LSU took a break from Southeastern Conference play this week totravel to Houston to take on the Rice Owls Tuesday night. TheTigers had already defeated Rice once this season. But this contestproved to be different as Rice took the Tigers down in threegames.
“I was disappointed with our performance today,” coach FranFlory said in a news release. “We knew this match was going to testus because Rice is a good team.”
Rice defeated LSU with scores of 30-13, 30-19 and 30-13. Thedefeat gives the Tigers a 9-3 record on the season. Hoping the gamewould be a cushion in between SEC play, Flory said the team willuse the loss as a lesson.
“We had some opportunities, but we did not take advantage ofthem,” Flory said. “Now we have to use this as a learningexperience as we get back into conference play this weekend.”
LSU found problems with its offense and defense throughout eachgame. Leaders for the Tigers only produced small numbers. MelodyClark led with only six kills while Kassi Mikulik and RachelPittman had eight digs each.
Ivana Kuzmic had four blocks, a team-best.
“This time around, [Rice] made the adjustments against us,”Flory said. “We did not do a good job of taking care of the ball onour side of the net.”
The Tigers will return from Houston to prepare for more SEC playthis weekend when they take on Mississippi State and Ole Miss athome. LSU will take on the Bulldogs Friday at 7 p.m. and follow upwith the Rebels Sunday at 1:30 p.m..