BATON ROUGE – It was a tough one to end the weekend as the LSU volleyball team dropped its final match of the weekend, falling to USF in five sets by scores of 21-25, 25-15, 19-25, 25-13, 9-15 inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers are now 2-4 on the year, while USF improves to 5-1.
Sophomore Taylor Bannister led the Tigers for the sixth-straight match with 19 kills. Sophomore Raigen Cianciulli anchored the back row once again with 19 digs. Junior setter Anna Zwiebel finished the match with 35 assists and 10 digs, her first double-double of the season.
UP NEXT
- LSU will take a road trip to Michigan next weekend, taking on host Michigan and Colorado State in the Michigan Invitational Friday, September 7. The Tigers will then play a road match Oakland in Rochester, Michigan on Saturday, September 8.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- It was a tight set to start the match as the two team traded points early. USF got out to a three-point lead, but the Tigers closed in and came within one after a block by Jacqui Armer and Lindsay Flory.
- USF extended its lead to 15-12 and 17-13, forcing the Tigers to take their first timeout of the set.
- Out of the Tigers second timeout of the set, they put together back-to-back points off service error and a block by Flory and Armer. USF took a timeout, but the Tigers scored a third-straight point on a USF ball handling error.
- USF scored the final three points of the set to claim the first set, 25-21 and take a 1-0 lead on the match.
- LSU hit .080 to USF’s .163 hitting percentage. Rodriguez and Olivia Beyer led the Tigers with three kills apiece.
- LSU jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the second set after taking advantage of USF’s miscues for a 3-0 run.
- The Tigers turned their lead into a 15-8 lead after a service ace from Milan Stokes.
- The Tigers forced USF to take a timeout as they took their largest lead of the match at the time, a 19-11 lead.
- LSU finished the set on a 5-0 run to claim the set 25-15 and tie the match up 1-1.
- The Tigers hit .379 with Bannister lead the way with six kills for a .625 hitting percentage.
- LSU fell behind early in the third set, 10-4. The Tigers put together a couple of runs, but couldn’t quite get in system as USF extended their lead to 20-14, forcing the Tigers to a timeout.
- Out of the timeout, the Tigers scored back-to-back points off a USF attacking error and a block by Whitney Foreman and Olivia Beyer. USF took a timeout, but the Tigers still trailed 20-16.
- The two teams traded points, but USF came out of the set with a 4-2 run to claim the set 25-19 and take a 2-1 lead on the match.
- LSU started off the fourth set hot with a 8-3 lead, including a 3-0 run and five kills from Bannister in the first 11 points.
- The Tigers extended their lead to 13-6, forcing USF to take its second timeout of the set.
- LSU went up 18-11 after a Bannister kill. USF scored only two more points the rest of the set as the Tigers finished the set on a 7-0 run, including three-straight aces by Bannister, claiming the fourth set, 25-13.
- The Tigers offense picked up in the fourth set as they hit .300 and had a .467 kill percentage.
- The two teams went point-for-point to open the fifth set but USF got out to an 8-6 lead. The two teams switched sides and took a media timeout. USF came out of the media on a 2-1 run to take a 10-7 lead.
- LSU called for time, but the Bulls finished the set off on a 5-2 run to claim the fifth set, 15-9 and the match.
Notables
• Bannister finished the match with a career high of 6 digs.
• Two players finished in double-digit kills (Bannister 19, Rodriguez 15).
• Bannister’s 19 kills was her sixth-straight match in double-digits.
• Cianciulli’s 19 digs was a season-high and her sixth-straight match in double digits.
• Three players finished with double-digit digs. (Cianciulli 19, Katie Kampen 11, Anna Zwiebel 10)
• LSU is now 1-2 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center this season.
• Zwiebel’s double-double of 35 assists and 10 digs was her first double-double of 2018 and her 18th in her career. The double-double was also her second against USF. She finished the USF match in 2017 32 assists and 11 digs.
Fran’s Final Thoughts
Opening statement…
“We played hard. We actually played efficiently at times, but this team has to learn how to win. We can create that in practice a little bit. Definitely not the performance I expected. I thought we’d come out gritty and we did for a little bit, we just didn’t sustain it long enough. When you out play a person as we did on the stat sheet, it’s hard to understand how the heck you lose a match like this. We just couldn’t make the play when we needed to make a play.”
On what Flory wants out of her team for the next match…
“We don’t play confidently. We don’t play like we’re in control. We as a coaching staff have to find how to get that out of these kids. Our setting has to get a lot better and I was disappointed in that throughout the whole weekend, but we’ll go back to work in the gym and see if we can create a better situation for us.”
2018 Tiger Classic Awards
Highest Scorer- Taylor Bannister (LSU)
Best Attacker – Ade Owokoniran (Duke)
Blocker – Lily Cooper (Duke)
Best Setter – Andie Shelton (Duke)
Best Defender – CC Clausen (USF)
MVP – Andie Shelton (Duke)
Volleyball Social Center
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