Fans who chose the friendly confines of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center Saturday to elude Mother Nature were in for a treat.
The LSU volleyball team defeated the University of Alabama-Birmingham in the final match of the Tiger Classic in a five-match marathon. The Tigers rallied from two match points to top the Blazers, 30-24, 26-30, 17-30, 30-14 and 22-20.
“(The Blazers) are a pretty solid team that keeps the ball in play, and they make you terminate play,” LSU coach Fran Flory said after the match. “It was a perfect team for us to play. I’m really happy with the way we battled back and won in five games. I didn’t know what we would do in that situation.”
Junior Regan Hood led the Tigers with 20 kills and added 12 digs against UAB. It was the first double-double of Hood’s career.
In the first game of the Tiger Classic on Friday, LSU swept Centenary, 30-23, 30-16 and 30-14. Sophomore Cara Causey chipped in with eight blocks and 12 kills, while Hood led the team with 14 kills.
Friday evening, however, the Tigers were on the receiving end of the sweeping, falling to tournament champion Virginia, 21-30, 23-30 and 23-30. Hood once again led the team with 13 kills, while sophomore Megan Heinz added 11 kills and four blocks. Virginia defeated UAB and Centenary en route to the championship.
“I was disappointed in our loss,” Flory said. “But that’s one of the bumps in the road that we’re going to run into as a young team. We lost [Friday] night because we were inefficient offensively.”
For their efforts, Hood and Heinz were named to the Tiger Classic All-Tournament team. Hood led the Tigers in kills on the weekend with 47 and recorded 26 digs and seven blocks in the three matches. Heinz recorded 31 kills and 13 blocks during the weekend.
“We were a little disappointed, just because we wanted to come out and win our own tournament,” Hood said. “We didn’t feel like we played up to our level [against Virginia].
“But we came back and fought hard after the loss. It was a pretty good weekend.”
LSU (2-1) travels east on Interstate-10 to participate in this weekend’s Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans.
The Tigers will square off against No. 7 Nebraska, Tulane and the University of New Orleans.