LSU volleyball has a chance to make a statement to the NCAA Tournament committee this weekend.
The season isn’t ending, but the Tigers’ tournament marks the last chance the squad will have to rack up out-of-conference victories before the start of Southeastern Conference play next weekend.
This may not seem like a huge deal, but LSU coach Fran Flory knows it could mean the difference between playing in December’s NCAA Tournament and taking an early winter break.
The Tigers will face Wake Forest this morning, Xavier (Ohio) this afternoon and host Western Kentucky on Saturday.
LSU (6-1) is coming off a road trip that saw a 3-1 win over Arkansas-Little Rock, a 3-0 sweep of Grambling and a 3-1 win over tournament host New Mexico State.
“This is the most difficult tournament of the year,” she said. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to be as free with subbing as we were this past weekend.”
The Tigers, a young team with 11 freshmen and sophomores, are beginning to find their identity on the road, according to freshman outside hitter Helen Boyle.
“We didn’t know what to expect [last weekend],” she said. “I think we’re more prepared for this one, because now we know what to expect on the road.”
Flory said the team has worked into a good rhythm offensively, but still has work to do before SEC play, which begins Sept. 16 at Ole Miss.
Senior middle blocker Michele Williams said the Tigers need to work on putting opponents away.
“We want to go out there strong at first, because we kind of go out there a little shaky,” she said. “We’ve tried to work on starting early in the game and trying to be ahead and not let other teams hang with us.”
Williams, a 2011 All-SEC Preseason Team selection, currently leads the SEC in blocks.
Even though Williams has been doing her part, that’s not enough for Flory.
“We continue to work on our blocking,” Flory said. “We’ve made some good strides, but we didn’t feel like we made as many steps forward as we were hoping, so we’ve worked on that real hard this week.”
 
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