In the final part of our series previewing the 2015 LSU volleyball team, we take a look at the outside and right side hitters.
With four players returning that was at or above averaging 2.00 kills per set, the LSU offensive punch will see a return of consistent play in 2015, led by two senior hitters in Cati Leak and Katie Lindelow, with sophomores Gina Tillis and Mimi Eugene.
An All-SEC selection on the right side, Leak is the top kill producing player from last year’s team, as the Guntersville, Alabama, native had 291 kills and averaged 2.65 kills per set as a junior. Where Leak really shined was as an all-arounder, as she finished third on the team in digs with 263 and third in service aces, earning 347.0 points which was also second on the team.
“Cati is a gamer, really thrives off of ball control and a player that has just really acquired a nice sense of presence and poise out on the court,” head coach Fran Flory said. “With the way she’s worked, you can tell she is ready to have a great senior year.”
Not too far behind Leak statistically, doing so much of last season at various positions on the court, is the Louisiana native Lindelow who finished with 226 kills which was third and 282 digs which was second on the squad last year in 106 total sets played. To illustrate her prowess on both sides of the coin, she finished the season with 18 matches with seven or more kills, with nine double-digit kill matches and 23 matches with seven or more digs, with 12 double-digit dig contests.
“It seems like ever since Katie joined the team, every season it seems like she going to be the starting libero, before finding her way on the court as an outside hitter,” Flory said. “She’s a proven winner, a tough-nosed Louisiana kid that I expect to lead our team in a lot of ways this year.”
Tillis proved to be a revelation toward the back end of the season, with no more poignant game announcing her arrival than the 26-kill performance she had in a five-set thriller against Arkansas that jump-started the LSU winning streak and proved to be the highest output for any Tiger for the rest of the season. Tillis parlayed that game into Freshman All-SEC honors, Finishing eighth in the SEC and second among freshman in kills per set with a 3.08 average in SEC matches, while finishing 14th by averaging 3.36 points per set.
“What a lot of people don’t know about Gina is that she played through a lot of pain last season due to her knees, but fortunately we worked with her in the offseason and is now playing pain-free for the first time in her career,” Flory said. “She’s one of the strongest players on the team, and we held her back for much of the spring, but she’s going to be a force and I think the league recognizes that.”
Eugene, a highly sought-after recruit out of high school in Texas caught fire toward the end of the season, playing in 27 matches and earned 22 starts in her first season in Purple and Gold, seeing 87 total sets of action. While being used primarily for her ball control, Eugene earned three double-doubles over the course of the final seven games of the year with kills and digs, including having five-straight games with double-digit digs.
“Mimi is a fluid, natural player in our system and she’s going to be a great addition to the outside position on a more stable basis going forward,” Flory said. “She is a person that understands things by going through the process, and now with a year of work she’s starting to find a much stronger foundation within the system we have.”
Suffering a knee injury that cut short her final high school season, and effectively ruling her out of for her first year of college, redshirt freshman Toni Rodriguez will go into a season fully healthy for a campaign for the first time since 2012. The former metro player of the year has come back stronger and has the highest vertical on the team after workouts, poised to return to the form that made her a top prospect.
“I think Toni is going to be the surprise that nobody knew about,” Flory said. “We’re excited she chose LSU after everything she went through and we simply cannot wait to put her out on the floor in August.”
Emily Ehrle and Kelly Esch are two returning players that could see time at those spots as well, with freshman newcomer Michelle Irvin also being added into the mix out of Austin, Texas.
Irvin was a Texas Girls Coaches Association 6A All-State selection, while also being named the district 14-6A Co-Hitter of the Year after finishing her final year with 387 kills, averaging 3.8 kills per set on a .270 hitting clip with 286 digs and 27 aces.
“In all we have some nice options at both fronts going into the new year, where we have players who can put the ball away and ones that can put up a big block as well when we need it,” Flory said. “We’re excited about the balance that we have all over.”