LSU fell in straight sets by scores of 23-25, 21-25, 19-25 to No. 11 Florida at home.
This was the first home Southeastern Conference game and the Tigers (5-9, 0-3 SEC) were desperate for a win after two road SEC loses. However, this did not seem to be in Tigers fate. Coach Fran Flory is content with the way things played out, even with the loss. 
“I’m super proud of the effort tonight,” Flory stated. “I thought our kids came to play. We were calm, we were collected, we were driven, and the mentality was and disposition of the team was something we’ve been searching for. We’ve been playing frantically and unsure, but tonight we played sure and in control. [LSU] had a great opportunity against a really good team and just couldn’t quite defend well enough to stop them enough times.”
LSU has not had the best luck this season, and this isn’t what anyone has expected from this team. Last year Flory had her winningest season, so expectations were high. Flory says the defense was a big part of the loss tonight. 
“I think our offense got fixed,” Flory said. “Anna [Zweibel] came in and did a really great job. [She] ran the show and created for everybody. I think Sydney [Mukes] and Milan [Stokes] came in and did a great job on the pins.” We didn’t have Taylor in the way we usually have Taylor tonight, but thats an experience thing. Hitting off of Anna, it’s a balance thing.”
The middle blockers, combined with less than stellar defensive play left little room for other mistakes in different positions. 
“Defense is about heart and desire and just relentlessness and we didn’t fight hard enough tonight on the defensive side, we fought hard, just not quite hard enough and that’s the edge we need to find,” Flory said. 
Junior outside hitter Milan Stokes led the Tigers with 12 kills, which is a change from past games.
Sophomore outside hitter Taylor Bannister is normally the one coming up with leading stats. Bannister has been moved from left outsider to right outsider many times and Flory says this partly had to do with her performance tonight.
Even though Bannister did not play as well as normal, she still totaled 11 kills on the night. 
“She played as a mature volleyball player,” Flory said. “She wasn’t getting the kills that everybody is accustomed to seeing Taylor get, but she still did a good job. She managed the match well, she didn’t take away. They loaded her up and put their best players in front of her and committed to her the whole time.”
“She’s got to understand they are going to so that to her as much as possible and we have to help her understand how to overcome that when that happens. She’s still young, again we changed positions for her and that’s tough bouncing her from left to the right, from the left to the right, that’s a hard situation for anybody and I thought for that reason she managed it really well.”
This was the first SEC game at home for the Tigers and there was a great fan turn out. As LSU faces Texas A&M Sunday in the PMAC, Flory expects another great crowd cheering on the team.
LSU will return to the PMAC to face play Texas A&M Sunday at 1 p.m.
“We appreciate people coming out I know our record isn’t what everybody expects, but this team is good and this team is going to take off and we’re going to have some great exciting matches on our home court. Sunday night is a really important match and I’m hopeful we’ll fill this place and get a ton of people after a great football win.”