The LSU volleyball team gave No. 14 Kentucky a fight in its home debut and Southeastern Conference opener Wednesday night, but the Wildcats proved to be too much for the Tigers and defeated them in four sets (25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 25-17).
 LSU (5-5, 0-1 SEC) led by at least three points in every set of the contest, but it seemed that every time it began to extend its lead, Kentucky (11-2, 1-0 SEC) would come out of a timeout and fire back.
 “The number one thing we did is we sat back,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “We got a lead, and we relaxed rather than attack … We just were not resilient enough or tenacious enough. When we have a team down, we have to have a killer instinct. We haven’t had it all season, honestly.”
 The Tigers led a majority of the first set and worked their way to a 19-16 lead. But Kentucky came out of a timeout strong and put together a five-point rally to take a two-point lead. The Tigers never recovered and the Wildcats went on to take the first set, 25-22.
 LSU held a lead for a majority of the second set as well, thanks in large part to four Kentucky service errors. The Wildcats threatened another comeback, tying the set at 23-23, but LSU responded with back-to-back kills to take
the set.
 The third set got off to a promising start for the Tigers when they came out of the locker room and scored three straight points. 
That proved to be the only bright spot of the set for LSU.
 Kentucky responded with five consecutive points of its own and kept control for the remainder of the set. The Wildcats led by as many as eight points on its way to a 25-20 win.
 It felt like déjà vu in the fourth set as the Tigers took a 4-0 lead thanks in large part to junior outside hitter Cati Leak, who opened the period with two kills and a block. Once again, LSU’s lead did not last long.
 The Wildcats fired back with an 8-1 run to take a three-point lead early in the set. The Tigers fought back to tie the contest at 10-10, but Kentucky immediately put together four straight points for a lead it refused to relinquish for the remainder of the contest.
 “We would get a run, and they would turn around and get the same exact amount of points right back at us,” said junior outside hitter Katie Lindelow. “That was frustrating.”
 Apart from her contributions in the fourth set, Leak spent most of the contest trying to get involved. She finished the contest with eight kills and six errors with a .069 hitting clip.
 “They’re game plan was to take away Cati Leak, and they did,” Flory said. “We haven’t won many matches with Cati Leak not playing positively and carrying a load for us.”
 Sophomore middle blocker Briana Holman served as a rare positive on the Tigers’ roster Wednesday, leading the team with 13 kills, five blocks and a .296 hitting percentage.
 But Holman’s solid outing didn’t make the loss any easier to swallow.
 “This game was more of us,” Holman said. “It’s not necessarily something that they did special. It’s the things we didn’t do.”
You can reach Tyler Nunez on Twitter @Nunez_TDR.