BATON ROUGE — After earning a second consecutive NCAA tournament berth and finishing the season with 20 wins for the first time in five years, the LSU volleyball team has been honored among the university’s athletic programs with the BASF Team Chemistry MVP Award for the month of December.
After starting the month of October with three-straight losses to open SEC play, the Tigers righted the ship and went on a tear winning 11 games in a row which was tied for the tenth longest in program history in a single season, going on two drop just two matches in October and November combined. LSU helped its postseason case by rattling off 14 of its final 15 matches of the regular season to head into the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country.
Head coach Fran Flory, who became the winningest head coach in program history earlier in the season, has led LSU to the postseason tournament for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons, while coaching the team to its sixth 20-win season under her watch in Baton Rouge. The Tigers, who were originally picked to finish fourth in the Southeastern Conference in the preseason, earned a third place finish as the team lost just nine matches which was the fewest for the squad since 2010.
After earning the 14th NCAA tournament berth in postseason history, LSU was shipped to the northwest for the Eugene Sub-Regional and opened the event with a convincing sweep of the Oklahoma Sooners in just three sets in the first round. It was the first sweep in the postseason for a Tiger team since the 2009 campaign, as LSU has defeated Oklahoma eight times in the series history. Although LSU would fall in the second round to the tenth-seeded Oregon Ducks, the team has now made it to the second round for the second consecutive season.
LSU finished the regular season with a haul of awards, including Cati Leak who was named All-SEC after finishing second on the team in kills, kills per set, points and points per set, Gina Tillis for the SEC All-Freshman team and Katie Lindelow being named to the SEC Volleyball Community Service Team.
The 2015 season could be another breakout year for the team, returning five upperclassmen and starters from this year’s group, with another solid recruiting class that could be ranked among some of the nation’s best come this summer.
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger volleyball, visit www.lsusports.net/volleyball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsuvolleyball along with @lsuvolleyball and @lsucoachfran on Twitter and @lsuvb on Instagram.
About BASF
As the world’s largest chemical company, BASF’s manufacturing presence in Louisiana includes operations in Geismar, Zachary and Vidalia, with nearly 2,000 employees and contractors in the state. For more information about careers at BASF, visit www.basf.us/la.