LSU suffered a disheartening 1-3 defeat as it took on Georgia in its second-to-last match of the regular season.
The Tigers dropped the match 21-25, 25-21, 20-25, 26-28 on Wednesday night at the Stegeman Coliseum against the Bulldogs for Georgia’s senior night match.
The Tigers went into Athens on a two-match win streak, which improved their record to 12-12 overall and 5-8 in conference play. UGA hosted the LSU team at 15-8 overall and 7-8 in conference play, holding a slight advantage over the Tigers in terms of recent performances.
While LSU led Georgia 40-30 in the all-time series, another win wouldn’t be added to that stat for the Tigers. The Tigers’ six-match loss streak against the Bulldogs, however, would increase by one more tally.
The first set began with back-to-back retaliations from both sides of the net, with LSU taking a 15-14 advantage when the official media timeout was called. The Tigers continued their lead, a Jurnee Robinson kill advancing LSU to 21-19. Robinson went on to pace the Tigers offense with six kills in the opening set and finished the match with 20 kills, also contributing four blocks and seven digs for the defense.
However, the Bulldogs didn’t back down. Georgia went on a 2-0 run to tie the first set for the ninth time at 21-21, which forced an LSU timeout with head coach Tonya Johnson trying to regroup her team. Following the timeout, Georgia went on a 4-0 run to force the final Tigers’ timeout up 23-21. UGA ended the set on a 6-0 run and took a 25-21 win.
The odds were in the Tigers’ favor during the second set.
LSU was the first to reach 10 points early in the match with little retaliation from the Georgia offense. The Tigers went on a 4-0 run to force a Georgia timeout, leading 13-9, finding the footing they lacked in the first.
The Bulldogs bounced back to force an LSU timeout, trimming their deficit to 20-16 and eventually pressuring LSU to hold on to its 21-19 lead. Nonetheless, the Tigers took set two 25-21 to even the match 1-1.
In the third, Georgia took an early 3-1 lead, but LSU went on an 8-2 run to take a 9-5 lead, forcing a Bulldogs timeout.
From there, hopes of a set win fell apart for the Tigers.
Georgia chipped away at the Tigers’ lead and were the first to 20 points. Huge rally efforts from LSU were no use as the Bulldogs took the first set 25-20 and gained a 2-1 set lead in the match.
Georgia quickly took a 6-1 lead to start the fourth, forcing the first LSU timeout of the set. Following the timeout, the Tigers went on a 4-0 run to cut their deficit to one point, but the Bulldogs created distance once more and pushed their lead to 15-12.
A terrific 5-2 run from LSU cut its deficit again, forcing a final timeout as the set became tied at 21-21. For the first time in the set, the Tigers came back to take a 22-21 lead and Robinson’s 19th kill on the night forced a final Georgia timeout with the Tigers up 23-22.
LSU reached its set point and rattled the Bulldogs, but Georgia shook it off and went on a 2-0 run to tie the set 24-24 to keep its hopes alive on the home team’s senior night. Another Robinson kill led the Tigers to reach set point once more in its win-or-go-home fight, but a service error tied the set 25-25, marking the 11th service error on the night for LSU.
This time, a Nia Washington kill aided in an LSU set point, but Georgia tied it at 26 again. Like the past three set points, LSU advanced to 27 and was simply one point away from forcing a fifth set. However, this LSU set point would be taken off the board after a Georgia pancake was deemed successful, forcing both teams to replay the point, now back at 26-26.
For the first time in the rally, a Bulldogs kill by Bianna Muoneke would allow Georgia to take a set point advantage, leading 27-26. One final kill by Muoneke would hand Georgia the set 28-26 and a 3-1 match win to end its senior night victorious.
This devastating loss for the Tigers stings as LSU’s two-match win streak comes to an end, and the team falling 12-13 overall and 5-9 against conference opponents.
LSU will conclude the regular season with one final matchup in Baton Rouge against Auburn, the team looking to finish the season on a high note.
