After losing a five-game match Friday night to Kentucky, the LSU volleyball team traveled to Columbia, S.C. on Sunday and beat the Gamecocks for the first time in eight years.
South Carolina holds the No. 5 spot in the Southeastern Conference just above the Tigers who stand at No. 6.
“This is a huge win for us,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “This is my first win against South Carolina since I’ve been at LSU.”
The Tigers (9-12, 4-5 SEC) lost to South Carolina (10-10, 4-4 SEC) in their first meeting earlier this season. However, the team attended the football game Saturday and Flory said the LSU win was an inspiration to the volleyball team.
“I think the football team set the standard for us on Saturday night,” Flory said. “Seeing them fight through in a hostile environment and come through in the clutch motivated us and gave us something to emulate. We learned a lot from the game and we just tried to come up with a big performance like they did.”
The Tigers beat the Gamecocks in a four-game match, 18-30, 30-22, 30-26 and 30-17. South Carolina took the first game and threatened several times throughout the match.
Midway through game two with the Tigers ahead, the Gamecocks closed in on the LSU lead, 15-13. But, the Tigers stayed strong to extend their lead to eight, eventually winning 30-22.
“In game one we were very inefficient (offensively),” Flory said.
She said the Tigers were not offensively dominant in game two either. Yet, after halftime Flory said her team began to hit more effectively.
“Daniela (Romero) did a nice job running the offense,” Flory said. “Our hitters did a much better job choosing the right shots. The analogy I use is previously we tried to hit a homerun on shots that we couldn’t hit.”
The Gamecocks took the early lead in game three going up 22-11after several strong serves. Then Flory called a timeout. She said Beth Cowley, Kassi Mikulik, and Romero came out of the timeout and made several key defensive plays. LSU went on an 11-2 run to get back into the game. In the end, it was the Tigers with the win in game three.
The Tigers then controled game four to complete their victory.
Several freshmen stepped up for LSU. Lauren Leaumont had 16 kills and hit .448, while Mikulik had 11 kills in the match.
“Leaumont was huge for us today,” Flory said. “She did a tremendous job not only offensively but also with her ball control and passing. Kassi also did a great job handling the ball. Everyone did what they were supposed to do and we had a few people that stepped up for us. That is what a team needs to do in order to be successful.”
Romero had a double-double with 48 assists and 10-digs for the Tigers.
Mikulik and Romero each had two service aces. Junior Beth Cowley also had a pair of service aces while recording nine digs in the match.
Junior Regan Hood, the SEC leader in kills per game, hit for 14 kills while recording eight blocks.
Flory said the game plan was for everybody to focus on doing their job. She said that focus is what led to the team effort that won the match.