BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU dropped in its first match of Prowloween Weekend to No. 15 Kentucky, 3-0 (18-25, 24-26, 18-25) Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
With the loss, LSU falls to 8-11 on the season and 3-6 in SEC play, while Kentucky improves to 11-7 and 9-1 in league play, extending its winning streak to eight matches.
The Tigers held the Wildcats to a .250 hitting percentage by winning the battle at the net with eight blocks to the Wildcats’ four, but LSU hit .175 in the match with 32 kills on 29 assists. The Tigers also recorded five aces and 32 digs.
Outside hitter Jurnee Robinson led the Tigers with 11 kills and added four blocks, three digs and an ace to her statistics. Middle blocker Alexis Roberson tied for a match-high four blocks, and her counterpart Anita Anwusi turned in with eight kills on 12 errorless swings for a seas-high .667 hitting percentage and recorded three blocks. Setter Maddie Waak finished with 19 assists and six digs, and libero Erin Carmichael led the team with two aces and six digs.
Set 1
The Tigers held a 7-5 lead thanks to a 5-2 run, but the Wildcats reeled off six consecutive points to capture an 11-7 advantage, forcing an LSU timeout. Kentucky kept its momentum by stretching its lead 18-10 and ultimately won the set 25-18.
Set 2
Kentucky scored four of the first five points to open the frame, but LSU responded and took an 11-8 lead behind a 6-1 run that pressured Kentucky to signal for time. The set see-sawed, with the clubs knotting the score on four separate occasions, but a 3-0 run by UK put them back on top 24-23 when LSU used its final timeout of the set. Robinson landed a kill out of the timeout to tie the score at 24, but a kill followed by an ace from the Wildcats ended the set, 26-24 Kentucky. In all, the second set featured six ties with two lead changes.
Set 3
The beginning of the set featured seven ties, with Kentucky leading 15-11 heading into the media timeout. LSU scored the first two points out of the break, but UK answered with a 3-0 run to push its lead to 18-13 when LSU called its first timeout of the set. The Tigers put together a 5-2 run highlighted by four unanswered points to close the gap to 20-18, but the Wildcats scored the final five points of the stanza to seal the match with a 25-18 win.
Up Next
LSU concludes the weekend with its Prowloween Match against South Carolina at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday, Oct. 29 at the PMAC.
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