Sometimes, inexperience is the best experience.
Just think about back in the day when you were young. You would make a mistake, and you wouldn’t think twice about it as long as nobody yelled at you. The older you got, though, the more mistakes bothered you.
The same concept applies to any team. Take a look at the LSU football team’s young defense, and you can see where its youth has been in revolt against opposing offenses.
Well there’s another undefeated team on campus whose inexperience has been more of a positive than a detriment — LSU’s volleyball team. But you probably didn’t notice that because you were too busy complaining about the football team’s offense.
They are playing some of the most kickass volleyball I’ve seen in the three years I’ve covered them. That’s saying a lot considering how successful they were last year (making it to the second round of the NCAA tournament before falling in five sets to Texas A&M).
The No. 16 Tigers are 13-0, much to the surprise of their head coach Fran Flory. On top of that, they have done it in a fashionable style, dropping a mere seven sets in their 13 matches.
To be undefeated at this point in the season is impressive no matter who you play. But Flory’s squad hasn’t necessarily had a cakewalk so far this season.
LSU has defeated Rice, TCU and Pacific just to name a few. Oh, and the Tigers walked into Texas A&M and swept the Aggies. That’s nothing to take lightly — No. 13 Texas fell to A&M on Sept. 16 in College Station, Texas.
This weekend will be the Tigers’ biggest challenge as they go to Gainesville, Fla., to face the No. 2 Gators.
LSU impressively swept past Florida last year en route to bringing a halt to Florida’s 18 straight Southeastern Conference titles. If you don’t think Florida is looking for a little revenge, then think again.
But the thing about this LSU team is it’s a whole different set of Tigers from last year, so don’t expect them to think too much about last year’s team.
This year’s team doesn’t have the name recognition around the country that last year’s team had. There is no more Brittnee Cooper for every coach to game plan around (or simply try to contain the amount of hurt she could put on you). There is no more Sam Dabbs or Marina Skender or Lauren DeGirolamo on this team.
Instead, it’s a team that has put together the most impressive start in program history. The group is often compared to the 1991 squad, which just so happens to be the last time the Tigers went to the Final Four.
The key word in that last sentence: group. Or as junior libero Lauren Waclawczyk calls it, “team-ness.”
“We are so good at empowering the people next to us,” she said Tuesday after a spirited practice. “It’s not about me. It’s about the team. Our whole team is the star.”
That unity has shown, as the Tigers are up in kills-per-set, assists-per-set and digs-per-set from last year, three of the four major statistical categories in volleyball.
At just the two practices I’ve been to this year, along with two matches, I can tell there is a different air about this team.
This year’s group is young and fast, and they like to have fun. Flory went as far as calling her team “goofy.” Sometimes that looseness off the court translates to great play on it.
“This is a team that has to have not a light-hearted approach, but a less serious approach than teams I’ve had in the past,” Flory said. “We don’t know if we make a mistake at the wrong time what that costs, and we just bounce right back.”
So long as it can continue to use its youth to its advantage, this team can continue to win. The Tigers have been impressive so far, and I fully expect that to continue.
This weekend will tell a lot about what the Tigers are capable of. But whenever they come back to campus next weekend, remember to pay attention to that other undefeated team on campus.
—-
Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]