Twelve matches into this season, LSU junior outside hitter Angela Bensend wasn’t showing the same form she flashed in her first two seasons at LSU.She wasn’t finding a rhythm with her swing, and freshman outside hitter Madie Jones had been doing a solid job filling in for Bensend.But Bensend was coming out of an offseason shoulder surgery to tighten the ligaments in her swinging arm, which limited her in spring practice and in the first few matches of the season.It all started to click for the junior in the Tigers’ 3-0 road victory against Georgia on Sept. 27, four matches into Southeastern Conference play.”[The coaches] started me off slowly with preseason and told me I wasn’t going to get a lot of playing time,” Bensend said. “They told me once SEC started to get ready to play, and getting 10 kills against Georgia helped my confidence to stay up high.”The Plano, Texas, native has performed well since then on the offensive side, averaging 1.78 kills per set on the season (No. 4 on the team).Bensend flashed her defensive skills, averaging 0.91 digs per set — including a career-high 11 in the Tigers’ 3-1 victory against Long Beach State on Sept. 12 — to go along with 0.33 blocks per set. She has also started in 12 of the Tigers’ 19 matches in the season.Though she may not have the numbers of some of her teammates — she knocked home only nine kills last weekend — she has been a threat for the opposing team and a positive force on the Tigers’ roster, according to LSU volleyball coach Fran Flory.”Benny does a great job of managing her position,” Flory said. “She’s not going to put a ton of balls away, but she’s never been a negative all season.”But success on the volleyball court is nothing new to Bensend.A 2007 SEC All-Freshman Team selection, Bensend started in 29 of the Tigers’ 33 matches, playing in 127 of 132 sets.  She racked up 1.94 kills per game in her freshman campaign, good for No. 5 on the team, along with 0.65 blocks per set.Twice during that 2007 season, she recorded 16 kills in a match, once against Iowa and once in the NCAA tournament against New Mexico State.”She stepped up for us her freshman year when we needed her to,” said senior outside hitter Marina Skender. “She was someone we could rely on.”The junior outside hitter picked up her form from her freshman campaign in her sophomore season, playing in 95 of the Tigers’ 104 sets. She tallied double-digit kills on five occasions in the season, and LSU went 4-1 in those matches.She again proved her postseason prowess, knocking down 10 kills in the Tigers’ 3-1 loss to UCLA.”Postseason is like your last chance, so why not go all out,” Bensend said.As for the remainder of this season, Bensend hopes to regain the form she showed in her first two seasons as a Tiger before the shoulder surgery.”It’s been a slow recovery,” Bensend said. “It’s a long process, but I’m getting stronger every day.”—-Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]