BATON ROUGE – The LSU volleyball team swept Auburn Wednesday night by scores of 25-23, 28-26, 25-19. The Tigers are now 12-10 on the year and 6-6 in the SEC, while Auburn drops to 6-16 overall and 0-11 in the league.
Taylor Bannister led the Tigers with 22 kills, hitting .327 on the match. Samarah Hill finished with her fourth double-double on the year with 12 kills and 14 digs.
UP NEXT
The Tigers will take on Texas A&M Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The match will air on SEC Network and will be available via live stats.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- LSU and Auburn battled the lead off one another at the beginning of the set, but Bannister recorded a kill to take the lead for the Tigers 4-3. LSU fell behind 8-6 but Hill quickly tallied a kill to try and put the Tigers back in the set. Karli Rose added a block to the board to take the Tiger lead 9-8 over Auburn.
- LSU couldn’t gain control of set and was forced to take their final time out of the set trailing AuburN, 17-13. LSU recorded kills from Bannister and Hill to come within one point of tying the score 18-19, this momentum shift caused Auburn to call their first timeout of the set.
- The Tigers took the lead 21-20 which resulted in Auburn using their final time out of the set. The Tigers finished out the first set with a block from Whitney Foreman and took the set 25-23. The Tigers hit .091 in the first set lead by Bannister and Hill who each recorded four kills.
- In the second set LSU fell behind early 5-2 to Auburn, Bannister recorded her first kill of the set to try to put LSU back in it but still trailed 7-4. Rose and Foreman added a block for the Tiger to try and shift the momentum.
- LSU gained ground on Auburn inching closer to closing the Auburn lead, 12-10. Following a time out Hill came up big for the Tigers and recorded a kill to cut down the Auburn lead 13-15. The Tigers couldn’t shut down the Auburn offense and was forced to take their first time out in the set.
- Rose answered with a kill to try and reduce the Auburn lead 14-19. Hill also tallied a kill late in the set to try and help the Tigers get on top 15-20. LSU had a 6-0 run highlighted by a kill from Foreman and an ace from Raigen Cianciulli which forced Auburn to use both of their timeouts. LSU came within one point of the Auburn lead 22-21.
- The Tigers fought back late in the second set and sealed the win with the final kill from Hill, 28-26 over Auburn.
- In the third set Bannister came out hot for the Tigers recording two kills to put the Tigers in the set 2-2. LSU and Auburn battled the lead back and forth early in the set, but Bannister recorded a big kill that put LSU in the lead for the first time in the set 9-8.
- LSU gained momentum on a kill from Bannister to increase the LSU lead 13-11. Auburn worked to even the set score, but Hill tallied a kill to put the Tigers back in the lead. The Tigers finally gained ground on Auburn taking the lead 18-15 and forcing an Auburn time out. Bannister recorded the final kill of the set securing a 25-19 win over Auburn and taking the match.
NOTABLES
- Samarah Hill recorded 12 kills and 14 digs, recording her fourth career double-double.
- Taylor Bannister tallied 22 kills on the night and Raigen Cianciulli recorded a match high 17 digs. Bannister 22 kills is the fourth most in a three-set match in program history.
FRAN’S FINAL THOUGHTS
On the win over Auburn…
“This was a gut-check match for us. I don’t think we were really prepared at the very beginning and credit Auburn for jumping on us, challenging us, and making us play a different style than we have played all year. Credit to our side for responding to that, working into a rhythm, and re-identifying ourselves. I’m super proud how managed the match; Karli (Rose) did a great job of totally being under pressure the entire night and finding a way to lead this team to a win. Taylor (Bannister) of course was very good and ended up winning the match for us with how many points she scored. Samara (Hill) did a great job playing defense and passing. We will see these guys again in a week and a half so they’ll be ready for us and we will be more prepared for next time. I’m proud of our effort and that we out-dug a very good defensive team in Auburn. That’s an area that we have worked on this week and I’m happy that it paid off. We are excited about the next challenge ahead of us with senior night on Sunday and we will get ready and better each day.”
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