BATON ROUGE, La. – On a night filled with many emotions, the LSU volleyball team was able to get back to its winning ways and send its four-member senior class out on a high note in a 3-1 (25-19, 25-17, 21-25, 25-12) win over the Missouri Tigers Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.
With three players finishing with double-digit kills in helping lead an offense that hit .204 on the night, and five players finishing with double figure digs to help hold an opponent to a .096 attack percentage, the Tigers (17-8, 12-4 Southeastern) were able to regroup at full strength and bounce back after a loss in a big way with to take the first of their final two matches at home this weekend.
“Well having the whole group together is important to our team and that’s the rhythm. That’s the group that has kind of led us and it going to continue to lead us,” head coach Fran Flory said. “We had a nice recovery in set four to turn it back into our style and to be more efficient and take care of the ball better.”
Briana Holman led all players on the night with 15 kills, hitting .367 with seven blocks, two digs and two service aces for LSU in the win. Katie Lindelow and Mimi Eugene were two of LSU’s three players to earn double-doubles on the night, with Lindelow powering home 13 kills and hitting .333 with 13 kills and two blocks, while Eugene had 10 kills and 13 digs as well with a service ace and two solo blocks.
Malorie Pardo led the match with 41 assists, while earning 10 digs for the double-double, while ending the night with four blocks, three kills and two service aces. The reigning defensive player of the week in Haley Smith led LSU with 18 digs, as the final player to earn double figure digs on the night was Cati Leak who had 11 with two blocks a service ace and eight kills.
Carly Kan led Missouri (16-15, 7-9) with 13 kills, finishing with 12 kills for the double-double effort, while Emily Thater finished second in kills with 10. Loxley Keala had 17 kills to Ali Kreklow’s 16, as Sarah Meister ended the match with 30 digs to lead all players.
LSU was able to hold Missouri below a .100 attack percentage in three of the four sets, while the Tigers were able to hit above .200 in three of the four. LSU was just able to out-block Missouri 13.0-11.0, as LSU was able to come on strong late to earn six on the solo end to Missouri’s two.
“They blocked a ton of balls. Their offensive rhythm is a little bit faster than ours. The speed they were playing was a little fast for us and we didn’t respond well to that,” Flory said. “This was a grow-up match for them and we are still growing as a team and it’s the third to last match of the season. It’s kind of fun to see.”
The first set saw the greatest number of ties and lead changes in 10 and six, which led to the final stalemate with the set tied at 18-all late after an LSU service error. That unforced Missouri point would be their last for a while as LSU rattled off five-straight points to go up 23-18 to put Missouri on the ropes. An attack error made the score 23-19 with LSU still leading, but that was the final point for the visitors as a service error and Lindelow kill ended the opening frame 25-19 in favor of LSU.
LSU wasted little time in pouncing on Missouri early, jumping out to a 4-1 lead that eventually grew to 8-5 after a Holman kill to force Missouri into its first timeout. It didn’t get better for Missouri as an 8-3 LSU run increased the lead to 16-8 to force the second timeout of the set. Eight points was the largest lead for LSU in the second, holding that advantage at three different points of the set before going up 2-0 by pulling away to win 25-17.
Both sides regressed offensively in the third just after the intermission, with LSU hitting .026 to Missouri’s .061 before all was said and done. Missouri finished with 12 kills to LSU 10, but also hit into one more error that the Tigers did in the frame. There were only four ties in this set, but Missouri broke the last one at 11-11 to outscore LSU 7-4 to go up 18-15. Although the home side was able to make a match of it late, pulling within a single point down 20-19, the team would never be able to get any closer in dropping the third 25-21.
There was never any doubt in the fourth who wanted it greater, as LSU raced out to an 8-1 lead before Missouri could blink. The Tigers hit .269 while holding Missouri to a .070 hitting clip in the frame, as the Tigers led by as many as 11 as by the end of the set they drilled home 18 kills to just four errors, while scooping up 32 digs.
With the four outgoing upperclassmen on the floor in the waning moments of the contest, all four players had a hand in putting the game away, with Madi Mahaffey opening the serve, Laura Whalen scooping up a big dig and Pardo serving up what was thought to be the game-winning kill to Helen Boyle, only for a free ball to come back over before Boyle put it away for good and sealing the win for LSU.
LSU will close out the home portion of the schedule on Sunday afternoon, hosting the Auburn Tigers at 1 p.m. in Baton Rouge. The match will be streamed live on SEC Network+.
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