The LSU volleyball team heads into the weekend with a three-game win streak that it hopes to extend to five after road contests against Missouri on Friday and No. 12 Kentucky on Sunday.
The contests mark the middle half of a four-game road stretch for LSU, its longest conference road swing of the season.
LSU (8-7, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) will open this weekend Friday against reigning conference champion Missouri (12-8, 3-2 SEC) in the Hearnes Center — a venue where Missouri has won 12 consecutive conference games, causing many to consider it one of the toughest places to play in the country.
“Everybody goes into Missouri thinking it’s a tough place to play, and honestly I don’t think it’s that tough of a place to play,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “It’s another gym, it’s a great environment, it’s a great venue, but as soon as our team embraces the fact that we can control everything that happens to us, we’ll put ourselves in a position to be successful.”
But LSU rolls into the weekend on a hot streak after winning three consecutive conference matches and earning back-to-back, three-set sweeps against Mississippi State and Tennessee.
Freshman outside hitter Mimi Eugene and sophomore middle blocker Briana Holman have led the charge for LSU, combining for 70.5 points, 31 digs and 56 kills during the three-match win streak. 
Missouri is led by 2013 SEC Freshman of the Year sophomore outside hitter Carly Kan, who currently sits in the top 15 of the SEC in kills (3.5 per set), digs (3.1 per set) and points (3.8 per set). 
“Both teams are in a similar position — a little bit of a rebuild, but a lot of good pieces coming back,” Flory said. “It’s going to be a matter of how those pieces fit together for each of us, and that will probably determine the outcome.”
Looming behind LSU’s contest with Missouri is a rematch against No. 12 Kentucky (16-2, 6-0 SEC), which opened conference play with a four-set victory against LSU in the PMAC less than a month ago. 
Flory said her squad looks forward to another chance at the Wildcats after growing a lot through conference play. She cited senior outside hitter Lauren O’Conner as the threat LSU needs to improve against in the rematch.
O’Conner thrashed LSU with 17 kills and a .314 hitting clip in the first meeting between the two programs.
“The defining factor in the last match was Lauren O’Conner on the outside,” Flory said. “A 6-foot-5 athlete on the outside is a defining person. If we can create more opportunities for our defining people like Briana Holman in the middle and maybe [senior setter Malorie Pardo] with more offense, maybe we can balance that out.”
Junior defensive specialist Haley Smith said LSU can’t wait for another chance against Kentucky but must stay focused on Missouri until after Friday’s contest
“It’s very exciting, but we’re going to take it one game at a time,” Smith said. “We’re going to take it Friday, then worry about Sunday. But yes, it’s a great opportunity to get back at a team that we should have had the
first time.”
You can reach Tyler Nunez on Twitter @Nunez_TDR.