The LSU volleyball team was looking to redeem themselves against Ole Miss after a loss to Missouri on Oct. 2.
The Tigers came out Sunday afternoon looking a bit unfocused, ultimately, the Tigers fell to the Rebels in four sets.
During the first set, the Tigers kept it close going back and forth with the Rebels for the lead until Ole Miss took set one 27-25.
The Tigers started the second set fired up, going on a 3-0 run and eventually taking set two 25-23 due to a kill from Bannister.
In the third set, Ole Miss took the early lead 7-5 against the Tigers, but a kill from freshman Samarah Hill evened the score at 9-9. Unfortunately, the Tigers could not come back and finish it against the Rebels, falling 25-19 in the third set and trailing 2-1 on the match.
During the fourth set, The Rebels commanded the lead a good bit of the set before the Tigers went on a 3-0 run. The Tigers forced Ole Miss to a timeout. Despite the Tigers come back, they fell to the Rebels 25-19, losing the match.
While it was not the outcome the Tigers wanted, junior Taylor Bannister reached 1,000 career kills, and she is now the 23rd Tiger to reach the mark and the seventh to do it as a junior in program history.
Bannister had 19 kills against Ole Miss in Sunday’s match.
“Reaching 1000 kills is actually pretty amazing,” Bannister said. “Having my teammates and working hard together every day is really helpful. The team helps make me better by helping me find out which shots I need to work on. Working together as a team, I feel like we all hit 1000 kills today.
“When I first got here, I didn’t even think I would be starting or even actually playing because I had just switched to being on the right side. It’s been a really cool journey getting to this point.”
Junior Raigen Cianciulli also had a record breaking match as she led the Tigers in digs with a season-high 27.
The Tigers drop to 8-6 on the season and 2-2 in Southeastern Conference play while the Rebels are 11-3 and 3-0 in conference play.
“We were not very assertive today,” said coach Fran Flory. “We did not assert ourselves in the match. It’s what we preached all week of what we needed to do after the Missouri match. We showed them video and we just didn’t respond which is really frustrating.”
The Tigers continue in SEC play when they take on the Tennessee Volunteers Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT in Knoxville. The match will stream live on SECN+.
