LSU’s volleyball team can breathe a sigh of relief.After spending several weeks on the bubble with three losses in four matches, the Tigers learned Sunday night they will travel to Los Angeles to play UCLA on Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.LSU lost back-to-back games to Kentucky and Tennessee on Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, dropping their record to 12-9.Since then, the Tigers have won six straight matches to continue their season.”The first thing that we felt was relief,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “As the tournament was unveiled on the TV, it got tighter and tighter as to whether or not we were going to get in.”LSU beat Georgia, 3-1, on Saturday to cap its win streak in front of 599 fans in the PMAC.The crowd help pull the Tigers through the third set, which LSU rallied to win, 25-20.Georgia led, 18-13, after a kill by Bulldog sophomore outside hitter Lindsay Gehan.LSU finished with a 12-2 run in the set, including 10 straight serves by senior outside hitter Kyna Washington.Fans erupted after a Washington service ace tied the set at 20.”This type of crowd on a Saturday afternoon of Thanksgiving is awesome,” Flory said Saturday. “We could not have won this match without this type of crowd in here.”The first set was a different story — the Tigers led, 18-15, but scored only one point the rest of the set.”We were just trying to be too perfect,” said senior libero Elena Martinez. “We knew that we had to come from behind, and rather than just relax and playing our game, we just tried a little bit too hard.”LSU came out firing on all cylinders in the second set, building a 15-5 lead and winning, 25-12.Georgia hit -.062 in the second set after hitting .250 in the first frame.”The second set, they changed their lineup,” Flory said. “That actually helped us. They put [senior outside hitter] Maria Taylor in a different position, and they weren’t able to get her into the offense as well as they had in the first game.”LSU only trailed once in the final set at 2-3. The Tigers regained the lead at 4-3 and didn’t look back.”During a timeout, Fran said we needed to come together,” Martinez said. “We really started to be more vocal … making sure that everybody knew we were on the same page.”The match was Martinez and Washington’s final home contest as Tigers.The two seniors went 38-6 at the PMAC during their four seasons in Baton Rouge.”It couldn’t be more ideal,” Martinez said of Saturday’s victory. “We want to go out with a win.”Flory said she has plans for her team to have some fun in Los Angeles but hasn’t solidified those plans yet.”It’s L.A. It’s Hollywood,” she said. “Things happen over there. We’re not going to tell them until we get on the bus where we’re going or what we’re doing.”—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]