UCLA’s first-year head coach Alfee Reft brought his Bruin squad to town for LSU volleyball’s annual Tiger Classic. In the teams’ first meeting in Baton Rouge since 1983, LSU volleyball’s head coach Tonya Johnson and the Tigers stunned UCLA with a 3-2 win, making it the first win in program history against the Bruins.

LSU finished the match hitting at a 0.314 clip, totaling 66 kills off 63 assists through five sets. The Tigers defended UCLA well, adding 45 digs and 12 blocks to their stat sheet, and attacked from the service line well, claiming eight aces.

As an LSU volleyball alumna, Johnson knew how much this win would mean for the future of LSU volleyball. 

“It means an awful lot,” Johnson said. “UCLA is a storied program, obviously, having won many national championships. I think we lost to them in the semifinals in 1990, so it was just incredible. Our kids came out on fire in the first two sets, [then we] kind of took our foot off the gas a little bit [in sets three and four]. We really got our focus back in set five to win it in five, so I’m super proud of them.”
Setter Maddie Waak struggled to connect with her hitters at first but gradually improved as the game progressed. She evenly spread out the offense by finding her hitters and ran combination plays that threw off UCLA’s blockers. For her first time running a 5-1, she proved worthy of the task at hand.

“I thought Maddie Waak did an unbelievable job,” Johnson said. “I thought she served tough, I thought she played some defense when we needed it, and I thought she kept it simple for most of the match and that’s what we’re going to need from her night in and night out. [We need her] to be steady and run a bit of offense.”

Right-side hitter Jade Demps, transfer from Wisconsin, also struggled, committing errors back to back early in the match. She eventually found her groove and terminated for kills, finishing the match with 14. Aside from her offensive production, Demps contributed a great amount to the defense, tallying 10 digs and three blocks.

True freshman Jurnee Robinson came in as one of the most decorated players in the 2023 recruiting class and it showed in her first game as a Tiger. Robinson got off to a hot start in the first set and never looked back, showing how diverse her shot selection was. She also got the nod to play six rotations, putting her back row skills on display.
“I was just like, ‘Give it everything you’ve got, this is your first game, you can’t hold back now,’” Robinson said.

As the game progressed, Robinson started to take over the game and locked it down for the Tigers. She showed her ability to swing for kills when out of system, which is an important skill to have as an outside hitter. Through five sets, Robinson registered 23 kills, three blocks and six digs. Averaging 4.6 kills per set, Robinson achieved All-American numbers, and Johnson couldn’t be prouder.

“What an incredible performance tonight by Jurnee,” Johnson said. “I could not be more proud of her for coming out and just playing volleyball and not letting the little things get to her. [She didn’t let] the notion that this was her first collegiate match be too big for her. I just thought she handled it really well and handled the pressure well. She did a heck of a job tonight, I couldn’t be more proud of her as her coach.”

Erin Carmichael proved why she won the starting libero job. The Jacksonville State transfer drilled the Bruins with her serve and was strong on defense, especially when she had to cover her hitters. Serve-reception broke down in the middle of the match, but Carmichael slowly gathered herself and got her and the Tigers back in the game.

Despite a slip in sets three and four, the Tigers kept battling until the very end. Communication breakdowns and passing issues stunted LSU, but Johnson was able to settle her team down and led them to a successful fifth-set win.

“I think we lost our focus,” Johnson said. “First off, I thought we lost our attack mentality, and I just thought we made too many errors. We were working for them and for ourselves, too, so we were doing double the work and not getting anything out of it.”

“When we got in the huddle before set five, I said, ‘Ok, Cardiac Tigers,’ because that’s what we were known as last year, ‘Here we are again, but I think we can do some things to help make our play on our side of the net better.’”

Anita Anwusi brought her Collegiate National Team training to the gym. Waak easily fed Anwusi every chance she got, giving way for Anwusi to finish the night off with 13 kills. She also added six blocks to LSU’s total of 12.

Captain Alia Williams was quiet during the game, only registering two kills and three blocks. Despite that, her leadership on the court was needed to push the Tigers through for the win. She showed up when it mattered most. Williams’ block made it 11-7 in the fifth set, and from then on, it was all LSU.

In a match full of highs and lows, LSU volleyball gave the PMAC crowd an electric performance that perfectly showed what to expect this season.

“I’m proud of this team,” Johnson said. “I loved their fight tonight. They could have laid down when UCLA came back and won sets three and four, but they didn’t. They refocused, we started over and we won the match.”