During game two of the LSU volleyball teams first home series of the season, the Tigers fell to in-state rival Tulane in 4 sets.
LSU (6-4) fell behind early in the first set 7-4 to the Green Wave, but the Tigers bounced back with a 3-0 scoring run to even the score at 7-7. Junior Taylor Bannister led the Tigers to regain the lead 12-9 by scoring several crucial points. Freshman Samarah Hill got two consecutive points for the Tigers taking the LSU lead to 24-18 and the final kill of the set came from Freshman Allee Morris to secure a Tiger victory of set one 25-18.
The Tigers and Green Wave went back and forth in the start of the second set. With help from Morris, who recorded a kill and forced the Green Wave to take their first time out of the second set, the Tigers took the 8-5 lead. Continuing to battle, the Tigers ultimately fell to the Green Wave in the second set 26-24.
Tied at 1 in the match, the Green Wave took the early lead in the third set 10-7, forcing the Tigers to use their first time out of the set. Tulane kept the momentum, and the Tigers failed to make a comeback as the Green Wave claimed the 3rd set 25-11.
With Tulane leading 2-1, the Tigers once again fell behind early in set four to Tulane 11-3. The Tigers didn’t rally and dropped the 4th and final set to Tulane 25-11.
“I don’t have a lot of answers,” said coach Fran Flory. “We started well, had a pretty good game plan and I felt like we were attacking. We rallied in the second set and we couldn’t get anything going from then.
“We are going to have to figure out a little bit of leadership and a little bit of heart and desire. Credit Tulane, they played hard and made every play they had to make. They were tougher than we were, and we have to get back to the drawing board to solve some of our problems.”
While the Tigers did not get the outcome that they hoped for, they achieved some important personal records. Bannister had 9 kills in this match, marking the halfway point to reaching 1,000 in her career, while junior Raigen Cianciulli got 20+ digs for the second-straight match, tallying 24.
The Tigers will be back in action on Wednesday, Sept. 25th, as they open up Southeastern Conference play. The Tigers will take on the Arkansas Razorbacks at 7 p.m. in the PMAC.
