Coming into Saturday’s match losing six of its last seven, LSU volleyball looked dominant in a 3-0 win over Ole Miss. The Tigers were able to get kills with relative ease down the stretch and Head Coach Fran Flory was proud of how her team responded to adversity.
“I thought we played a mature match,” Flory said. “In the past, we probably would have crumbled, and the pressure would have gotten to us, but our upperclassmen took over and really stabilized us.”
LSU started the match fast, getting off to an early lead that it was able to hold onto to win the set 25-22. Taylor Bannister and Paige Flickinger were big for LSU in the first set, and Flickinger would go on to set a career high with 20 kills.
Flory had high praise for the freshman after her career night.
“Paige is probably the best all around volleyball player on our team,” Flory said. “She usually has double digit digs and single digit kills, but today she flipped it and we needed her to.”
The second set was tougher for LSU as Ole Miss got off to a hot start, but the Tigers were able to rally and come back late in the set. Ole Miss got out to a 12-5 lead, but LSU responded with 10-3 run to make it 15-15. The rest of the set was back and forth and entertaining to watch, but LSU was able to rally and win the second set 27-25. A late timeout seemed to really give the Tigers a boost in this set. The score was 20-18 Ole Miss going into the timeout and LSU was able to outscore Ole Miss 9-5 to close out the set.
The third set was complete dominance from LSU as the Tigers seemed to have control throughout. LSU would quickly get out to an 8-3 lead that forced an Ole Miss timeout. Ole Miss would make a small run in the middle of the set, getting within three points, but LSU would pull away and win the set by a score of 25-13.
LSU was able to have continued success throughout the match, getting kills in the middle of the court. This was huge for the Tigers down the stretch and allowed them to run away with to match in the final set. Flickinger led the way with 20, and Bannister was also big for the Tigers, adding 12. LSU seemed to also have an advantage when serving, as the Tigers had four aces throughout the match compared to just one from Ole Miss.
This is LSU’s second win in a row after coming off of a five-game losing streak as the Tigers look to continue to get back on track. With this win, LSU improves to 5-8 on the season, and Ole Miss drops to 0-13.
LSU volleyball took on Ole Miss again on Sunday afternoon and lost a nail biter two sets to three. The squad will travel to Lexington, Kentucky, to face the Wildcats on March 5 and 6.