By Morgan Jennings

An electric Maravich Center crowd watched the LSU volleyball team suffer a hard-fought loss at the hands of the twenty-third ranked Tennessee Volunteers, losing three sets to one. LSU managed a well played second set victory, but fell in a spirited third set, which saw a whopping 14 ties.

Teammates Desiree Elliot and Madie Jones each had a stand out night, each posting eleven kills and thirteen points for the Tigers. Lauren Waclawczyk had a career high 18 digs and Meghan Mannari added 17. After the match, Waclawczyk was only thinking about improving.   “Overall I think it was a good fight, we just couldn’t come up with it at the end,” Waclawczyk said.  “We are going to have to bounce back as a team, we have a long season to still play…we still have our goals set up high and we’re going to bounce back against Kentucky, that’s the important thing.”

The Lady Tigers ended the night with 44 kills, 42 assists and 69 digs. “I thought our defense did a great job, the problem was our offensive efficiency was not there tonight,” head coach Fran Flory said. “Sunshine (Waclawczyk)  having 18 digs and playing three positions is a really nice factor for us; she was very prepared and she was very invested into this match, as she has been all season.”

Looking back over the night, Coach Flory tells us, “I’m proud of our effort; the things that we didn’t do well tonight are things we can fix.”

Tonight’s loss puts LSU at 10-4 overall for the season, with a 3-1 SEC record. The Tigers host Kentucky Sunday at 1:30.

Contact Morgan at [email protected]