The LSU volleyball team finally returned to the PMAC on Friday night. The Tigers took down Southern Miss in straight sets in front of a resounding home crowd.

The Tigers improve to 6-3 on the season as Southern Miss falls to 0-12. LSU managed to get the job done despite some costly serving errors.

LSU jumped out to a 15-6 lead in the first set, but it started to let Southern Miss crawl its way back into the set before closing it out 25-15.

The second set was more of the same as the Tigers took an early 15-7 lead before pulling away to win 25-13.

The third set was much closer in the beginning with LSU leading 8-5 before going on a 4-0 run to force Southern Miss into its final timeout. The Tigers did not let up the rest of the way and completed the sweep by taking the third set 25-16.

LSU found themselves up big in all three sets but let Southern Miss hang around after committing several serve and net violations. However, coach Flory does not see these as careless mistakes.

“When you play a higher level team you have to serve tough,” Flory said. “It’s kind of risk-reward. Six aces and six errors, a one-to-one ratio, is actually a pretty good serving night for us.”

The Tigers were led by junior right side Taylor Bannister, sophomore middle blocker Whitney Foreman, and freshman middle blocker Allee Morris. Each player recorded double-digit kills, which coach Flory thinks is a great sign for the offense going forward.

“The good thing is that two of the three were our middles,” Flory said. “Our ball control was good enough so we could set the middle and set the quick ball and allow our offense to flow from inside-out rather than being an outside-in dominated offensive effort.”

After playing eight matches on the road, LSU has started their defense of their home court on a high note. The Tigers look to carry this momentum into Saturday against Tulane.

“We’re so excited to be home,” Flory said. “They came in prepared. They came in ready and hungry to perform in front of a great crowd on opening night.”