Sophomore outside hitter Emily Ehrle wanted no regrets when she walked out of Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn., on Sunday.
What she got was an 18-kill performance on the way to the Tigers’ first victory in three matches.
Stepping in for ailing junior outside hitter Helen Boyle, Ehrle led LSU (16-10, 6-8 Southeastern Conference) offensively in a closely contested, five-set win (13-25, 25-18, 24-26, 25-20, 15-13) against SEC cellar dweller Tennessee (9-19, 1-13 SEC).
“We want to play with no regrets,” Ehrle said. “We can say that whether we won or lost, we gave it our all and we don’t have any regrets looking back on the match. I think no regrets is going to be a big help through the rest of this season.”
The two teams split points in the match 102-102, but the Tigers finished on top when it mattered, taking the final set by two points.
“It was a challenge both offense and defensively,” said sophomore defensive specialist Haley Smith. “Tennessee isn’t a bad team by any means, but I think they had a couple smart shots that put them in position and they played very good against us. But, of course, it’s better to come out on top and we had the better players on our team.”
Defensively, freshman middle blocker Briana Holman tied her career high with 14 blocks on the day, including three solo stuffs. Smith led the team with 26 digs.
LSU coach Fran Flory said she wasn’t happy with the level at which her team played on Sunday, but at the end of the day, a win is a win.
“This stretch, this run, the bottom line is, we got a win,” Flory said. “We got a win on the road and typically when we get a win — one of these five-set wins — it kind of jump starts us into a positive run and hopefully we expect that to occur again.”
Flory said she doesn’t like having to win or face the end of the season, but it’s the situation the Tigers are in with four games left in the regular season.
LSU travels to No. 4 Florida on Friday in a rematch of a four-set, home defeat at the hands of the Gators before finishing the regular season at South Carolina and Ole Miss and then back at the PMAC against Alabama.
Ehrle said Flory told the team that people only remember the end of a season, no matter how good the start was. Flory echoed her players, saying LSU needs to make a statement in these final matches.
“We understand that every match we win, we put ourselves in a better place to extend our season,” Flory said. “We have to approach it that way.”