Last week LSU volleyball coach Fran Flory compared this weekend’s schedule to the football team’s game against Florida. Ole Miss and Mississippi State have struggled lately to win games like the Gators’ football team which is now 4-3. Flory called it a dangerous weekend and tried to focus her team on the matter at hand.
Unfortunately her comparison to the football team would become all too accurate as the Tigers (8-11, 3-4) fell in five games to Ole Miss in the first match of the weekend before rebounding with a win to Mississippi State on Sunday, 30-21, 30-24 and 30-26.
“Ole Miss definitely had the home court advantage,” Flory said.
She said her team had the unlucky side of things and were also unable to maintain their offense against the Rebels (3-15). But, she thought her team bounced back well to win in three games against the Bulldogs.
“I thought we got into a nice rhythm on our side of the court and caused problems for them with our serving scheme,” Flory said of the Mississippi State game. “As bad as our trip was early in the weekend, I thought it went as equally well today.”
Regan Hood flew to Mississippi after attending her grandfather’s funeral and jumped in to lead the Tigers in kills in both the Ole Miss and Mississippi State games. Against the Bulldogs (1-14), Hood recorded 14 kills along with six blocks and a career-high four service aces. Offensively, Hood hit .385.
Flory said she saw improvements in her team offensively this weekend.
“We made a step in the right direction,” Flory said.
LSU had its largest ace total of the season against Mississippi State with 10.
Lauren Leaumont had 10 kills in the game while Kassi Mikulik had two service aces. Mikulik also had 10 digs against the Bulldogs.
“We did a better job of maintaining and seizing opportunities,” Flory said after Sunday’s game. “We were on the unlucky side of things Friday. Some things happened that were beyond our control. But today we did a good job of creating opportunities.”
LSU is now 3-4 in the Southeastern Conference while Ole Miss improves to 2-3 and Mississippi State moves to 0-5 in the SEC.
The Ole Miss game brought an end to the Tigers’ undefeated mark in five game matches as the Tigers went down 16-30, 30-27, 30-17, 24-30, 15-13. Earlier in the season the Tigers beat University of Alabama-Birmingham, Auburn and Kentucky in five game matches.
“In game one against Ole Miss we were very good [offensively],” Flory said. “But we have to maintain that throughout the game.”