The band was loud, the 2,304 fans in attendance were louder, the energy at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center was unmatched for the LSU volleyball team’s SEC debut, yet the Bayou Bengals fell to the Missouri Tigers in a vicious catfight with a set score of 3-0.
LSU hosted the SEC opener for both teams and entered the match feeling confident. Yet as they struggled to keep up with Missouri’s offense, things took an unexpected turn for the team.
“We were all very confident,” freshman outside hitter Lainee Pyles said. “It was my first SEC game and I was just excited to play with this team.”
Carrying the first set for Missouri was senior right side hitter Jordan Iliff, who ranks No. 48 in kills per set in the NCAA. While LSU sophomore outside hitter Jurnee Robinson ranks No. 2 in this category, Iliff closed the set with five kills while Robinson had three.
Prowling behind Robinson was Pyles, who finished the first set with three kills.
Between service and attack errors, LSU had seven errors during the first set, resulting in seven points for Missouri. Five of those errors came from Robinson, while the other two came from Pyles and freshman middle blocker Jessica Jones.
“Our errors got the best of us tonight,” head coach Tonya Johnson said. “We couldn’t come back from that.”
Calling a total of three timeouts during set one, head coach Tonya Johnson encouraged the team to calm down and focus. However, they were unable to find their momentum and lost the first set 25-22.
Leaping into the second set, Robinson and Pyles scored the most points in kills for LSU with the assistance of graduate setter Bailey Ortega. With six combined kills before the first timeout, LSU did their best to rise above Missouri, yet they fell before them once again with a score of 25-12.
For Missouri, 13 of their second set points were the result of kills, led by graduate outside hitter Mycheal Vernon with four kills.
Vernon was the one to carry Missouri to set three in scoring the final two points of set two.
Pyles gave LSU a head start to set three, immediately scoring a point with an ace. She finished the match with two service aces, falling short of her personal best by one.
However, Missouri had no trouble taking control of the set with Vernon, who scored five kills before the first media timeout.
With 22 digs and nine total blocks, LSU failed to block Missouri’s attacks and lost the third and final set, 25-19.
“Volleyball is not a perfect game, it’s a game of mistakes, and tonight we made a lot of mistakes, and that’s very uncharacteristic of us,” Johnson said.
This loss has now started a losing streak for LSU volleyball after losing their match against San Diego last friday. So how do these losses prepare the Tigers to take on the Texas Longhorns this Sunday?
Pyles believes that the errors from Friday night’s match are easy fixes, and in correcting them, the Tigers will be ready to bring home a win against Texas.
“We know how we play, so we’re gonna fix what we need to, and we’re gonna come out and show everyone what LSU volleyball is like,” Pyles said.
