LSU volleyball gave the Boston College Eagles a warm Louisiana welcome in defeating them at Thursday night’s match with a set score of 3-1.
While the odds certainly appeared to be in LSU’s favor after winning both sets one and two, the team struggled with some unexpected measures as Boston College topped them in the third set, 25-14.
With a strong start to the match, LSU claimed victory over set one – 25-18 – led by sophomore outside hitter Jurnee Robinson and freshman Lainee Pyles. The two found themselves at the end of the first set with individual kill counts of six and five.
Pyles was a crucial part of LSU’s win as both a defensive and offensive asset. She topped her personal best in digs, with four digs this game, and ended the match with 13 kills, just behind Robinson, who finished with 16.
“Just keep swinging,” Robinson said has been her advice to Pyles. “Confidence grows with age.”
Even with Pyles and Robinson’s efforts, Boston College took the upper hand at the start of set two after LSU scored two points – courtesy of middle blocker Angelina Lee – and held the team in a tight grip. This managed to place LSU down 7-14 until Robinson and Lee helped turn things around.
Robinson slammed the second set shut with four kills, while Lee had five. Following these two players once again was Pyles, who contributed two points, including the one that tipped the scales in LSU’s favor and won set two, 25-22.
Yet, the sun set on the Tigers’ streak during set three as they struggled to keep up with the Eagles. At one point, LSU managed to find themselves on the other end of a 12-point deficit, setting the score at 21-9.
Playing against Boston College’s Julia Haggerty, who is ranked No. 2 in the NCAA in blocks per set, and Audrey Ross, one of the Eagle’s strongest offensive players with 115 kills for the season, proved to be a very daunting task during set three.
“Quit making errors on our side of the net,” head coach Tonya Johnson told the team during the first timeout of set three. Even so, LSU managed to give Boston College five more points worth of errors after that order.
“We gave them a lot of opportunities because we didn’t take care of the ball on our side,” coach Johnson said.
Wanting to give Robinson a “mental break,” Johnson brought in outside hitter AC Froehlich, who was able to “take the pressure off, and score some points and get us going, and that’s what great teammates do.”
While Froehlich did her best to help LSU catch up with two kills at the end of set three, it wasn’t enough to bring the Tigers back from the hole they found themselves in, and Boston College won the set, 25-14.
“I was just telling myself to calm down, like I know who I am, like, I’m Jurnee Robinson,” Robinson said while sharing her thoughts about going into set four.
“I didn’t have the best game of my life, so I got psyched out, and I was okay with that because I understood what my role was in that moment. But when I got back in my goal was to slow the game down, slow the team down and help each other out.”
During the final set, the Tigers found their momentum once more and scored 14 kills against the Eagles, three of which belonged to Robinson from the assistance of setter Bailey Ortega.
Pyles followed with four kills and one ace.
LSU certainly struggled throughout this game, however, Johnson said those kinds of losses come with learning how to grow as a team, especially for one that is as young as this year’s lineup.
“We’re gonna have that sometimes with being such a young team, and obviously it’s not an excuse, but we have to learn how to play good volleyball for longer stretches of time.”
At the end of the night, LSU came out on top with a score of 3-1 and is ready to continue their winning streak Friday against North Florida and San Diego.
