LSU volleyball coach Fran Flory is fine with opponents double-teaming All-American senior middle blocker Brittnee Cooper because it means senior outside hitter Marina Skender gets a one-on-one matchup with the opponent’s block.If the opponent doubles up on Skender, then Cooper is left open, so it’s a case of “pick your poison” for the Tigers’ foes. Neither of those foes this weekend, Arkansas and Ole Miss, was able to stop the senior duo, as they combined for 37 of the Tigers’ 87 kills this weekend in a pair of 3-0 sweeps.LSU (15-4, 9-1) has now won 25 consecutive matches against Southeastern Conference Western Division opponents and has eight straight victories, in which the Tigers have dropped just one set.”That’s our design — you can stop one, but you can’t stop them both,” Flory said. “We try to get them guessing which one they are trying to stop.”In Sunday afternoon’s 3-0 (25-13, 25-9, 25-19) victory against Ole Miss (8-12, 2-8), Skender recorded seven kills, while Cooper added five and had six block assists. The Tigers’ defense was the story of the match, as LSU held the Rebels to a -0.010 attacking percentage while recording 10 team blocks. Ole Miss had 24 kills compared to LSU’s 41.Senior outside hitter Lauren DeGirolamo — who had eight kills, five block assists, and four digs — credited the play of sophomore libero Lauren Waclawczyk, who had 19 digs on the afternoon.”When your blocking is good, your backcourt defense always plays better,” DeGirolamo said. “We did a good job of executing the game plan, and that helped us with our defense.”Friday was pretty much the same story, but it was a bit more sloppy for the Tigers, who pulled out a 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-19) sweep of Arkansas (10-11, 4-6).The Tigers were coming off the high of their sweep of then-No. 6 Florida last Sunday, and Skender knew how important a victory against Arkansas would be, although she admitted the team was not at its best.”It was a big deal when we beat Florida [last Sunday], but it was just one match in the SEC,” Skender said. “I don’t think that we really performed at our best level because we had some trouble fighting. But we won, so that’s good.”Skender’s early performance in the match was able to keep the Tigers from avoiding an upset. The senior had seven kills in the first set with a .417 attacking percentage.She finished the evening with 15 kills on a .314 attacking percentage and had 5 block assists.”The first two sets I was saying, ‘Thank goodness for Marina Skender,’ because she was the only one keeping us in the match,” Flory said. “She manages so many plays and does such a great job of taking care of our team.”Defensively, Waclawczyk had eight digs to lead the team, while the team tallied 10.5 blocks and held the Razorbacks to a .123 attacking percentage.  Next up for the Tigers are Kentucky and Tennessee on the road. Earlier in the season, LSU was swept by SEC-leading Kentucky and took down Tennessee in five sets.”Kentucky is the team to beat in the conference,” Flory said. “We are going to have to work hard this week to put together a great game plan to get that win.”_____Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]