LSU Gold

Tigers Defeat Mississippi State in Five Sets

by Chelsey Chamberlain | Assistant Communications Director
Box Score +0
Tigers Defeat Mississippi State in Five Sets

BATON ROUGE – The LSU volleyball team won a thriller against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in five sets by scores of 25-23, 20-25, 25-9, 22-25, 17-15 in the Pete Mavarich Assembly Center Sunday afternoon. The Tigers are now 11-10 on the season and 5-6 in the SEC while Mississippi State moves to 13-11 on the season and 2-10 in the SEC.

Junior Taylor Bannister recorded her fourth double-double of her career and her third of the season with a match-high 25 kills and a career-high 16 digs. Freshman Samarah Hill also recorded a double-double with 17 kills and 15 digs, her third on the year.

UP NEXT

The Tigers will stay at home in the Pete Mavarich Assembly Center against Auburn Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. The match will air on SEC Network and will be available via live stats.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • The Tigers came out hot in the first set scoring off kills from Samarah Hill and Milan Stokes to take the lead over Mississippi State 3-2. Bannister kept it going for the Tigers and recorded a kill to keep the lead 8-6 over the Bulldogs. Whitney Foreman tallied a kill to keep the lead 11-7 over the Bulldogs. Karli Rose came through with a huge block to push the Tiger lead to 12-7.
  • The Bulldogs gained momentum on the Tigers and tied the set at 13-13 but Hill quickly answered with a kill to take the momentum back from the Bulldogs and keep the lead 14-13. The Tigers took the lead back 20-18 after a Hill kill, this caused Mississippi State to take their final timeout of the set.
  • Foreman came up with a huge block to keep the Bulldogs off the board and add another LSU point 21-18 over Mississippi State. The Bulldogs came within one point of the Tiger lead 23-22 and forced LSU to take their first timeout of the set. Hill answered for the Tigers after the timeout with a huge kill to take the score 24-22 and Bannister finished off the set with a kill to claim the set 25-23.
  • In the first set the Tigers hit .353, this was led by Bannister and Hill who recorded five kills each in the set.
  •  In the second set the Tigers got out early to a 2-0 lead over the Bulldogs. Stokes recorded a kill early in the set to help maintain the lead over the Bulldogs 5-4. Mississippi State took the lead from the Tigers 8-6, but Foreman had a huge block to help keep State off the board and even the score 8-8.
  • Rose recorded an ace to try and cut into the Mississippi State lead, along with Bannister who added a kill to the board to get within one of the Bulldogs 13-12. The Bulldogs increased their lead 21-16 over the Tigers and forced LSU to take their final timeout of the set.
  • The Tigers gained some momentum and forced Mississippi State to take their first timeout of the set. The Tigers fought back late in the set but fell short dropping set two 20-25 to the Bulldogs.
  • In the third set the Bulldogs got out to an early lead over the Tigers but Stokes added a kill that evened the set score at 2-2 and put the Tigers back in the set. Forman added her first kill of the set and put the Tigers on top for the first time in the set 4-3. Stokes added a kill to the board to increase the Tiger lead to 7-5 over the Bulldogs.
  • The Tigers had an 8-0 run to keep the lead 14-5 over the Bulldogs and the momentum going. LSU had the 18-7 lead over the Bulldogs and forced them to take their final timeout of the set.
  • The Tigers had another 4-0 run over the Bulldogs that helped increase the lead 19-8. Bannister finished off the third set for the Tigers with a kill. The Tigers dominated the set over the Bulldogs taking it 25-9.
  • In the fourth set Mississippi State got out to an early lead 5-3 over the Tigers, Rose came back with a block that heled the Tigers get back into the set and even the score 5-5. The Bulldogs kept the momentum and increased their lead to 10-7. Bannister fought back with a kill that put the Tigers within one of the Bulldog lead.
  • Bannister tallied a kill to try and gain some momentum for the Tigers, but the Tigers were still behind 17-11, forcing them to a timeout. The Tigers fell behind 21-16 to the Bulldogs but fought back only trailing the Bulldogs by three points, 22-19. The Tigers fought back but fell short 22-25 as the Bulldogs took set four and tied the match at 2-2.
  • In the fifth set the Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead 5-3 over the Tigers, Hill answered with a kill to put the Tigers back in the set and even the score at 5-5. The Tigers fell behind 8-6 but bounced back quick to even the score again at 8-8. Hill recorded the kill that put the Tigers in the lead over the Bulldogs for the first time in the set 9-8.
  • The Tigers couldn’t keep the momentum up and fell behind 10-9 and forced them to take their first timeout of the set. Foreman came up with a huge block to prevent Mississippi State from gaining momentum. Allee Morris closed it out for the Tigers recording the final kill of the set 17-15 over the Bulldogs and taking the match.

FRAN’S FINAL THOUGHTS
An overview on today’s matchup…

“You know what, I really did have confidence, but you know the way that the touches were going every ball they touched seemed to be coming off. They played more controlled defense than we did, which is unusual for us not to be able to control contact a little bit better. We were a little bit too tense and tight on contact — something we can correct by just trying a little harder. I’m super proud of this team. We got our confidence broken a little bit losing on a three match losing streak against three really good teams. And, we’re so young we don’t understand that yet. So understanding that we lost to three good teams, and come back and have to fight through that match that’s going to be a super significant match for us as we continue to mature as a team.”

On how today’s match will help down the stretch of the season…

“I think we need to get on a win streak, and our goal is that we get better every day. And, we’re young, we’re competing against seniors and other people. We have some great talent. The challenge is how do we continue to mold that together and get the most out of everybody. I think today was a great example. Our outsides carried us, our middles were not as significant as they had been. It’s the first match that our outsides have been able to win without any support from the middle, so that’s a huge step. Milan did a great job, Samara did a great job and Taylor as always put up great numbers.”

NOTABLES

  • In the third set the Tigers held the Bulldogs to nine points, which is tied for ninth in program history for fewest points allowed.
  • Taylor Bannister recorded 25 kills and a career-high of 16 digs and Samarah Hill tallied 17 kills and 15 digs on the match, her third double-double of her career.
  • Raigen Cianciulli recorded the match high 29 digs.

Volleyball Social Center

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