LSU freshman outside hitter Angela Bensend has slowly become accustomed to her starting role for the No. 25 LSU volleyball team.
On a team with eight freshmen and sophomores, Bensend is the only freshman starter and has started 19 of the team’s 21 matches this season.
With veteran players like juniors Kyna Washington and Marina Skender getting the majority of opponent’s defensive attention, Bensend is quietly putting together a solid freshman campaign. The Plano, Texas native has 172 kills this season, including a team-high 11 kills Friday night in LSU’s 30-22, 30-24, 30-25 sweep against Arkansas in the PMAC. “Each game I get more and more comfortable on the court,” Bensend said. “The girls keep me encouraged, and if I get down on myself, they’re always there to help.” LSU coach Fran Flory said Bensend’s increasing maturity comes from the fact she understands her role in the Tigers’ offensive attack. “We’re not going to set her a ton of balls, but when we set her, we expect her to put the ball away,” Flory said. “She’s getting prime opportunities because [opponents] are keying in on everyone else.” The Lady Razorbacks held the Tigers’ two kill leaders this season – Washington and sophomore middle blocker Lauren DeGirolamo – to 20 kills Friday night. LSU (17-4, 9-3) had only 45 kills as a team, its lowest total in Southeastern Conference play this season. Arkansas coach Chris Poole said his team’s problems were unforced errors. Arkansas had 31 attack errors compared to LSU’s 20. “We just couldn’t keep the ball on the court,” Poole said. “It’s just some of the highs and lows we’ve had this season. We can either play really well or really bad, and I never know which is going to happen.” Arkansas was fresh off a monumental win against then-No. 5 Florida this past week. Poole said the first seven points of game one, all scored by LSU, set the tone for the entire match. “Going down 7-0, I could just feel that [we] started questioning ourselves again,” he said. The win secured LSU’s lead in the SEC West standings in front of Ole Miss and Alabama. The Tigers lost that lead two weekends ago when they dropped back-to-back road matches against Tennessee and Kentucky.
Flory said now that the Tigers have regained the advantage in the division, they must become more focused as the season winds down. “It’s a whole lot harder playing from ahead than it is coming from behind,” Flory said. “To be the team that everybody is after every single day is a tough position to be in. You can’t take a day off.” The Tigers did, however, take days off this past weekend. With a mid-week match Tuesday against Notre Dame in the PMAC, Flory said the weekend of rest should re-energize the team as they prepare for a non conference opponent. “It’s going to be nice to relax and get away from volleyball a little bit and come back ready to go,” she said.
—Contact Tyler Batiste at [email protected]