The No. 21 LSU volleyball team held off a late rush by Rice to defeat the Owls (25-12, 25-21, 13-24, 25-23) Saturday in the PMAC.
This is the first time the team has kicked off its season with 8 wins more than a decade, and the Lady Tigers are on its way to winning its third straight tournament of the year.
After taking the first two sets handily, LSU coach Fran Flory said the team just broke down.
“We just completely lost our rhythm and lost our composure,” Flory said. “Our offense broke down, and
that’s the first time all year that we’ve had that problem.”
LSU came from behind in the fourth set, following junior middle blocker Michelle Williams’ career-high 19 kills to take the win.
While the Tigers edged out the win in a sloppy fashion, Flory said no credit should be taken away from Rice, who fell to 3-5 after the loss.
“We have to credit Rice because they frustrated the heck out of us,” Flory said. “They touched everything we sent to them and that’s just a great effort on the other side of the net by Rice.”
Senior outside hitter Angela Bensend added 11 kills to Williams’ effort, including the two kills late in the fourth set to give the Tigers the lead for good.
On the back row, Lauren Waclawczyk scrounged 20 digs and extended her perfect passer rating to four straight matches.
The Tigers look to extend their winning streak to nine games as they face New Mexico State tonight at 8 p.m. to conclude the Tiger Classic.
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Contact Mark Clements at [email protected]