If there’s one thing you can count on the LSU volleyball team to do, it’s to make a match interesting.
There were points in each of its three matches this past week–one against Auburn on Wednesday and a two-game series at Florida during the weekend–where the outcome of a set or of the match as a whole seemed certain. Then, just when it was least expected, LSU made a run.
On the one hand, that’s a great sign for Tonya Johnson’s squad. The coach has made it clear all season that her number one goal is for her team to be competitive, no matter who it plays. LSU has accomplished that.
However, a winning team can’t always rely on coming back. LSU needs to learn how to not dig itself into holes in the first place.
Still, the Tigers showed a great deal of resilience this week, especially in their match hosting then-undefeated Auburn. Auburn came into the match at 14-0, but was unranked in the AVCA Top 25, not even receiving votes. The reason for this was a light early schedule. Prior to its matchup with Mississippi State the week before playing LSU, Auburn had played only one team ranked higher than 100 in RPI, and none ranked higher than 50.
Even so, Auburn was one of only four undefeated teams in the country and had gained confidence from its early success.
LSU won the first set against Auburn but dropped the next two, finding itself stifled by Auburn’s blocking, first in the SEC in blocks per set. In the fourth set, LSU was on the verge of losing the match, down 7-15.
Instead, the team rallied. LSU outscored Auburn 18-6 the rest of the set and would win 25-21. LSU kept rolling in the fifth and final set, winning it 15-12. The set was finished by a kill by Hannah Jacobs that narrowly caught the baseline. It would officially give Auburn its first loss and prompted the LSU bench to ecstatically rush the court.
The comeback was fueled by star senior outside hitter Sanaa Dotson, who had struggled to find her rhythm early in the match but came out with 13 kills over the last two sets for a final total of 22.
“I definitely was struggling a lot in the beginning. I really had to kind of talk to my teammates, they told me to stay aggressive. Knowing to keep swinging and that they had my back helped me out of that rut. Just taking a deep breath and smiling really helped me,” said Dotson.
The remarkable thing about Dotson’s performance was that she wasn’t just willing the team to a win with her offense, she contributed all over. Dotson was diving on the floor for difficult digs to keep the ball in play and even rising up at the net for crucial blocks.
When asked about how those effort plays set an example for the rest of the team, Dotson said, “We were like, ‘we need someone to light a fire, we need some energy.’ We’re a very energy-driven team, and I think the sets before were kind of lacking that. So, once I started going on a run, I think the team kind of was like, ‘okay, we’re in this, we got this.’”
Against Florida, LSU once again showed its ability to come back. In the Saturday game, LSU came back to tie from deficits of 15-20, 6-11, and 12-17 in sets two, three, and four. Unfortunately, the Tigers would lose set three after allowing Florida to close out the set with a 6-1 run, and they would drop the fourth frame and the match despite reaching their own set point at 24-23.
The next day, LSU nearly pulled off the rare reverse sweep, when a team goes down 0-2 and wins the final three sets. The Tigers did force a fifth set after their 0-2 start, but they could never find their footing in the final frame. LSU had a hitting percentage of -.182 in the set and was blocked by the Gators five times. The weekend was impressive for the Tigers, but they found themselves unable to close out on multiple occasions.
Much of the team’s struggles had to do with LSU’s outside hitting, facing off once again with one of the SEC’s best blocking teams, with the Gators second in blocks per set. In the two games against Florida, pin hitters Dotson, Paige Flickinger, and Hannah Jacobs had a combined hitting percentage of .081.
The only reliable offense LSU found was from its middle blockers Anita Anwusi and Alia Williams, who had a collective hitting percentage of .366 across the same two-game span. There will need to be some adjustment made for LSU to find offensive consistency against teams with strong net-front defense.
The good news for LSU is that it will have a 10-day break in between its last game against Florida and its next game on Oct. 19 at Alabama. Johnson says that rest will be vital for a team that hasn’t had much of it this season.
“Our kids need it, both mentally and physically, for sure. For sure.”
Also working in the Tigers’ favor is that the schedule will presumably get easier moving forward. Of the seven opponents LSU has left, only one of them, Mississippi State, is ranked higher than the Tigers in RPI.
The difference between LSU and the rest of their opponent’s RPI rankings is not insignificant, either. With LSU at 35, the next-closest is Georgia at No. 49, followed by Texas A&M and Tennessee at 51 and 53, respectively. South Carolina currently stands at No. 75, while Missouri is No. 102 and Alabama is No. 140.
Because the schedule eases up to an extent, it’s possible that LSU will go on a run to close out the season. However, Johnson would likely caution against that thinking. She knows the Tigers cannot underestimate any opponent going forward.
“Every match going forward, just like every match that has passed, every match going forward is going to be a battle.”
