COLUMBIA, S.C. – With everything on the line in a hostile environment, the LSU volleyball had three double-double performances amid another solid defensive effort in defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks 3-1 (25-13, 25-19, 27-29, 25-14) Saturday afternoon in Columbia to end the regular season on a three-match winning streak.
LSU ends the year with a 19-8 overall record, winning that many games in a season for the second consecutive year, while finishing 14-4 in the Southeastern Conference, the most wins in league play since the 2010 team won 16. The Tigers have won 14 of their last 15 matches overall, and have only dropped two altogether since October.
“Obviously this was a very important match for us, and a great match to be in,” head coach Fran Flory said. “South Carolina is a very disciplined team and they attacked us in ways other teams haven’t. We weathered the storm and came through in the end.”
LSU hit .297 in the match and had four players finish with double figure kills, earning 65 as a group with just 19 attack errors. Five different Tigers on the afternoon finished with at least five kills, with seven adding at least one against the Gamecocks (17-14, 7-11).
Gina Tillis earned the first double-double of her career earning 17 kills against USC, tied with Briana Holman who also had 17 on a .400 hitting clip, while earning a career-high 11 digs, two blocks and an assist. Holman also produced three digs with an assist, service ace and a block for her efforts.
“I thought Gina had a great night,” Flory said. “Bri had a normal night, maybe not blocking, but played very well offensively.”
Katie Lindelow and Cati Leak each finished with 11 kills, completing their double-double afternoons with a season-best and match leading 22 digs for Lindelow and 15 for Leak. Leak hit .308 for the day, with two assists and a block, while Lindelow had three of LSU’s six service aces and two blocks in the victory. Emily Ehrle had five kills and hit .308, while also adding two blocks.
“Katie did a great job playing both sides for us, taking big swings and keeping the ball in play,” Flory said. “Leak was Leak, producing her usual double-double and being the security blanket for us and the team.”
Malorie Pardo served up 54 of LSU’s 61 assists on the day, while also having three kills on eight swings for a .308 average, while Haley Smith was the last player to earn double-digit digs with 18 for the Tigers.
KoKo Atoa-Williams led South Carolina with 12 kills and 11 digs for the double-boule, while Allie Monserez led the Gamecocks with 19 assists. Mikael Christiaansen led the team with 16 digs, while as a team earning eight blocks to LSU’s five, paced by Darian Dozier’s five.
After earning the first two points of the set, South Carolina pulled two of the next three to pull within one at 3-2, but not before the Tigers went on a 5-1 run to go up 8-3 and force a Gamecock timeout. LSU led by as many as seven points early, leading 12-5 after a Tillis kill to extend the team’s lead and put pressure on the home side quickly. By the time South Carolina called its final timeout of the first, the Tigers were up eight at 17-9, going on to hold South Carolina to just five more points to take it 25-13.
The Tigers were the first team to get to the five-point mark, not stopping there as they went up 7-3 after an unassisted kill by Holman to open the second set. After South Carolina pulled within two, the LSU turned on the jets going up 12-6 to force another Gamecock timeout. The largest lead for the team during the set was six, going up 18-12 after another Holman kill, forcing a South Carolina timeout leading 19-14. The Gamecocks showed some signs of life going on a 3-2 run to make it 21-17 forcing an LSU timeout, using the break to regroup by holding South Carolina to just two more points in going up 2-0 by taking the second 25-19.
Another hot start for the Tigers proved to be fruitful early, earning six of the first seven points, including the first three in order to open the third. The Gamecocks were able to cobble together a handful of points, but a block assist with Lindelow and Ehrle on the combo to make it 10-4 was enough for South Carolina to call a timeout down by six points. Before South Carolina knew it, they were down nine as the Tigers led 13-4.
However, South Carolina roared back to life in a big way, pulling within two on a 10-3 run to put the pressure back on LSU, before a Leak kill ended the rally for the Gamecocks to make it 17-14. An ace by Lindelow made it 18-14 and forced South Carolina into its final timeout of the match. The match wasn’t over by any means, as LSU got to match point leading 24-20, but South Carolina staved off elimination four times tying the set at 24, doing so again at 25-25.
The shoe was on the other foot as LSU would have to stave off dropping the set as the Gamecocks went up twice with LSU coming back, but it wouldn’t be enough in the end as South Carolina took the set 29-17.
With South Carolina coming back to life, the fourth was a close affair for much of the early points. Trailing 3-2, the Tigers went on a four-point swing to go up 6-3, eventually making it 7-4 on a Tillis kill, eventually forcing USC to call a timeout down 10-5. A 5-3 run this time by the Tigers made it 15-8 as South Carolina called its final timeout, as LSU slowly pulled away point-by-point, seizing the momentum back in their favor and dominating by closing the match outscoring South Carolina 10-6 to take the match with a 25-14 fourth set victory.
LSU will now wait to see if it will be selected for the NCAA Tournament, as the selection show is at 7:30 p.m. Sunday night on ESPNU.
“Any team that wins 14 of its last 15 should have a chance to continue to play,” Flory said. “The balance of our team and our season, and the resiliency this team showed through the latter part of the season I think merits a chance to play. I’m proud of their effort. They never bailed. I hope our name pops up tomorrow, but if it doesn’t, we gave our heart and soul to the year and if it doesn’t work out then we know we need to take that next step next year.
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