Match Stats
- #6 Kentucky Wildcats def. LSU 3-2 (12-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-18, 15-11)
- Kentucky moves to 18-2 (9-0 SEC); LSU falls to 16-5 (7-3 SEC)
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Maravich Center
- Attendance: 1,061
- Box Score
The LSU Tigers were dominant early at the Maravich Center, but the offensive and defensive power of the Kentucky Wildcats came alive late as they fought back from an 0-2 deficit to with 3-2.
This match early was a bit of an aberration. While both teams are having hallmark seasons (LSU was only 9-20 last year but are already 16-5 this year; Kentucky is the only team undefeated in SEC play this season). Still, while LSU is a good team – holding Kentucky to just 12 points in the opening set and 18 in the 2nd was an anomaly. The Wildcats hit just .104 in those two sets combined – well below their .326 season average that ranks them 3rd nationally. Simultaneously, LSU converted on 71% of their sideout opportunities in the first two sets.
“We need to be in situations like that and must know what that feels like,” head coach Craig Skinner said. “Each time you’re able to come back when you’re not playing well and pull out a win on the road adds another layer of confidence. None of us want to play like we did the first set but it happens. It happens to the best teams in the country and anybody who plays volleyball.”
Kentucky came alive late though, hitting .206, .250, and a 1-error .357 in the 5th-and-final set.
Kentucky out-blocked LSU 14-7 in the match, though LSU made up for that with 11 more blocks than the Wildcats had.
Kentucky wound up with 5 players having double-digit kills. They were led by Leah Edmond, who had 14. It took her 46 swings to get those 14, however, and they were accompanied by 11 errors – a season-worst for her. She also added 2 aces and 5 block assists to the team’s total.
“I think we all had to wipe out those first two sets,” Edmond said. “We had to focus on our side –not the errors – and keep going and making adjustments, like keeping balls in.”
LSU got 15 and 12 kills, respectively, from Gina Tillis and Toni Rodriguez. Tillis also added in a team-high 17 digs for her 9th double-double of the year.
“I thought we gave an incredible effort,” LSU head coach Fran Flory said after the game. “We had our chances and we just didn’t quite play clean enough at critical times to either catch them or expand the lead. When you jump on a team like that the first two sets you can’t let them off the mat. You have to give them credit. They rose to the occasion. They have a top-ten program and they have an incredibly talented lineup. We had the game plan to beat them, we had the situation to beat them, and we had the matchups to beat them. We were just a few plays short. I’m super proud of our team. I’m proud of their effort. I’m proud of Gina Tillis, most kills and digs in the match. I thought we were pretty balanced tonight.”
Press Releases
Courtesy Kentucky Athletics:
BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 6 Kentucky volleyball team completed a comeback from down 2-0 to beat LSU, 3-2, inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Friday night. With the win, Kentucky improves to 18-2 and 9-0 in the Southeastern Conference, while LSU falls to 16-5 and 6-3 in the league.
“We need to be in situations like that and must know what that feels like,” head coach Craig Skinner said. “Each time you’re able to come back when you’re not playing well and pull out a win on the road adds another layer of confidence. None of us want to play like we did the first set but it happens. It happens to the best teams in the country and anybody who plays volleyball.”
The Wildcats were led on offense by five players with double-digit kills. Sophomore Leah Edmond led the way with 14, while seniors Kaz Brown, Emily Franklin and Darian Mack and freshman Avery Skinner each posted 10. Kentucky hit .199 as a team.
“I think we all had to wipe out those first two sets,” Edmond said. “We had to focus on our side –not the errors – and keep going and making adjustments, like keeping balls in.”
Kentucky recorded 14 blocks in the match. Franklin paced the Cats with eight stuffs, tying her season high. Mack had six blocks, including one solo stuff, which tied her career high. Edmond tied her season high as well with five, while Brown produced four. Skinner had one solo block and one block assist, while freshman Madison Lilley also had one.
“In our talks in the huddle, we just had to embrace the challenge,” Mack said. “We’ve been put in situations like this in practice. We just had to remind ourselves that we’ve been here before and we can pull it out, we just have to take it one point at a time.”
Lilley had 47 assists in the match and helped the Cats produce 58 kills as a team. She now has 12 matches in her career with 40 or more assists, and was one dig short of a double-double with nine.
