The No. 12 LSU volleyball team puts its 10-game winning streak on the line this weekend when it hosts two Southeastern Conference schools from Mississippi. The Tigers face the Ole Miss Lady Rebels on Friday at 7 p.m. and the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. LSU (12-1, 4-0 SEC) pushed its winning streak to 10 games this past weekend with three-game sweeps of the University of South Carolina and University of Georgia. LSU coach Fran Flory said she was disappointed in her team’s intensity level following the match against Georgia. She said improving intensity was a focal point of this past week’s practice sessions. “We’ve tried to change the pace of our practices,” Flory said. “We [the coaching staff] felt like we had to plan faster, maybe shorter practices. Maybe train like a sprinter rather than a marathon runner.” Flory said she believes part of the team’s lack of intensity is because of lineup changes. “That makes it difficult for continuity and all phases of the game,” she said. Freshman middle blocker Brittnee Cooper made her first start of the season in Sunday’s match against Georgia in place of junior Vanessa Freeman. At Wednesday’s practice, Freeman and senior libero Kassi Mikulik lightly worked out separate from the team. Flory said both have battled injuries as of late, but she expects them to play this weekend. “Kassi has a knee problem that we’re just resting a little bit this week,” she said. “Vanessa has a leg problem. We held her as much as we could this past weekend, but she’s going to be all right.” Flory said Copper will either start or spot play this weekend, depending on how Freeman feels in regards to her injury. Ole Miss (9-5, 1-3 SEC) picked up its first conference win of the season Sunday against the Kentucky Wildcats. Flory said she expects the Lady Rebels to come out aggressive Friday night, and her team has to be ready to weather the storm. “That’s what it’s about when you get a target on your back,” Flory said. “You have teams that are going to play the best and are going to come in here with the highest level of confidence they’ve had all year.” Mikulik said the coaching staff has done a great job preparing the team for Ole Miss’s style of play. “They are real quick with their outsides,” she said. “[The coaches] are teaching us a little faster pace and working on quickness, so we’re prepared for that.” Mississippi State (10-4, 1-3 SEC) has lost three-straight SEC matches since winning its opener against Ole Miss on Sept. 13, but Flory said the Tigers cannot take the Bulldogs for granted. “They’re probably the toughest serving team in the conference,” she said. “They have a bunch of different styles of servers, so that’s going to pose some problems for us with our first ball contact and our offensive system.” Earlier this week, the Tigers moved up one spot to No. 12 in the AVCA/CSTV Coaches Poll, but Flory said her team has shown maturity when it comes to its position in polls. “I would say last year we’d be real excited about this,” she said. “But this year we kind of expect to be there. It doesn’t matter where we are today. It matters where we are at the end of the season. I’m sure [the players] are happy, but the bottom line is we’re not playing for rankings. We’re playing for success.”
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