The LSU volleyball team has been busier than ever this past week.
Three Southeastern Conference matches in six days has been the icing on the midterm week cake for the Lady Tigers.
The team has stepped up to the challenge so far, defeating both No. 22 Tennessee and Arkansas at home earlier this week. But LSU coach Fran Flory said the toughest challenge lies ahead as the team travels this weekend to Oxford, Miss., to take on Ole Miss (12-5, 6-2).
“Ole Miss is a tough, tough match on their home court,” Flory said. “We’re going to have to be an awful lot better Friday night than we were [Wednesday] on our home court.”
Nearly halfway through the SEC schedule, the Tigers hold an 8-1 conference record and sit atop the SEC Western Division.
The Rebels are nipping at the Tigers’ heels in the West with a 6-2 conference record and sit third overall in the SEC.
 Ole Miss enters the match coming off three straight shutouts of conference foes, including Kentucky, Auburn and Georgia, and the team is looking to keep the shutout streak alive.
“It’s exciting to be in this position of playing at home against a top-15 team in LSU,” said Ole Miss coach Joe Getzin. “It will be a tough match with LSU having only lost one match coming into the weekend, but we match up well with them statistically. It should be an exciting match.”
The Tigers and Rebels match up well indeed.  
Both schools are in the top five in the conference in several major statistical categories, including assists, kills, opponent hitting percentage and digs.
The Tigers received a recent boost in the offense with the outstanding level of play from sophomore outside hitter Madie Jones.
“Madie is on a high right now,” Flory said. “Madie is doing her job, taking great swings and smart shots, and she’s finishing. If we can continue that rhythm with her she’s going to put up some nice numbers the second half of the season.”
A quiet hero so far this year, Jones sits No. 3 on the team in both points and kills, and was a bright spot in the rather dull outing the Tigers had against Arkansas.
“I definitely think we have to play better than we did    [Wednesday] to beat Ole Miss,” Jones said. “We have two days to get ready for it so I think we’ll do the best we can. And I’m really excited about playing Ole Miss and hopefully we can pull out another win.”
Flory agreed, saying the play must improve, but said the team will be ready come game time.
“It’s certainly a concern walking off the court, but this team has stepped up to challenges throughout the season and hopefully they will continue to do that,” Flory said. “We’ll get back to business on Friday.”
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Contact Mark Clements at [email protected]