The LSU volleyball team extended its winning streak to 11 games, defeating Tennessee in four sets, 25-14, 25-16, 21-25, 25-19.
The Tigers came out of the gates fast, scoring seven of the first nine points of the match, but the Lady Volunteers wouldn’t go away easily.  Tennessee fought back and got back to within one point, 10-9, before LSU took off with the set, scoring 14 of the last 17 points.
LSU held Tennessee to a -.091 hitting percentage in the first set. Freshman outside hitter Mimi Eugene and junior outside hitter Cati Leak led the stout Tiger defense with seven digs apiece.
In the set, LSU also had eight blocks to go along eight kills. LSU coach Fran Flory said she’s never seen a set like that.
“Our blocking did a great job, certainly in the first set,” Flory said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a team equal the number of kills and blocks in a set. That’s pretty impressive. That doesn’t speak well to our offense, but it certainly speaks pretty highly of our defense.”
LSU’s did have offensive struggles in the first set as the Tigers hit .172, but they turned it around in the second set. LSU hit .414 on their way to a 25-16 set win.
Freshman outside hitter Gina Tillis and sophomore middle blocker Briana Holman led the way for the LSU offense with four and three kills, respectively.
Holman said the Tigers’ were clicking on offense thanks to senior setter Malorie Pardo, who had 12 assists in the set.
“If your quarterback has the flow, your offense can do nothing but have the flow,” Holman said. “I applaud her for helping us because as hitters we didn’t necessarily have a flow… The second set is when we started getting our focus. We started terminating the ball instead of keeping it in play.”
After the intermission, the Volunteers came out with a point to prove and battled with the Tigers until the match was tied at 12. After LSU tied the set at 12, Tennessee scored eight of the next nine points to take a 20-13 lead and never gave it back.
The Tigers attempted to mount a rally at the end of the set, fighting of two Volunteer set points, but Tennessee came out of a timeout and put the set away 25-21.
Flory said Tennessee figured out their blocking scheme, which allowed the Volunteers to take advantage of the Tigers’ mistakes.
“Our first ball control wasn’t very good tonight,” Flory said. “We weren’t very accurate digging. We weren’t very accurate serving and that’s been the emphasis for the last two weeks.”
Tennessee opened just as quickly as they started the third and took an early lead, but this time the Tigers were the ones who ran away from the Volunteers.
LSU led Tennessee 7-6 when they scored 10 of the next 14 points to take a 17-10 lead. The Tigers never looked back and rolled to a 25-19 fourth set victory to seal the match.
Flory said tonight’s match wasn’t how she hoped the Tigers would play, but she thinks tonight’s poor performance will motivate her team for Sunday’s match against Mississippi State.
“I think tonight will help us in the fact that we did not pass well because then we’re going to pay more of attention to it [for Sunday],” Flory said. “We won’t take it for granted and we won’t think ‘oh, this is easy.’ We’ll be focused. This probably plays into our hands rather than breaks our confidence.”