The last time the LSU volleyball team played a ranked opponent at the PMAC, Texas handed the Tigers in a dominating, three-set loss.
On Friday, the second ranked opponent in three weeks rolls into Baton Rouge hoping to pile on LSU’s recent troubles, when No. 11 Missouri comes to town. But LSU coach Fran Flory hopes this time around, the final line will tell a different story.
“If we play smooth on our side, we’ll have a pretty good matchup,” Flory said. “but they’re seasoned veterans and we’re still a pretty young team. It’s going to be a tough matchup for us.”
LSU enters the game on a two-match losing streak after consecutive losses on the road to Auburn and Alabama. The Tigers failed to push the match past four sets on both occasions.
Flory said she thought the offense played better during the previous two matches than it did against Texas, but the defense is what fell apart for her squad — the opposite of how she felt following the match against the Longhorns.
This week, the goal is to put together both offense and defense during the course of a match — something that may provide more than a fair share of obstacles for the young Tigers. Flory said she hopes her team can become less predictable on their side of the court and produce more weapons and scoring zones.
“[Missouri is] a good team,” junior setter Malorie Pardo said. “They’re going to be in system and their setter is very good. We’re going to have to play to the best of our ability as a group — which we’re capable of doing, we’re capable of beating them. But they’re a good, solid team.”
The experience the team gained from playing Texas earlier this season is crucial for a matchup like this and since anybody can beat anybody on any given day, the Tigers know what they need to do to secure a victory, Pardo said.
Missouri senior setter Molly Kreklow is the main focus for LSU going into the match, as Kreklow leads the conference with 12.43 assists per set and is the only setter in the league to surpass the 900 assist mark this season, with 932.
Flory said there’s no taking a player of Kreklow’s skill out of the game, but the Tigers will attempt to make her job as difficult as possible Friday night.
“In system, out of system, she is awfully good,” Flory said. “The key is keeping the rest of [the team] passing the ball and defending the ball so that she’s touching the ball behind the attack line.”