BATON ROUGE, La. – Fresh off of a win on Friday, the LSU volleyball team closes a weekend of action with a tilt against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon in Starkville at 1:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.
After Sunday, LSU will only have three matches remaining in the regular season, closing out the home portion of the schedule next weekend with Missouri and Auburn in Baton Rouge and one more road match at South Carolina to close out the year. But before that, the Tigers will look to keep alive a 16-match winning streak against the Bulldogs in a tough environment on Sunday.
“Being at Mississippi State is always a challenge for any team in the SEC, as serving and passing in their building is always a challenge,” head coach Fran Flory said. “They are a pretty solid defensive team, especially on their own court, as they are a very different team at home than they are away.”
The Tigers extended their winning streak to 11 matches on Friday after dismantling the Tennessee Lady Volunteers in four sets, as this streak is now tied for the 10th longest in program history, while also being one of the longest in league play since 1991. It was the fifth consecutive win at home for the club, as LSU guaranteed another winning record at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for another season.
Finishing with a .244 hitting clip on the night, LSU was especially strong on the defensive end in holding the Lady Vols to a .052 attack percentage, with Tennessee hitting in the negatives in two of the four sets on the night. UT was just the second team this season LSU has held to a sub-.100 percentage in a match against the Tigers, and that was thanks in part to the 15.0 blocking output the squad produced in its second-highest total on the year.
Nearly earning her second double-double of the season on Friday, Briana Holman continued her torrid pace through league competition as she finished the night with 16 kills on a .438 hitting percentage, while also earning nine blocks. She earned four of those blocks on the solo end, becoming the first player since 2010 to earn that many individually in a match.
Although she was the only player with double figure kills on the night, the Tigers still got solid efforts from Gina Tillis and Cati Leak, who combined for 18 kills with nine apiece. Leak had another solid night all-around as she also stopped six shots with three assists and 18 digs, just one shy of her season high.
Earning 39 of the team’s 44 assists, Malorie Pardo is 42 shy of becoming just the second player in team history to have four consecutive seasons with 1,000 in a season with four matches remaining. She also had a bit of an offensive touch, putting away four kills with four digs and two blocks as well.
Nibbling at her heels in the dig chart is Haley Smith, who is now six shy of becoming the second player this season and the 15th in program history to earn 1,000 in a career after her eighth 20-plus dig match of the year with 22 against Tennessee. Smith is averaging just over four per set, which has her currently fourth in the conference as she tries to match her 500 from last season.
Smith and Leak were two of the three players on the night that had double-digit digs, as Mimi Eugene earned a season-high 14, while also chipping in six kills, an assist and two service aces.
Early in the streak, the Tigers were pretty through in its win over the Bulldogs back in October, holding MSU to 15 points or fewer in each of the three on the evening. Since that time it’s been tough for Mississippi State to gain any footing, as they come into the match 6-22 overall and 1-12 in the SEC.
MSU has lost 14 of their last 15 matches, as the team’s only win in league play was in a 3-2 win over Tennessee.
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