LSU Gold

Volleyball Opens 2018 Season at Baylor Invitational

by Chelsey Chamberlain
Match Notes +0
Volleyball Opens 2018 Season at Baylor Invitational

BATON ROUGE – The LSU volleyball team opens its 45th season in school history in the opening match of the 2018 Hampton Inn & Suites Waco North Baylor Invitational at 7 p.m. Friday against No. 16 Baylor at the Ferrell Center.

The Baylor Invitational features the host Bears along with Marquette and Texas State, both top 100 RPI teams from 2017.

The Tigers’ matches on Saturday against Marquette and Texas State are at 12:30 p.m. CT and 5 p.m. CT, respectively.

Live stats will be available online at LSUsports.net, and there will be live match updates through the team’s Twitter (@LSUvolleyball). Friday night’s match against Baylor will be streamed live on Baylor All-Access.

Series History with the Field

Friday’s match marks the 10th meeting between LSU and Baylor with LSU taking the edge 5-4. LSU owns a 1-0 mark over Marquette and a 3-1 mark over Texas State.   

Team Notes

>> Head coach Fran Flory enters her 21st season at the helm of the LSU volleyball program. The winningest coach in school history, Flory has led the Tigers to NCAA Tournament appearances in nine of the last 13 seasons.

>> The Tigers received 13 votes in the AVCA poll earlier this month after making the 2017 NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years.  

>> The Tigers return four of the top five kill producers from last season, including AVCA All-American Taylor Bannister. She finished 2017 with a team-leading 361 kills.  Seniors Toni Rodriguez and Olivia Beyer return to the squad for their final season, while Jacqui Armer, who was fourth in kills, also returns.

>> LSU has a veteran presence at setter with both senior Lindsay Flory and junior Anna Zwiebel who combined for 1,197 of the Tigers’ 1,407 assists last season.  

>> Five newcomers join the 2018 squad in Whitney Foreman, Kate Cowan, Paige Hilliard, Darian Goins and Leigh Maher. The 2018 class was ranked the Top 25 recruiting class by Prepvolleyball.com last spring.

>> LSU will have experience in the back row as sophomore libero Raigen Cianciulli returns to anchor the defense. She finished with a team-leading 499 digs last season and averaged 4.46 digs per set, earning her AVCA All-South Region honors.

>> The Tigers will also have a new face on the sidelines with first year assistant coach Trey Cruz. He was recently with the LSU beach volleyball team and was a former manager for the indoor team while earning his degree.

Volleyball Social Center

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.