The 2024 LSU volleyball season is well underway. The Tigers have made a strong start going 5-2 overall and held a three-game win streak after their visit to Durham, North Carolina.
Over the weekend, LSU faced Duke, Davidson College and FIU. LSU defeated Duke 3-1 and Davidson 3-0 before fighting FIU in a five-set thriller. LSU finally defeated the Panthers with a match score of 3-2.
In 2023, the Tigers had hoped for better, with head coach Tonya Johnson even saying “we’re just capable of so much more” after a 3-1 loss against Kentucky last season. The loss was an example of the setbacks the team are determined to overcome this season.
In 2023 the Tigers went 11-17 overall and went into conference play 5-5. This year the Tigers are 5-2 and still have five more games before they open conference play against Mizzou on Sept. 27.
Johnson and her staff have been making big moves, securing several highly ranked commitments from both high school stars and seasoned national champions.
LSU’s recruiting has been seeing an upwards trend overall, with the 2024 class being slated as high as No. 19 in the country according to PrepDig.
Additionally, through the last two offseasons, Johnson added Wisconsin transfer and national champion Jade Demps to the Tigers roster and Iowa graduate transfer Bailey Ortega, both of whom have already made a big impact for the Tigers this season.
After an offseason of putting the pieces together, the Tigers have been firing on all cylinders. Several players including Jurnee Robinson, AC Froehlich and Jade Demps have been dominating the floor with their outstanding performances.
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During Sunday’s match against Davidson, Robinson recorded her fifth double-double in as many games, racking up 24 kills and 10 digs, Froelich tallied nine and nine respectively, and Demps added six kills.
“This team continues to be gritty, and wow what a performance today,” Johnson said in an LSU press release following the match against Davidson on Sunday. “We learned a lot about ourselves.”
Robinson was also awarded the Week 2 SEC Offensive Player of the Week award after her performance in North Carolina. She currently ranks as the No. 2 player in kills per set in all of Division I volleyball.
The Tigers seem to be on an upward slope and will have many opportunities to climb up in the national rankings, where they sit in the No. 83 spot nationally according to the NCAA RPI rankings.
Through their first six matches the Tigers have shown they know how to fight like Tigers, and they are hoping to continue their current three-game win streak when they face off at the Baylor Invitational this weekend.
The Tigers are on the road again as they travel to Waco, Texas to challenge No. 23 Baylor and Samford at the Baylor Invitational from Sept. 12-13.
LSU lost in the first match against Baylor 3-1 on Thursday.
If the Tigers can come home 1-1 on the weekend, they’ll be 6-2 going into the final week of non-conference play where they’ll face Boston College, North Florida and San Diego all on home turf in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
For the time being though, LSU is laser focused on competing at the Baylor Invitational and coming back home with some more tallies in the win column.
