And then there was one.
The 27 game volleyball season concludes when the Tigers close out the regular season against the Tennessee Volunteers Sunday at 2 p.m. Up next, the Southeastern Conference Tournament that begins Friday in Fayetteville, Ark.
But first the Tigers must face a tough Eastern Division opponent. Tennessee (19-9, 7-7 SEC) stands in LSU’s path. That path leads to a fourth seed in the eight-team tournament field. The Tigers are coming off a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Western Division Champion Arkansas on Wednesday night, and are looking to clear up the mistakes that cost them that match.
“We made some crucial errors, missed 11 serves and were not efficient,” said assistant coach Ainsley Grimes. “Arkansas is a good team and we did not control things on our side.”
The Tigers only hit .160 from the field in the match, but got a strong performance from Kyra Lancon who smacked a team high 13 kills in the loss. The defeat dropped the Tigers to 17-9, and 9-6 in the SEC. LSU has three days off before the Tennessee match and may be feeling the effects of the long season.
We are a little tired, but everybody is tired at this point of the season,” Grimes said. “It’s almost over and we need to battle through and finish on a positive note.”
The Vols have won two straight and split last weekend’s matches with South Carolina and Kentucky. The Vols could overtake the Tigers for the fourth seed with a win against Arkansas Friday night and a shut out against LSU on Sunday.
“They are playing well and they are able to get the ball to their outside players,” Grimes said. “We need to go in and take care of business. When we have a lot of spirit we do a good job, so we need to get that back and go into the tournament with a win.”
The Tigers received some good news on Thursday when it was announced that senior Lauren Cuyler was selected to the 2002 Verizon Academic All-District VI Women’s Volleyball First Team. The fifth-year senior returned for her final season after battling back from two shoulder surgeries. Cuyler has missed the last ten matches because of the shoulder, but had a big impact on this season. Before the injury, Cuyler led the team in hitting percentage, which was good enough for seventh overall in the conference.
Cuyler’s stellar career has included 2000 and 2001 All-SEC Second Team honors. She led LSU to the 2000 Conference championship game by rejecting 10 shots and smacking 13 kills.
Cuyler graduated magna cum laude with a management degree in 2001 and finished with a 3.80 undergraduate GPA. She currently is pursuing her graduate degree in the MBA program.