The Tigers fell to the Wildcats in three sets with scores of 14-25, 16-25, 21-25.
Taylor Bannister led the Tigers with nine kills, while Raigen Cianciulli anchored the back row with 16 digs. Anna Zwiebel had 24 assists. Lindsay Flory put down 13 digs.
Coach Fran Flory predicted that the Wildcats would win if if they were in ball control, which they managed to do for most of the match.
“They were a great team last year,” Flory said. “One of their Achilles’ [heels] last year was that they didn’t have enough ball control, and this year, they have the ball control so they are that much better.”
The Tigers struggled with ball control and blocking. Kentucky is one of the most physical, if not the most physical team in the Southeastern Conference. Kentucky has very efficient system and simply ran around the Tigers.
“I think we blocked okay,” Flory explained. “We were in front of people and it created a lot of digs. Raigen dug a ton of balls, Lindsay dug a ton of balls. That’s a tribute to work ethic. Sydney got in front of her attackers very well. I don’t know that our middles did a very great job, but that’s a tribute to Kentucky.”
Taylor Bannister, Sydney Mukes and Toni Rodriguez all made huge plays resulting in kills. They were smart with their shots, as they knew where and when to take them. Flory credited this to the coaching staff for preparing them this week.
“We’ve preached shot selection,” Flory said. “We’ve preached tempo. When that happened they were hitting the shots and doing the things they knew were gonna work, so it’s a tribute to our staff for creating a great game plan. We didn’t finish enough of those plays in that manner to end up on the winning side.”
Looking forward, LSU will play Tennessee Oct. 21. Flory explained all other SEC teams were a “free for all” when it came to ability to beat. Flory sees potential in this team and has a few changes for them as they prepare for the Vols.
“You bounce back. You’ve gotta fix the things we can control and we can fix on our side. We’ve got an important match against Tennessee. They’re a little bit like us. There’s moving people in and out, they’ve got a lot of moving parts just as we do. I think we just let this one go. We understand that’s the best team in the league and we go fight for the best.”
The Tigers gave this game their all. They fought until the very last set, which is proven by a 21-25 score. The third set had a lot more back and forth between the lead at first, however LSU just couldn’t completely catch up.
“I credit my team for playing super hard and maintaining a fight,” Flory said. “They never quit. Up until the end they were still fighting through every point. I’m sad we couldn’t create the right ball control and really get into our rhythm and our offense.”