There were no scares for the No. 16 LSU volleyball team on Halloween as it cruised to a three-set sweep of Alabama in the PMAC.
The Tigers (21-2, 12-2) trailed the Crimson Tide (9-13, 1-11), 6-4, early in the first set but immediately ripped off six consecutive points to take a 10-6 lead.
They never trailed again in
the match.
LSU hit for a .352 percentage for the game and knocked down a total of 50 kills.
“That’s something we really needed to improve upon, with our hitting percentage,” said sophomore outside hitter Madie Jones. “When you start passing good and getting a lot of balls, it’s easy to be efficient.”
The Tigers were led offensively by senior setter Brittney
Johnson, who tallied 35 assists in the game while adding nine kills.
“Brittney has done a great job running the offense,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “We switched our offense, and we have more weapons, and it’s a transition period. She has to figure out who to set when, and there are so many more decisions and so many more
options. I think she did a great job tonight.”
Johnson had plenty of options to go to as four other Tigers recorded more than five kills in the match — Jones and senior outside hitter Angela Bensend had 11 apiece, junior middle blocker Michele Williams had nine and freshman middle
blocker Desiree Elliott had six.
LSU held Alabama to a .192 hitting clip while digging 36 balls. Sophomore libero Meghan Mannari topped LSU’s dig charts with 11.
“Meghan makes the play that no one expects to be made,” Flory said. “She’s just out of nowhere, and she’s accurate. So that’s no surprise to us. We’re certainly glad she’s keeping her rhythm, and she did a great job on her serving as well.”
The win Sunday completed the weekend sweep for the Tigers, who swept Mississippi State on Friday, and improves their record in the PMAC to 10-0.
Friday’s victory put LSU in sole possession of the
Southeastern Conference Western Division lead following Florida’s three-set victory against Ole Miss.
LSU now gets a full week off to prepare for its next match Sunday when Ole Miss comes to town.
The Rebels defeated the
Tigers on Oct. 15 in Oxford, Miss. Since the loss, the Tigers have reeled off four consecutive victories.
“It’s going to definitely be a little bit of a revenge game for us to want to beat them,” Jones said. “I think it will be a very important game for us. We’ll be preparing all week. We know we’ve got some things that we need to work on, and we’re really excited about that.”
 
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Contact Rob Landry at
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