TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – After dropping the first two sets, the LSU volleyball team fought to make a game of it late, but in the end would not be able to match the offense of the Alabama Crimson Tide, falling in the season finale 25-13, 25-20, 25-14 Friday night in Tuscaloosa.
LSU (9-20, 5-13 Southeastern) hit above .200 in the first two sets of the match Friday, but could not match the high-powered attack of Alabama (17-15, 11-7), who finished the night hitting .350 with 48 kills, hitting .467 to open and below .300 in the final set only.
Gina Tillis led LSU with 13 kills on a .258 hitting clip, adding a dig. Mimi Eugene had five kills, adding four digs and a solo block.
Cheyenne Wood had 11 assists for the Tigers, adding four digs, a kill and a service ace, while Lindsay Flory had 10 with a kill, dig and a block.
Haley Smith had 10 digs for the Tigers, increasing her all-time digs lead to 1,593 in the final match of her LSU career. The Tigers out-blocked the Crimson Tide 6-1 on the night, led by Olivia Beyer and Emily Ehrle who finished with two each.
Krystal Rivers led all players with 16 kills for Alabama, followed by Kat Hutson’s 15. Sierra Wilson earned a double-double with 43 assists and 10 digs, while Krissi Daniels and Natalie Murison had 11 digs each
After giving up the first two points to open the match, LSU came back with kills from Tillis and Eugene to tie the set at 2-2. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Alabama would go on a 6-0 run to take an 8-2 lead before an LSU kill halted the rally.
Both teams were hitting at a high clip by the time the media break rolled around, with LSU hitting .308, but that mark came with only five kills as the Tide were hitting .526 with 11 with Alabama up 15-8. The Tigers would call their first timeout right after that break, with Alabama getting both points out to take a 17-8 lead.
Alabama raced to the 20-point barrier first using an 8-0 run, outscoring LSU 10-5 from that timeout to take the first set 25-13.
LSU found a way to keep it close early in the second, fighting back from a multi-point deficit to just one, getting a kill from TIllis at 4-3, while getting a solo block from Ehrle to make it 6-5 Alabama. After getting that close, the Crimson Tide scored three-straight to go up 9-5, eventually getting to double-digits leading 10-7.
Down four, LSU pulled it back within two after a service error, kill from Eugene and another unforced error made it 10-8 in favor of Alabama. However, another stall by the Tiger offense allowed Alabama to go on a run, going up 14-8, as the two traded points to go into the media break with Alabama leading 15-9.
An eight-point advantage for Alabama would be enough of a cushion to hold off a late LSU rally late in the set, with the Tigers going from 20-14 down, to just three by outscoring the Crimson Tide 5-2 to make it a 22-19 game. While LSU was able to put a scare into the home side, Alabama would hold on to take a 2-0 lead by winning the second 25-20.
Hoping to capitalize off of the momentum from the second, the Crimson Tide would snuff any attempt of that early for LSU by scoring eight of the first nine points of the third set, eventually going up 10-3 over the Tigers.
The Tigers scored three of the next four to pull within five at 11-6, but LSU would call its second and final timeout of the match down by seven at 14-7 to try and end the rally. While the Tigers would be able to claim some points after, the lead was too great to overcome, with the Crimson Tide getting to 20 points first, leading 20-13 and eventually claiming the set 25-14 to win in three.
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