Two match victories served as a lifeline for the LSU women’s volleyball team’s confidence, and it’s looking for two more this weekend.
LSU (7-10, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) competes against Florida at 7 p.m. on Friday in the PMAC and contests against South Carolina at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Sophomore defensive specialist Katie Kampen said she’s looking forward to having two home matches.
“We’re on a two-game winning streak, and we’re really excited about that,” Kampen said. “We’ve been making a lot of progress from where we were earlier this season, and we’re excited to be back home.”
The Tigers won their last two matches against Ole Miss, 3-2, and Georgia, 3-0, snapping a six-game losing streak.
Coach Fran Flory said the team found a groove that helped its confidence, but the Tigers can’t allow their success to alter their performance.
Flory said she and her staff have been trying to get the girls to understand and focus on their own roles so they can flourish as a team.
“This team so much wants to be successful that we’ve kind of been over-trying,” Flory said. “If they’ll just do their jobs they’ll be successful.”
Freshman setter Anna Zwiebel said the team must be able to execute quickly this weekend.
“Florida is really good,” Zwiebel said. “They’re going to be difficult with their big blocks, but if we get them out of system, we’ll be able to hang with them, and it’ll be a good match.”
The same thing could be said for South Carolina, Zwiebel said.
Florida takes the No. 1 spot in the SEC’s hitting percentage at 33 percent, assists with an average of 13.35 per set and in blocks with 2.91 per set. It also places second in kills, averaging 14.19 per set and places third overall in the SEC.
South Carolina places ninth in the SEC, trailing the Tigers. The Gamecocks are fourth in hitting percentage (27) and in blocks, averaging 2.63 per set. They hold the No. 11 spot for assists and kills with 11.69 and 12.69 per set, respectively.
LSU places second in digs with 15 per set but is 12th in assists and kills with 11.28 assists per set and 12.22 kills per set. LSU is eighth overall in the SEC.
Flory said sophomore middle blocker Olivia Beyer has made a big difference in the team’s performance. She said Beyer’s “passion and drive” is an example for the rest of the team because “she [holds] herself to higher level of accountability.”
Flory has tried different approaches to prepare her team and found that the more she pushed, the less progress they made.
“As a coach, you’re supposed to find how and what your team responds to,” Flory said. “Last year this was a team that if you pushed hard, we got a great response out of them. This year — for whatever reason — that’s not the mentality of this group.”