Coming off of a tough weekend on the road where the Tigers went 0-2 and 0-6 overall in sets against Tennessee and Kentucky, LSU volleyball hosted the South Carolina Gamecocks this Wednesday in a mid-week matchup.
After a contested first ten points, the score was 5-5, but a kill by Jurnee Robinson earned a point for the Tigers.
LSU had set point late in the frame at 24-23, but an error by the Tigers evened the score at 24-24.
After a quick point by Bailey Ortega to make the score 25-24, Tigers all over the floor started battling for the set win, throwing themselves all over the court and finally finding the point they needed after freshman Lainee Pyles got the final kill.
The Tigers began set two with the same ferocity and were all over the court attacking the ball, but two costly errors evened the score at 4-4. Shortly after, they found themselves down 7-4 to the Gamecocks.
The Tigers were fighting hard and trying to “give each other confidence,” head coach Tonya Johnson said, but they were leaving too many opportunities for USC to stay in the game, a trend that would continue throughout the night.
At the media timeout USC, led the Tigers 15-14, and never gave the lead up again, winning set two.
Through the first ten points of set three, it was again neck-and-neck as the score was tied 5-5.
Robinson started a 3-0 run before the Gamecocks answered, which tied it again at 10-10.
After a heroic save by freshman libero Aly Kirkoff, the Tigers managed to take the lead with a momentum-shifting kill, 14-13.
LSU, with its bench cheering them on, managed to avoid an errant USC ball screaming out of bounds and forced a Gamecock timeout, with LSU brandishing its biggest lead of the set, 18-16.
The bench has played a huge role when the Tigers have been in tough spots this year.
“Our bench has been awesome this year. They’ve been very supportive of the players on the court,” said Johnson.
And the bench was heavily relied upon as LSU reached set point at 24-19. The Gamecocks took advantage of LSU’s unsteady lead and tallied three to make it 24-22, forcing an LSU timeout. Eventually, LSU took the set despite allowing four straight Gamecock points.
Set four began with LSU down 3-1, but the Tigers took the lead in the 11th point of the set, 6-5. It didn’t last long, as USC went on a scoring run that killed any momentum that LSU had.
LSU later went on a 3-0 run to make the score 17-19; still trailing, but forcing a USC timeout.
The Tigers were looking to win the match in four, but still trailed 19-21 to USC.
Down 24-20, the Tigers were grasping for life but couldn’t find it as a huge block for the Gamecocks gained them the final point of the set to even the match at 2-2.
Set five began with an energetic and communicative LSU battling for every touch and scoring first.
A huge block by Robinson extended the Tigers’ lead to 5-2, but some gritty play by USC leveled the score at 6-6.
USC then surged and took the lead 11-6 after going on a 7-0 scoring run.
The score was 13-8 when the Tigers successfully challenged two calls in the waning moments of the match, but to no avail as USC found its final point to win set five and the match.
“It was the game of missed opportunities,” Johnson said.
LSU did not play bad volleyball; in fact, Robinson had her eleventh double-double and Angelina Lee tallied 19 kills and a hit .630, a new career high. AC Froelich also added 11 kills and six digs.
“I think we are better than we showed tonight. We have to not get in our own way when we make mistakes, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” Johnson said.
LSU’s next challenge is coming soon as it hosts the Arkansas Razorback at home Sunday Nov. 17 at 2 p.m..