The LSU volleyball team finally broke its six-match losing skid last week.
Its most recent losing streak was the team’s longest since last season when the Tigers dropped their last nine matches of the season.
“Sometimes when you’re in a losing streak, small mistakes become magnified,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “We wanted to make sure the team focused on one set at a time, and I think that helped us break the streak.”
LSU (7-10, 2-4 SEC) traveled to Ole Miss (12-6, 1-4 SEC) on Oct. 5 and defeated the Rebels in five sets. LSU followed that win with another road match against Georgia (13-6, 1-5 SEC), sweeping the Bulldogs in straight sets.
The Ole Miss contest was the first time since 2014 that LSU won a match after losing the first two sets, and the Georgia sweep was LSU’s second three-set win in the 2016 campaign.
“I thought we played like fighting Tigers,” Flory said. “I was proud of our fight.”
The wins are not only LSU’s first since Sept. 10, but they are also the first conference wins for the Tigers this season.
After losses earlier this season, Flory stated that the team’s youth resulted in their timid and inexperienced approach. Now, slightly more than halfway through the season, the underclassmen may have settled in.
“As a team, we showed great composure and maturity, and Anna [Zwiebel] set the most complete match she has set all year,” Flory said.
Against Georgia, freshman setter Anna Zwiebel tallied three service aces to tie her career high. She finished the match with 40 assists.
“I’m definitely more comfortable at this point in the season then I was at the beginning of the year,” Zwiebel said. “The chemistry between myself and the rest of the hitters has grown.”
In the Ole Miss game, sophomore defensive specialist Katie Kampen became the first Tiger to record five aces in a match since October 2014.
Kampen also aided the defensive front in the Georgia game when she accounted for 12 digs in the match.
“The middle-part of the season didn’t turn out how we wanted it to, but this team is gaining confidence,” Kampen said. “The wins we had last week were huge, and we really want to build off of that success.”
With its six-game losing streak now in the rearview mirror, LSU has one more losing streak left to break. The Tigers have dropped their last 11 home contests and haven’t won a game in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center since Oct. 25, 2015.
The Tigers’ toughest home contest of the season comes this Friday when they take on the No. 9 Florida in the PMAC.
“Our demeanor will be an important step in competing with Florida,” Flory said. “If we play calm and collected, we’ve got a good chance to have success.”