For the first time this season LSU comes into a weekend with the upper hand.
LSU will compete in the SMU Doubletree Classic in Dallas, Texas. This will be the Tiger’s last non-conference on the road trip. They’ll play against Abilene Christian and the hosting team SMU. The Tigers were also scheduled to play against Liberty, however due Hurricane Florence, Liberty has withdrawn from the game.
The Tigers have a better season record than both of their competitors this week. This gives the Tigers a higher chance of winning, but the team’s preparation remains the same.
“We’re going to prepare the same way [as the team did] facing Michigan,” senior setter Lindsay Flory said. “I mean in sports, there’s always [the chance] any team can win on any given day, so going in like we’re playing the number one seed to any game is very important and vital to our success and how we play. You have to play with the same respect toward every team, that you do with the top ranked team.”
The team seems to have a lot riding on this weekend, but the pressure doesn’t seem to be any greater. Flory said she, and the whole team, are going to look forward to the weekend with a positive attitude.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily more pressure, I think we have to face every game like it’s the most important game, because it is in that moment. We’re still at the beginning of the season, we want these wins but I don’t think it’s more pressure. I don’t think going into it like that would be a good mindset for me personally, so I don’t choose to look at it like that so I just try to be positive.”
One of the downfalls of the weekend is that it’s the second weekend in a row away from the PMAC. A team really thrives in their home gym and LSU doesn’t get that opportunity this week. However, sophomore Taylor Bannister isn’t worried about traveling and is looking forward to the support from her family and friends.
“I personally don’t feel it as being harder,” Bannister said. “I’m from the Texas area and [her] mom has been coming to all the away games. There will be a lot of family for me in general, and I think some old players who graduated last year are also gonna be here this weekend.”
The Tigers desperately need some wins this weekend to build up their credibility. It will all boil down to the training and the mindset.
“I think that part of our problem this season as has been the expectations that were placed on this team, so we’re being really careful not to place higher expectations on us for the weekend,” coach Fran Flory explained. “It’s gotta be a we go take care of our business, we go do our thing, we play our game and run our system and fight really hard. Then we’ll be successful. It doesn’t matter what the expectations are of who should or shouldn’t win, the fact that we’re only playing two instead of three because of Liberty’s withdraw due to the hurricane will help us and the task won’t seem so daunting to them.”
The Tiger will play their first game of the weekend Friday at 12 p.m. against Abilene Christian.
