The No. 11 LSU volleyball team clinched at least a share of the Southeastern Conference Western Division championship Wednesday night, and they did it with style.
The Tigers completed their first season sweep of the University of Arkansas with a three-game defeat of the Lady Razorbacks, 30-28, 30-26 and 30-26.
Freshman middle blocker Lauren DeGirolamo led the Tigers’ offensive attack with 14 kills, while senior middle blocker Melody Clark added 13 and junior outside hitter Vanessa Freeman had 10.
Senior libero Kassi Mikulik and sophomore outside hitter Marina Skender led LSU with 19 and 16 digs, respectively.
Senior Denitza Koleva led the Lady’Backs with 17 kills and 19 digs, and junior Ashley Millter also had 19 digs.
The two teams hung close early in the opening game with neither team having more than a 2-point advantage until a service ace by Arkansas freshman setter Lindsay Scanlan gave the Lady’Backs an 11-8 lead. The lead was 12-9 when LSU outside hitter Kyna Washington rolled her ankle on an attempted block.
Washington said her injury was rather routine and nothing serious.
“I just came down on someone’s ankle,” she said. “I’m all right, just gotta play through [the injury].”
Arkansas held on to its slim advantage until the Tigers fought back to tie the game at 17. The Lady’Backs stayed within striking distance for the remainder of the game and eventually tied the score once more at 26. An Arkansas hitting error and a kill by LSU junior Vanessa Freeman that struck Koleva in the chest gave the Tigers the game, 30-28.
Washington returned from the ankle injury to begin the second game and finished the match with nine kills and three digs.
Washington, who entered the contest second for the Tigers in kills with 3.55 per game, recorded her first kill of the match to break a tied score of 6-6.
The Lady’Backs took the lead at 19-18, but a kill by DeGirolamo tied the score once again. Arkansas took yet another lead at 23-22, and more ties followed before the Tigers scored the final four points of the game to win, 30-26.
Game three started much like the first two, with the Tigers and Lady’Backs battling back and forth until the teams ended up tied at 11, 12, 13 and 14 points a piece. A kill by Clark gave LSU a 15-14 lead it would cling to until winning the game and the match, 30-26.
Mikulik said the difficulty of the match was due to the slow start of the Tigers.
“It tooks us a long time to get going, but we figured out how to come through with [the win],” she said.
Washington said she thought fatigue and a lack of quickness contributed to the large number of ties and lead changes. “We were a little tired and a little slow, but we’ll pick it back up and bring it all on Friday,” Washington said.
Friday’s home match against the Univerisity of Alabama will be the Tiger’s fourth match in eight days, but LSU coach Fran Flory said fatigue should not be a factor for the team.
“I think fatigue will be overcome by senior night and our last home match,” she said. “[The coaches] have been real careful of how we’ve trained [the team] this week. At this point, rest is good in a season. I think we’ve done a very good job of managing [rest], and hopefully we’ll reap the benefits Friday night.”
—–Contact Tyler Batiste at [email protected]