BATON ROUGE, La. – The 50th season of LSU volleyball began Thursday under Head Coach Tonya Johnson, who is in her third season leading the program.
The Tigers will hold 12 team practices and the Purple and Gold Scrimmage before classes begin at LSU on Aug. 26. LSU will begin the 2024 season Aug. 30-31 when they host New Hampshire, Maryland, and Troy at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
“We are excited to get back in the gym with this young and athletic team,” said Head Coach Tonya Johnson. “They have put in the work beginning in the spring and showed some impressive things throughout the summer, including during our Europe trip this past May. Now that we have the entire team back in our gym, we are ready to do more work before opening our season at the PMAC.”
LSU’s 27-match schedule features 14 home matches, including eight SEC contests. It will also face 10 opponents who participated in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
LSU’s SEC slate will begin at the PMAC on Friday, Sept. 27, against Missouri, before it takes on the back-to-back National Champions and new SEC member Texas on Sunday, Sept. 29.
The 2024 Preseason All-SEC selection and the 2023 AVCA South Freshman of the Year, outside hitter Jurnee Robinson headlines LSU’s returners. Robinson led the Tigers last season with 4.46 points and 3.87 kills per set, ranking No. 6 in the SEC in both categories. She also totaled 63 blocks, including a team-high 15 solo blocks, and served 20 aces in 2023.
Overall, LSU will return eight players from the 2023 roster, including middle blocker Angelina Lee, who paced the team with 0.92 blocks per set in just 37 sets played, and right side Jade Demps, who tallied 182 kills, 137 digs, and 37 blocks last season. On the other hand, the Bayou Bengals welcome 10 newcomers, which includes three transfers in setter Bailey Ortega (Iowa), middle blocker Rumur Rouille (Long Island), and outside hitter Ana Tevdoradze (Miami Dade College).
Ortega is a graduate student who comes to Baton Rouge with 2,174 career assists, which ranks No. 9 all-time in Iowa’s volleyball program history. Rouille will enter her final season of eligibility with a career average of 1.17 blocks per set and helped lead Long Island to the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Tevdoradze is an NJCAA and AVCA All-American who will have two years of eligibility after leading Miami Dade College (MDC) to the NJCAA Championship match the last two seasons. Tevdoradze averaged 4.10 points and 3.51 kills per set in her two seasons at MDC.
LSU’s seven true freshmen include outside hitters Lainee Pyles and Bri Watson, middle blocker Jessica Jones, setter Shea Bruntmyer, and defensive specialists Sophie Bonnaffee, Aly Kirkhoff, and Remi Nuss.
Season tickets for the 2024 LSU volleyball season are now available and can be purchased here.
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For the latest news and information on Tiger volleyball, visit www.lsusports.net/volleyball. Fans can follow the team on its social media outlets at www.facebook.com/lsuvolleyball and @lsuvolleyball on Instagram and X.