The LSU volleyball team reconfigured its offensive play and turned its season around.
The Tigers (8-10, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) found new life in their offense, reversing the course of their season for the better after a slow start.
“We have a good group of upperclassmen,” LSU coach Fran Flory said. “They’ve had to go through a good bit of adversity to start the season. They’ve done a great job, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
LSU battled the University of Alabama last Sunday in a five-set match, eventually falling to the Tide 18-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-16, 15-4, in its third straight home match.
The Tigers found their offensive rhythm early in the match but let the Crimson Tide get the best of them offensively as they lost momentum.
Alabama finished with a hitting percentage above .500 in the last few sets — .529 in the fourth set and .533 in the fifth.
“They did a great job,” Flory said in a news release. “You have to credit them. We allowed that to take us out of our offensive rhythm, which we started with a great offensive rhythm — the best all year. Then we kind of broke and could never regain it unfortunately.”
Flory credited sophomore outside hitter Gina Tillis with the change in LSU’s offensive efficiency after she moved Tillis to the net.
“I think we started focusing on one thing instead of focusing on ourselves and playing as a team,” Tillis said in a news release after the match against Alabama. “Next time, we need to make sure we are playing as a team and not focusing on one certain play on defense or offense.”
Tillis finished the match with a hitting percentage of .268 with 19 kills, five digs and three blocks.
LSU hit .226 as a team, deemed a “winning hitting percentage,” Flory said.
Flory said she continues to see improvement from her team on both sides of the ball.
“We’ve continued in the last three weeks to trust that we are a good defensive team,” Flory said. “Our team is going to continue to grow.”
LSU is ranked fifth in the SEC (4-3), one game behind the University of Florida (5-3).
“The way the conference standings are right now,” Tillis said in a news release. “It’s really anyone’s to get. We need to be ready to go no matter what.”