The Lady Tigers volleyball team was re-routed this weekend, forthe second time this season, because of a hurricane. LSU hadplanned on hosting the Tiger Classic this weekend, but because ofthe risk of Hurricane Ivan the Tigers traveled to Dallas for atournament put together at the last minute. The tournamentconsisted of teams that were all affected by the hurricane —Miami, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Southern MethodistUniversity. They were all scheduled to play in the Nokia BowlClassic in New Orleans this weekend.
The Tigers opened the tournament against Miami Friday morning.The team struggled at first, losing the first two matches, butrallied back to take the next three and the victory.
The comeback was led by senior Rachel Pittman. Pittman had 26digs on the day tying an LSU record for fourth-most digs in a fivegame series. Junior Jelena Mijatovic led in kills with 19.
LSU had a few hours of rest before getting back on the courtFriday night to take on the UW-Milwaukee. The Tigers dominated inthree matches with scores of 30-28, 30-13 and 30-15. LSU achievedtheir highest hitting percentage of the season with .343.
The Tigers finished the weekend Saturday night against SMU. LSUwon the first two matches, but SMU fought back in the third winning30-32 and forced a fourth match. The Tigers did not have anyproblems taking the match and the game. The victory gave LSU an 8-1record on the season, their best start since 1991.
“This was a great tournament for us,” coach FranFlory said in a press release. “I thought this was a greattune up for us as we head into SEC play next weekend and we need tokeep this momentum going.”
The Tigers will open Southeastern Conference play at home nextweekend with Georgia on Friday and fourth-ranked Florida onSunday.