The LSU women’s volleyball team split their opening week of SEC play, winning their home opener Wednesday 3-2 over Alabama before losing their road opener 3-2 against Mississippi State Sunday. The Tigers are now 6-5 on the season.
Wednesday night’s SEC opener was a back-and-forth thriller. LSU won the first set 25-23 and outhit Alabama .184-.108. The Tide responded with a 25-20 set two win in which they outhit LSU .312-.172. The Tigers brought it back with a 25-19 set three win in which they outhit Bama
.276-.034. Alabama took set four 26-24 and outhit LSU .231-.128. LSU dominated the final set to take the match with a 15-3 clobbering that set a rally-scoring era (2001-present) school record for fewest points allowed in a fifth set. LSU outhit Alabama .600 to -0.167. As a team, LSU outhit Alabama .209-.148.
OH Jurnee Robinson had a double-double with a team-high 22 kills and an additional 12 digs. S Lauren Brooker led the team with 40 assists, and L Kiley Brooks led the team in digs with 17.
Sunday afternoon’s game against Mississippi State was a gritty loss. MSU took set one 25-21 and outhit LSU .179-.128. The Bulldogs took set two 25-20 and outhit the Tigers .343-.263. LSU avoided the sweep with a 25-20 set three win in which they outhit Mississippi State .385-.231. They then pushed the match to a fifth set with a 25-22 win in set four where they outhit MSU .280-.149. Sadly, Mississippi State took the final set 15-10 and outhit LSU .450-.238. Despite losing, LSU outhit Mississippi State .262-.244, and one of the reasons they got beat is that LSU had 10 service errors to MSU’s one.
Jurnee Robinson had another double-double with a team-high 18 kills and 10 digs. With her 18 kills, she ties Leah Bennett for fourth in LSU history, and her 18.5 points puts her in the top 10 in LSU history in that statistic as well. She needs 26 more kills to tie for third in LSU history. Lauren Brooker led the team in assists with 55, and Kiley Brooks led the team in digs with 16.
LSU’s next two games are both home games. On Wednesday, September 30, LSU hosts Vanderbilt for the first time in program history at 6:00 p.m., and on Sunday, October 4, LSU hosts Missouri at noon. Both games will be SEC Network broadcasts, not SECN+ broadcasts.
