The LSU volleyball team showed resiliency and an ability to close out games en route to 35-33, 21-30, 30-28, 30-23 victory over Tennessee.
The Tigers’ win was the 200th win of LSU coach Fran Flory’s career before a spirited Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd of 483 fans.
“Sometimes those wins come against teams that aren’t real good, but this was a solid team [we played],” Flory said. “It was a tremendous effort by our kids and I’m proud of them. We won every hard point tonight and that’s a matter of fight, desire and heart.”
LSU improved to 10-13 on the season and 5-5 in the Southeastern Conference. Tennessee moved to 16-6 overall and 6-4 in conference.
Flory said the volleyball team uses the LSU football team as a measuring stick for how to build on success.
“We followed football last weekend in South Carolina and we kind of dominated South Carolina,” Flory said. “We talk about using what football does and the attitude and how they approach things and build on that. We did that again today. We were resilient. We were not going to be stopped.”
Games one and three went back and forth between the two squads. However LSU was able to pull both out, as a game two loss was sandwiched in between.
In game one, the Tigers overcame a four-point deficit to win 35-33.
Flory said the team made a statement in saying it is one of the best in the SEC. LSU is trying to hold its current spot as the second place team in the SEC’s Western Division.
“The bottom line for our team is that we can’t make the picture look too big,” Flory said. “We have to focus on each contact and each situation. At times we get caught up in the big picture instead of taking care of the little details that make big differences.
“This group isn’t as good as we can be. We still have a lot of growth potential.”
Freshman outside hitter Lauren Leaumont said the team was due to get things going the right way in close games.
“We’ve had a few struggling moments this year,” Leaumont said. “Our time has come to fight through it.
“This was a big win for us. We knew we had to come into this match ready to win and ready for fight for everything. We came in ready and prepared.”
Leaumont led the Tigers with 21 kills. Freshman Kassi Mikulik added 17 and junior Regan Hood tallied 16 kills to lead the Tigers.
“I had a good night,” Leaumont said. “The ball was there for us. Everyone was playing hard and it’s how it worked out.”
Freshman setter Daniela Romero added 59 assists.
Mikulik led the Tigers with .361 hitting percentage as LSU out-hit the Volunteers .209 to .189.