LSU enters this weekend of Southeastern Conference play looking for more than just its 10th win of the season. Coach Fran Flory sits at 299 career victories, and both the team and assistant coaches want to get her the 300th career win.”I feel really lucky to be a part of her staff,” said assistant coach Steve Loeswick. “She’s one of the quality coaches in the country doing the right things for the right reasons. She knows the game in and out, and she’s been around for a long time. It’s exciting to be able to help her achieve that milestone.”Loeswick is in his second season as an assistant coach under Flory. He said he came to LSU because of the experience he would get working with her.”Fran was the No. 1 reason,” he said. “I wanted to be able to work with her and learn how she deals with players and her program, and one day down the road, when I am a head coach, hopefully I can take some of her attributes.”Junior setter Samantha Dabbs transferred to LSU after spending her first two seasons at Louisville. She said she was attracted to LSU’s program because of how straight forward Flory is with her players.”She’s not going to sugarcoat anything for you,” Dabbs said. “She doesn’t play games with you, and that’s the kind of coach you want whenever you want to accomplish your goal of playing beyond college. You are a student first, and then she is going to focus really hard on your volleyball and get you the goals that you want to achieve after college.”Dabbs said being a part of such an accomplishment is exciting for her.”She’s been coaching for so many years, and it’s a great opportunity to be with the coach and get the win for her because she will remember it for a long time,” she said.Flory is 299-243 as a head coach, placing her second in the SEC behind Florida coach Mary Wise’s 646 wins. Some of Flory’s wins have come at other schools: Wittenburg University (11), Southeastern Louisiana (21), and Kentucky (78).But she has amassed the majority of her wins during her 11 years at LSU, where she is 189-129.”Fran’s done a lot in the SEC,” said Mississippi State head coach Tina Seals. “She’s a great recruiter and coach. She’s rebuilt LSU into a highly competitive program. Even with the injuries [to Marina Skender and Lauren DeGirolamo], she’s made a winning team, which is a testament to her coaching skills.”She has found much of her success in recent years, compiling a 72-22 record from 2005-2007, including three-straight SEC West titles and three NCAA postseason births.The Tigers (9-6, 4-4) are on the path for their fourth-straight SEC West title this year. The team sits in second place behind Ole Miss (8-8, 4-3) going into the weekend.LSU will face two division opponents this weekend — Mississippi State (6-12, 1-6) tonight and Alabama (10-6, 3-4) on Sunday afternoon. “Pretty much every match here on out is vital for us,” Loeswick said. “We want to make sure we play at the top of our game. We have our work cut out for us, but hopefully we can play at a high level for the remainder of the season.”Dabbs said the Tigers are still adjusting to the new lineup changes because of season-ending injuries to Skender and DeGirolamo, but they still have one goal in their mind.”We have to realize that we’ve only won one game on the road [in the SEC],” she said. “We want to win the West and the entire SEC, but we are focusing on these two matches. Our first goal is to win the West, and we just have to come together and play hard and finish these two matches strong this weekend.”—-Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]