The volleyball team began the weekend adding to its winningstreak with a victory over South Carolina. The streak, however,quickly was ended long Sunday with a loss against No. 15Tennessee.
LSU traveled to the University of South Carolina to take on theGamecocks Friday night. The Tigers took the match in four gameswith scores of 30-23, 30-19, 26-20 and 30-26. With the win, LSU isone win away from guaranteeing itself a spot in the SoutheasternConference Tournament, which takes place in two weeks.
“This was a big win for us on the road,” said LSUhead coach Fran Flory in a press release. “I think we aregaining more and more confidence with each match in our new lineupand it has shown in our results.”
Several team members played important roles in the victory.Senior outside hitter Regan Hood, junior outside hitter JelenaMijatovic and junior middle blocker Ivana Kuzmic all posted doublefigures in kills. Also reaching double figures were senior setterBeth Cowley and senior libero Rachel Pittman in digs. A keyperformance for the night came from sophomore setter DaniellaRomero with 11 digs and 55 assists.
“I think this was the best performance by [Romero] sinceshe has been at LSU,” Flory said. “She almost won thematch single handedly by getting our offense into position to besuccessful. Our hitters came through when we needed them, but Ithink this was a great job by [Romero].”
After the victory, the team traveled to the University ofTennessee for its Sunday match against the nationally-ranked team.LSU’s hopes were dashed in three games as the Lady Volunteersswept the Tigers with scores of 30-22, 30-12 and 30-26.
“We had some opportunities today and we justcouldn’t take advantage,” Flory said. “Givecredit to Tennessee because they are a good team, but we did nottake care of things on our side of the net. I was proud of the waythe team came back and fought in game three, but we justcouldn’t quite get over the hump. Now we have to go back andregroup to get ready to close out the SEC schedule nextweekend.”
LSU comes out of the weekend with an overall record of 14-10 and6-8 in SEC play.
Next weekend, the Tigers will be back on the road, facing theUniversity of Arkansas on Friday at 7 p.m. and Ole Miss on Sundayto 1:30 p.m. LSU has lost to both opponents earlier in the seasonat home.