The LSU volleyball suffered a loss to open the Rice Invitation on Friday but rebounded and dominated Sam Houston in a 3-1 contest the following day. The Tigers handed the Bearkats their second season loss in the Tudor Fieldhouse, improving their record to 3-4 on the season.
LSU had transfers Kylie Deberg, and Sanaa Dotson hit the court as starters, along with newcomers Ellie Echter and Ella Larkin. This was Echters’ first collegiate career start. The 6 foot 1 outside hitter is a native of Fulshear, Texas, a suburb of Houston byway. This was a special event for her, making her collegiate debut near home.
The match prior, against Rice, the team struggled to find their rhythm after losing in three straight sets to open the weekend 0-1. The discontinuity briefly continued on Saturday, as the Purple and Gold dropped the first set 25-18 against the Bearkats. The Tigers would make a comeback in the following set with a 7-0 run. They claimed the second set in a 25-15 contest and never looked back. Senior Whitney Foreman and freshman Larkin cooperated to make some key blocks in the next set to snag the third for the Tigers by 25-20.
“Ella did a really good job of moving the ball around and creating and making the right choice at the right time,” Flory said.
LSU wrapped up the match by the fourth set, ending with a 25-13 score. Deberg, the transfer from Missouri, led the team once again in kills (17), her sixth straight match with kills in the double-digits. As for the other transfer, junior Dotson, she registered her first match at LSU with double-digit kills (15).
“When we’re smart offensively and hitting the right shots, we can score against anybody,” said head coach Fran Flory. “We settled into who we are and what we are capable of doing. We finally allowed ourselves to be us.”
Those two weren’t the only ones with impressive stats. The defensive side carried a lot of responsibility for the Purple and Gold’s win. The Tigers out-blocked the Bearkats 15-2. Foreman had ten kills for LSU. The middle blocker is the first player since 2017 to register double-digit blocks in a single match. Larkin had a double-double along with 41 assists and 10 digs.
Despite their struggle in the first set, the Tigers rebounded in the remainder of the match and limited most of their errors against Sam Houston. In addition, LSU was killing balls at a 36.8% rate, their highest hitting percentage of the season yet.
LSU volleyball will continue the season at the Samford Invitational in two matches on Sept. 17 and 18. The Tigers will face Samford first at 7 p.m. CT on Friday in Birmingham, Ala. The team will follow up against Troy on Saturday at 4 p.m. CT.