Last season’s injuries are still affecting LSU’s volleyball team nearly two months after the end of the season.LSU volleyball coach Fran Flory said the team will begin its team spring practice March 11 and not end until late April due to injuries sustained by a few Tigers during last season.”A lot of the local schools are [starting practice] on an earlier schedule because of Mardi Gras and spring break, so they will be done with their allotment of [spring practice] days in mid-March,” Flory said.A team is allowed 144 days to train as a team through the whole academic calendar, according to Flory. If a team does not use all 144 in the fall, the days can rollover to the spring. Flory said the team has about six weeks of training left to use and will participate in four tournaments — March 28 at Rice, April 4 in Houston, the Southeastern Conference Coaches Beach Championship April 18 in Siesta Key, Fla., and April 25 in the PMAC.Flory said senior outside hitter Marina Skender and junior middle blocker Lauren DeGirolamo are doing fine in their rehabs, but sophomore outside hitter Angela Bensend had surgery on her swinging arm.”She was loose, and [the doctors] thought there may be some damage in there, but there wasn’t,” Flory said. “They just went in and tightened her up a little bit.”Flory said the normal recovery for the surgery is around six months, but Bensend’s recovery may be faster because she went into the surgery “really strong.”The Plano, Texas, native had 151 kills in 95 sets, along with 30 blocks last season.Flory also said Skender — who tore her ACL and MCL during an April practice — is doing well in her rehab.”She is actually stronger now than she was pre-surgery,” Flory said. “She’s back to full strength. Her workouts are going really well, and she’s well ahead of where I hoped she would be at this point.”The Zagreb, Croatia, native ranked fifth in the SEC in aces per game in 2007 at .42. She also ranked second on the team in digs per set (3.15) and third on the team with 378 kills.Flory said DeGirolamo — who went down with a similar injury against Ole Miss on Oct. 3 — is anxious to get back on the court and is doing fine with her rehab, which has had no setbacks so far.”[Lauren’s] range of motion came back really fast,” Flory said. “The key for her is strength training. It’s going to take her a while to regain her muscle mass because she is such a physical player. Flory said the coaching staff is taking things slow with DeGirolamo’s injury.”We aren’t pushing her real hard because we are letting her heal,” Flory said. “She’s real anxious to get back out there.”DeGirolamo ranked third on the team with 2.40 kills per set and second on the team with .98 blocks per set before the injury. She was also a member of the 2007 All-SEC First Team and the 2006 SEC All-Freshmen Team.ADDITIONS AND DEPARTURESFlory said she doesn’t think either of the incoming freshmen — Allyson Judkins and Madie Jones — will arrive on campus until the fall semester.”I would love to have both of them here [for summer], but the Junior Olympic Championships for their club teams run into July, which is past the start of summer school,” Flory said. “Maddie’s team lost in the finals last year, so I would anticipate they would have the chance to be there again. Ally may have a little bit of a better chance because her team is not ranked as highly nationally.”But with the additions comes a departure. Flory said sophomore libero Haley Reuther has decided to leave the program.”She’s been a great addition to our program,” Flory said. “We’re pretty sad about that, but for Haley, it is something she did a lot of thinking about, and it’s the right decision in her mind. But I did leave the door open for her to come back if she changes her mind later.”The New Orleans native walked-on to LSU from Dominican High School.Reuther played in 54 sets last season, averaging 1.17 digs per set.–Contact Andy Schwhem at [email protected]