AUBURN, Ala. – The LSU volleyball team puts a close to its two-match Southeastern Conference road trip on Sunday, traveling to The Plains to take on the Auburn Tigers at 5 p.m. inside Auburn Arena in Alabama.
Sunday’s contest will be aired live on the SEC Network, with Cara Capuano and Jenny Hazelwood calling all of the action, streamed online through WatchESPN. Fans can find links to live video and stats at LSUsports.net, while getting continuous updates through the team’s social media pages on Facebook and Twitter.
The Tigers will put their two match winning streak on the line Sunday against Auburn, sitting at 6-8 on the season and 2-1 in league play after earning a thrilling, 3-2 victory over the Georgia Bulldogs Friday night in Athens. LSU will look to put its first true weekend test against conference opponents on a solid note before hosting the next three at home over the next two weeks.
“Auburn has been a team that has given us some challenging and exciting matches recently, and certainly we expect nothing different this time around,” head coach Fran Flory said. “They have a dynamic offense that will keep us on our toes, but if we play solid defense and stay in our system we will have the opportunity to be successful.”
The win on Friday was another in a string of positive outings for LSU over the course of the last few weeks, with the team going into Sunday winners of five of their last six and six of the last nine dating back to September. The Tigers have not been shy about stretching matches out, playing in their fourth five-set match of the season, and third in their last four. Friday’s match was the third longest of the season for LSU, checking in at just over two hours.
LSU’s offense has shown steady improvement now into the season’s second month, as the .234 hitting clip the Tigers earned against the Bulldogs is the highest yet for the team so far, and its 60 kills also being the most and the first time having that many since the end of the 2014 regular season.
Three days shy of a calendar year since having what looked to be her signature performance in Purple & Gold against Arkansas as a freshman, sophomore outside hitter Gina Tillis topped her previous best and then some by earning the second most kills by an LSU player in a single match and the most in the rally scoring era with 37 kills, while setting a new career mark with 19 digs against Georgia.
The Rockwall, Texas, product had a double-double at the intermission break, and Georgia couldn’t muster an answer to stop her as she finished the match as the only LSU player with double-digit kills, and committed just eight errors for a career-high .453 hitting percentage.
Senior Cati Leak continues to lead the team in kills and kills per set with 183 at 3.39 per set, but after three league matches, Tillis, in three fewer sets, is averaging 5.30 kills per set with a .337 hitting clip.
Defensively, the Tigers have been a tough team to get points against during certain stretches, no more obvious than the 81 digs and 10 blocks the team earned against the Bulldogs in the contest.
Haley Smith led all players and corralled her seventh 20-plus dig match of the season with 24, as one of four Tigers to earn double-digit digs in the match. Along with Tillis’ 19, Leak provided 17 and Cheyenne Wood added 13 as she earned her sixth double-double of the season when added with her 30 assists.
Led by junior Tiara Gibson, The Tigers mustered another double-digit blocking match this season, as the South Dakota native tied for the match high with five, and leads the team with 33 on the season. Six total Tigers finished with no less than two, with Olivia Beyer and Toni Rodriguez each adding three.
Auburn has been off since getting swept by the Texas A&M Aggies on Wednesday at home, entering the contest with a 9-5 overall record and an even 1-1 mark in league play. The Tigers have given Tennessee its only conference loss of the season so far, opening the 2015 campaign with four straight wins.
This is the first meeting in Auburn between the two teams since 2013, as LSU has dominated the last 10 matchups winning eight. The Tigers will be looking for their first win in Auburn Arena since the 2012 season, as last year’s sweep by the team snapped a two-match losing skid to Auburn.
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.
AT A GLANCE – Auburn
MATCH
LSU (6-8, 2-1 SEC) at Auburn (9-5, 1-1 SEC)
DATE/TIME
Oct. 4 – 5 p.m. CT
FACILITY
Auburn Arena
AVCA RANKINGS
LSU – NR
Auburn – NR
MULTIMEDIA
LSUsports.net – live stats
LIVE STREAM
WatchESPN
TV
SEC Network