It was a big weekend for the Tigers in Dallas.
From Sept. 14-15 LSU traveled to compete in the SMU Doubletree Classic. LSU won against Abilene Christian and SMU. The team had high expectations that weekend, however those were far exceeded.
During this tournament, LSU had four players to break personal career high records. Sophomore Taylor Bannister had a career high 36 kills against SMU.
Junior setter Lindsay Flory made her new career high of 42 assist against Abilene Christian, but then created a new high of 62 assist and 20 digs against SMU. Raigen Cianciulli broke her record coming up with 35 digs. Toni Rodriguez also finished the match with her career high of seven blocks.
The players are quick to give partial credit to their fellow teammates for helping them along the way. Sophomore outside hitter Taylor Bannister said Flory is a big reason for her success and vice versa.
“I think what really helped is when I first got into a flow at the beginning of the set, and then as the game went on there would be at some points. Yes, I would get blocked, but I wouldn’t let it stop me,” Bannister said.
“I just would keep up with the pace and everything and tell Lindsay if the set was off. I’d tell her what I would prefer. At some points I did get blocked and it was my fault because my arms were not high enough so I think just constantly communicating with Lindsay is what really helped.”
For some, the records weren’t even in mind during the tournament. Lindsay mentions how she didn’t even know the had broken her personal record until after the game.
“I just put the ball up there for them — they took care of everything. I honestly did nothing more special. They’re all great hitters, and they really just ended plays and played great, can’t take much credit for that.”
LSU coach Fran Flory said how the records are not exactly a shock to her, but she expects it from these talented players. Especially for the girls playing new spots.
“I think that in the positions they are in, they’re playing, they’re going to continue doing that all year. We need then to continue doing that,” coach Flory explains. “We have some players in positions they haven’t played before so their career highs previously haven’t been super high, certainly Taylor is an exception.
The team doesn’t look at these accomplishment as individual goals, but as a team standard. Coach Flory sees greater things in the team’s future and continues to raise the bar as far as their goals go.
As the Tigers prepare for their in conference games, their personal and team goals will help push them even further toward success in the rest of their season. As LSU struggles through the season, leaders like Bannister and Flory will carry the team.
“I think that in the situations that they’re in, i think they have the opportunities to do that and they’re never individual goals, but if they reach those individual goals then our team succeeds, and that’s what happened last weekend.”
LSU opened SEC play with a 2-3 loss to Georgia on Sept. 21.