BATON ROUGE – In what marked the longest match in time since at least 2000, the LSU volleyball team (16-4, 7-2 SEC) won its fifth straight match, claiming a five-set thriller over Ole Miss (13-9, 4-5 SEC) by scores of 25-22, 25-27, 25-23, 28-30 and 19-17 Wednesday evening in the Maravich Center.
The Tigers were led by freshman Taylor Bannister, who finished the match with 21 kills, her fourth 20-kill match. Senior Gina Tillis, who recorded her 1,000 kill in her career Wednesday night, finished with 15 kills and a career-high 23 digs, her eighth double-double on the year. Freshman Raigen Cianciulli chipped in 21 digs while Olivia Beyer and Toni Rodriguez each had 10 kills.
Fran’s Final Thoughts
On the win tonight …
“This team continues to be resilient. Tonight we got in the most dangerous situation we possibly could have and we really backed ourselves in to a corner. You have to credit Ole Miss. We knew they were the best defensive team. We knew they were going to keep the ball off the floor, but their offense was really good today. They matched us swing-for-swing after the first set. We had 23 kills in the first set. That is ridiculous. That doesn’t happen. They made us play as clean as we possibly could. It was a gritty performance for our team. Our backs were against the wall. Credit our team for being resilient and handling that adversity and bouncing back when we did not get what we wanted.”
On the crowd tonight …
“I can’t credit them enough. I know they came for cupcakes, but they also came for volleyball. This place is turning into a volleyball arena. This school and this program, we have been close before but we are about to take off. The people that are coming out, the students, the community, they are making a huge difference for us and I can’t say enough about the environment. The other SEC coaches are talking about it. This is a game changer for us and these are the matches that it makes a difference and you have to credit them with the win too.”
On her final thoughts on the win …
“We are really tired. We had a bunch of matches stacked up back-to-back-to-back. We have to rest to get better. Thankfully fall break is here and we will actually get some time off. So we will rest and recover. I am super proud of the performance of these kids. They were not going to be denied and they weren’t.”
Opening Set
LSU and Ole Miss traded points to start the match. Ole Miss went on a 3-0 run to take a 13-10 lead and pushed to a 15-12 lead heading into the media timeout. LSU worked its way back to take a 17-16 lead. The Tigers and the Rebels traded points before LSU went on a 5-0 run to finish out the set and take a 1-0 lead over the Rebels. The Tigers finished the first set with 23 kills and a .463 hitting percentage.
Set Two
The Tigers jumped out to a 5-1 lead and pushed to an 8-4 lead. Another 4-0 run gave LSU a 16-13 advantage but Ole Miss fought back, tying up the set 18-18. The set was tied again at 21-21 and 22-22 before LSU scored two straight points to take a 24-22 lead. Ole Miss held off the Tigers for two straight set points and went on a 3-0 run to claim the set 27-25 and even the match 1-1.
Set Three
Ole miss got out to a 7-3 lead over the Tigers. LSU was down 10-5 to Ole Miss but went on a 5-0 run to tie up the set 10-10. Ole Miss took a 21-17 advantage but LSU fought back, scoring seven straight points to take a 24-21 lead. Ole Miss scored two straight points, but a Taylor Bannister kill sealed the third set for the Tigers and gave them a 2-1 match lead.
Set Four
LSU put together a 5-4 lead to start the fourth set but Ole Miss went on a 10-4 run to take a 14-9 lead. Ole Miss pushed its lead to 19-12 but an LSU 3-0 run brought the Tigers within four, 19-15 and forced the Rebels to a timeout. The Tigers fought back and went on a 10-4 run to take a 25-24 lead, which included three straight kills from Sydney Mukes, who came off the bench and added five kills for the set.. The Tigers had three match points but Ole Miss held them off and went on a 4-1 run to claim the fourth set and force a fifth.
Set Five
Ole Miss took a 6-4 lead but the Tigers came back with a 5-2 run to take a 8-7 advantage. Ole Miss got out to a 14-12 lead but the Tigers held off the Rebels for two straight match-points, tying the set up 14-14 after a Tillis kill. LSU had match point at 16-15 and 17-16 but Ole Miss tied it up again at 17-17. A service error and a Toni Rodriguez kill secured the victory for the Tigers.
Game Notes
>> The Tigers finished with 79 kills on the match, the most kills in a match since the Tigers recorded 80 on October 11, 2013 in a four-set win over Ole Miss.
>> This was the second straight match that the Tigers finished with at least four players in double-digits digs; Tillis (23), Cianciulli (21), Kelly Quin (13), Lindsay Flory (10).
>> The Tigers are now 6-0 on their home floor for the first time since 2010 and 5-0 in five-set matches this season.
>> Gina Tillis became a member of the 1,000 Kill Club. She is the 22nd Tiger in program history to reach the feat.
Next Up
The Tigers will have the weekend off and will return to action Friday, October 27 to take on nationally ranked Kentucky in the Maravich Center at 7 p.m. The match will be available on SEC Network+.
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