BATON ROUGE, La. – A wild finish in Baton Rouge saw LSU defeat Ole Miss 3-2 (20-25, 25-19, 23-25, 26-24, 15-13) on Sunday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Outside hitters Jurnee Robinson and Nia Washington powered the Tigers with double-doubles for the second time on the weekend.
LSU improves to 11-12 on the season and 4-8 in the SEC. Ole Miss falls to 11-12 and 3-9 in league play. In typical volleyball fashion between these two clubs, LSU and Ole Miss went the distance for the seventh time over the last 11 matches.
The Tigers snapped a four-match losing streak, hitting .309 on the day behind a season-high 70 kills. LSU also dug a season-best 75 balls and had eight blocks in the match. Ole Miss hit .228 on 70 kills, had four aces, nine blocks and 70 digs.
Robinson tallied her 11th double-double of the season with a match-high 27 kills on a .316 hitting percentage and had 14 digs. It was her 19th career 20-kill double-double. Robinson also tied for a team-high three blocks along with middle blockers Jessica Jones and Angelina Lee.
Washington recorded a season-high 23 kills and hit .310 against her former team and paced the Tigers with 17 digs. It was Washington’s sixth double-double this season and 19th in her career.
Setter Lauren Brooker registered a career-high 56 assists and contributed nine digs, three kills and one block in the win, and libero Aly Kirkhoff finished with a season-high 13 digs and had LSU’s only ace.
Set 1
Ole Miss used a 5-0 run to build a 10-3 lead, and LSU burned through both of its timeouts, including its final one down 17-11. The Rebels pushed their lead to 20-12 and, despite a rally by the Tigers that made it a four-point set, Ole Miss took the opening frame, 25-20.
Set 2
LSU fell behind early, 5-1, but scored seven of the following 10 points to tie the set, 8-8. Ole Miss went into the media timeout with a 15-13 lead. The Fighting Tigers took their first lead of the set at 19-18, and the Rebels called a timeout after a kill from Robinson made the score 20-18. Ole Miss was forced to take its final timeout with LSU’s run continuing to five unanswered points for a 23-18 advantage, but the Tigers won the set 25-19 thanks to an 8-1 run to close the set. LSU hit .432 on 18 kills, with Robinson and Washington leading the way with seven kills on 14 swings with one error each.
Set 3
Ole Miss was ahead 15-12 at the official timeout. LSU scored the first two points out of the break but needed to call its own timeout with the visiting club leading 19-15 and again trailing 23-19. LSU put on its rally caps again, bringing the count to 24-23 after a 4-1 run, but Ole Miss took a 2-1 match lead by winning the set, 25-23.
Set 4
The Tigers jumped out to a 6-2 lead, encouraging an early timeout by the Rebels. LSU pushed its lead to 18-10 when Ole Miss called its final timeout. Ole Miss began to chip away at the lead, and LSU used both of its timeouts, clinging to a 21-18 lead. The Rebels’ run of six unanswered points overall continued, and the visiting club took a late 24-23. However, LSU forced a fifth set with a 26-24 win, ending the frame on a 3-0 run highlighted by a kill from Robinson and a solo block from right side Camryn Jeffery. In the set, Robinson had six kills, and Washington finished with five kills on 12 errorless swings (.417). Brooker also added three kills to go along with 15 assists.
Set 5
The first seven points of the set were all errors before Jeffey’s kill that tied the set, 4-4. The teams exchanged points to a 7-7 tie, but Ole Miss led 8-7 when the clubs switched sides. LSU pieced together a 5-1 run to burn through both of Ole Miss’ timeouts and held a 12-9 lead. Ole Miss scored three of the following four points to pull within one point at 13-12, but Robinson landed a kill for 14-12, and after a Rebel sideout, Washington sealed the match with a kill for the 15-13 victory.
Up Next
LSU hits the road for a match against South Carolina at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, Nov. 7, at the Carolina Volleyball Center in Columbia, S.C.
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