LSU (6-7, 1-3 SEC) snap a three-match losing skid, while sending Arkansas (8-8, 2-1) to its first conference loss of the season. It’s the second time this season that the Tigers have battled back from a two sets to one deficit in a match to rally and claim the win in the end.
“We’re glad about it but not surprised by it,” head coach Fran Flory said. “This is one we expected to win, and I’m glad we survived it. We have to get back in the gym and get better. We had some good performances tonight. Gina was really good today.”
After earning her first start and playing well against Florida on Friday, the Rockwall, Texas, native blew the doors off of her curtain call on Sunday hitting .283 on the afternoon with six digs and a block, accumulating double-digit kills for the second consecutive match and clinching the match in the fifth.
“I was just trying to hit it over and in,” Tillis said. “It was our first SEC win and hitting the game wining point meant a lot.”
The group effort came alive late for LSU, as Cati Leak came through in the clutch in the fifth as well, finishing with 11 kills, four digs and two blocks, while Briana Holman and Katie Lindelow had 10 each. Malorie Pardo served up 50-plus assists for the first time this season with 54 to go along with her three digs and three blocks.
Defensively, Haley Smith led LSU with 25 digs, a season high for the junior, while also getting some help in the back row from a pair of freshmen in Mimi Eugene and Cheyenne Wood, who each dug up 10 against the Razorbacks.
Meredith Hays led all players with 27 kills and had 14 digs for the double-double, while Bailee Hankerson had 55 assists and nine digs. Monica Bollinger had 26 digs to lead the match for Arkansas.
The Tigers came out as a team looking to snap a tough losing skid, hitting .419 in the opening salvo over the Razorbacks with 18 kills to just five errors, while Arkansas hit .360 with 11 kills. The Tigers never had a lead in doubt during the frame, as the visitors wouldn’t have an answer for the balanced LSU attack with Tillis producing six kills, with Holman and Eugene having four each.
LSU fired away and came out scoring five of the first six points to take a 5-1 lead over the Razorbacks, getting one from the set leaders along with Lindelow getting one of her three in the set and one from Leak. Holding a three-point lead up 9-6, the Tigers outscored the Razorbacks 4-1 to go up 13-7 and force Arkansas to take its first timeout of the set.
It wasn’t much better out of the timeout as Arkansas got the first two points out of the break with LSU coming back to get the next three in a row to go up 16-9 to force the Razorbacks into their final timeout of the first. From that point, LSU had control of the match and the closest Arkansas would come to the Tigers was five points as LSU rolled to take the first set 25-17.
The second set was a see-saw battle between the two sides that featured 10 ties and five lead changes throughout, with neither side really holding a big advantage offensively with Arkansas just hitting .250 with LSU hitting .244, as the Razorbacks finished with one more kill than the Tigers by the end of the frame. Seven different Tigers earned a kill led by Tillis’ five and Helen Boyle‘s three, with the rest garnering no more than two.
LSU began well early, holding a 12-5 lead over Arkansas and grabbing the momentum quickly. But after reaching that point, Arkansas went on a tear scoring the next six in a row to pull within one of LSU and change the dynamic of the match from there on out. The bulk of the ties and lead changes came during the next dozen points, with the apex of the match coming with the set tied at 20, that featured four ties with the Razorbacks holding the advantage until the Tigers roared back down one at 23-22 to get a kill from Leak and a block from Lindelow and Holman to get to set point, but that would be it as Arkansas got the next three to take it 26-24.
The third set was all Razorbacks as the visitors hit .273 with 12 kills while the Tigers where held to -.077 with just seven as Arkansas led throughout and never looked back from the opening serve. Tillis had four of the seven LSU kills to lead the group, but that would be the only highlight of the frame for the home side.
Arkansas scored the first seven points of the set consecutively to put LSU in a big hole early, as the Razorbacks would lead by as many as 10 points in the third to eventually claim the set 25-14 and go up 2-1 in the match.
The fourth had the Tigers return to the form in showed in the beginning of the match, exploding offensively for a .333 hitting percentage in the set which was the second best for the team so far on the day against the Razorbacks. The team effort featured four kills each from Tillis and Lindelow, while Holman had three and Emily Ehrle with two.
There was one tie in the set and that came with the match tied at one, serving as the last with LSU running out to a 9-5 lead to force an Arkansas timeout The Tigers led 14 10 after a blocking error on a Pardo kill, but the Razorbacks returned serve getting the next two points to pull within two and force an LSU timeout.
The break proved fruitful for the Tigers as they earned four of the next six points to push the Razorbacks into their final timeout of the fourth with LSU still on top. Although LSU would have to call another timeout after getting stuck on the 23 point mark for a handful of point, the team would close out the set with a Tillis kill and Arkansas unforced error to knot the match at 2-2.
The fifth proved to be a battle between LSU’s Tillis and Arkansas’ Hays, except that the freshman would get help from the junior in Leak while the visitors had trouble getting anything else to go hitting .174 to LSU’s .375.
LSU racked up point after point to go up 8-4 as the two sides switched benches heading into the media timeout. Leak powered home one of her four kills in the fifth to force an Arkansas timeout, as after an Arkansas point, Leak would get two more to make it 11-5 and force the visitors into their final timeout.
With the match already sitting in the fifth, the Tigers were not going to be let off the hook that easily, as Arkansas went on a 5-1 run to pull within two, before eventually knotting the set at 14 with the match hanging in the balance and LSU calling the final timeout of the match. Arkansas got to match point after an LSU error, but finally the Tigers were the ones to steal the momentum back getting the final three points all from the freshman Tillis to close out the match and earn the victory.
“The whole team kept their composure, so it allowed everyone to trust each other,” Leak said. “It gave everyone the confidence to go forward and take over.”
LSU will be back in action on Wednesday night, hosting the Mississippi State Bulldogs at 8 p.m. in Baton Rouge. The match will be televised live on ESPNU.
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