BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU volleyball team returns to action on Sunday afternoon, hosting the Missouri Tigers at 4 p.m. inside the Maravich Center and shown live on the SEC Network.
All final three remaining home matches for the Tigers in the 2015 season are free for fans thanks to The Advocate’s “Geaux Free” campaign, as before the match members of Mike’s Kids Club will have a poster making session an hour before the start of the match. Mike’s Kids Club members are asked to sign in at the lower southwest portal of the facility, as all fans in attendance on Sunday will receive an LSU volleyball temporary tattoo.
Sunday is the first of four consecutive matches featuring LSU on the SEC Network, as Cara Capuano and Jenny Hazelwood will serve as commentators calling all of the action from the Maravich Center. A link to the WatchESPN online stream, as well as to live stats, will be available at LSUsports.net. Continuous updates can be found on the team’s social media pages on Facebook and Twitter.
LSU heads into the match with an overall record of 9-13 and a 5-6 mark in league play, looking to snap a two-match losing skid in the team’s only contest of the week. Missouri is also coming in off of a loss to Texas A&M on Wednesday in three sets in College Station and is 20-4 and 8-3 in the Southeastern Conference, currently sitting in fourth place in the standings.
The Tigers take to the floor a week after last competing, falling in four sets to the Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington last Sunday. LSU held its own for as long as it could against the league-leading and 21st-ranked Wildcats, having one of its best offensive sets of the season in the second to split the first two, hitting .586 with 17 kills and no errors, as there was nothing Kentucky could do, even while hitting .400 with 16 kills.
Much like the last few matches, LSU will look to its sophomore attacking core of Gina Tillis and Mimi Eugene to lead the group through the rest of the season, as both combined for 22 kills in the match. Tillis has led the team in kills in each of the last five matches, while Eugene had her third match this season with double figure kills.
Setter Cheyenne Wood has earned back-to-back double-doubles, and has earned eight on the season which is good enough for second on the squad, having 17 assists and 10 digs against the Wildcats. Wood has earned double-digit assists in 20 matches this year for LSU, as Lindsay Flory had 16 and is averaging 17 matches with double figure assists.
Knocking on the door of history is senior libero Haley Smith, who now stands 27 digs shy of becoming LSU’s all-time digs leader. After earning 16 against UK last weekend, the Louisiana native has 1,501 digs for her career, 26 away from tying the current leader in Daniela Reis who had 1,527 in a stellar career from 1989-1992. Smith is only one of two players in the top five ever at LSU to have back-to-back seasons with at least 500 digs, as she did that during her sophomore and junior years.
LSU snapped a three match losing skid to Missouri last season, not only by taking the first match against the Black and Gold Tigers, but claiming the season series by winning both of its matches by virtue of a sweep and win in four sets, respectively. Sunday’s contest will be the eighth all-time meeting between the two sides, as LSU holds a slim lead in the series history with a 4-3 advantage in matches.
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 – Missouri
MATCH
LSU (9-13, 5-6 SEC) vs. Missouri (20-4, 8-3 SEC)
DATE/TIME
Nov. 8 – 4 p.m. CT
FACILITY
Maravich Center
AVCA RANKINGS
LSU – NR
Missouri – RV
MULTIMEDIA
LSUsports.net – live stats
LIVE STREAM
WatchESPN
TV
SEC Network