Serving played a major role in the comeback. Lilley and Edmond each had two aces, while Franklin, freshman Gabby Curry, senior Ashley Dusek junior McKenzie Watson and senior Harper Hempel all had one. Hempel’s won the match in the fifth set.
Curry led the way in digs at 14, while Dusek had 12.
Kentucky will continue its road trip on Sunday when it takes on Texas A&M at 2:30 p.m. ET in College Station, Texas. The match can be streamed live on Watch ESPN and SEC Network+.
Set 1
LSU grabbed the first three points of the set but Franklin got UK on the board with a kill and an ace to cut the Tiger advantage to 3-2. The Tigers rattled off two more points before a Mack kill got the lead down to 5-3. After an LSU error, the Tigers went on a four-point run and forced UK to use its first timeout down 9-4. Out of the timeout, LSU scored one more before back-to-back kills from Brown put UK back on the board and cut the Tiger advantage to 11-6. Kentucky got the lead down to 12-8 after a Skinner termination, but LSU fired back with three of its own to force UK to use its second timeout. Franklin and Lilley got a stuff out of timeout, and play seesawed until 16-10, when LSU fired off five-straight to go up 21-10. The Wildcats managed two more points – kills from Franklin and Nyberg – before falling, 25-12. Brown, Mack and Franklin all led with two kills in the set.
Set 2
Brown got UK the first point of the set. After LSU answered, Edmond had a kill and an ace to go up 3-1. Play rocked back-and-forth until 5-4, when UK went on a four-point run, capped by a block from Mack and Franklin, to force an LSU timeout. Out of the break, LSU had a kill and an ace but Edmond ended the small Tiger run to put UK up 10-6. LSU managed to tie the set at 10-10, forcing Kentucky to burn a timeout. Kentucky stopped the run with an Edmond hammer, but LSU put three more on the board to go up 13-11. Another Edmond kill cut the Tigers advantage to 13-12. At 17-13, Kentucky used its second timeout of the set. The Cats got the lead down to 19-15 after an error and kill from Nyberg, but LSU won the set, 25-18.
Set 3
Kentucky started the set on a 3-0 run that included two blocks from Franklin and Mack. LSU grabbed a kill before UK went on another 3-0 run that was capped by a solo stuff from Mack. The Tigers trimmed the advantage to 6-5, but UK responded with three straight to go up 9-5. UK went up 11-7 after an Edmond kill and an ace. LSU stopped the mini-run but UK had three more, capped by a stuff from Franklin and Skinner to take a 14-8 advantage. The teams traded points and UK led 15-9 at the media timeout. Edmond had an ace out of the timeout and then a block from Franklin and Mack gave the Cats a 17-9 advantage. UK pushed forward to 19-10 with a Franklin termination. UK went up 10 at 22-12, but four straight from LSU forced UK to burn a timeout. Kentucky grabbed two out of the timeout after a kill from Edmond and a block from Skinner, and would win the set 25-19.
Set 4
UK won the first two points of the frame after a termination from Franklin and a block from Brown and Mack. Play seesawed until LSU was able to tie the set at 4-4. Kentucky got out to an 8-5 advantage with the help of a Lilley ace, but LSU answered to tie the set at 8-8. Neither team could gain a significant advantage until Edmond and Brown earned terminations, while Watson had an ace to go up 13-10. Kentucky went up 16-12 after another Brown kill. Teams would trade points until UK was able to find a 20-14 lead after a Curry ace and force LSU to use a timeout. A Mack termination and block from Brown and Edmond would give UK a 23-16 advantage. UK won 25-18 after a ball handling error.
Set 5
Kentucky won the coin toss and served first, but LSU won the first point. A Tiger attacking error gave Kentucky the first point of the set and the Tigers managed a 3-1 early lead. UK won an important challenge to go up 4-3. UK went up 8-6 on a Franklin kill that was helped from a diving dig from Watson. LSU had the lead down to 10-9, but a Skinner kill, block from Franklin and Edmond and an Edmond hammer got the lead up to 13-9 and forced LSU to burn its last timeout. LSU rattled off two straight out of the timeout to get the UK advantage to 13-11 and force Kentucky to call timeout. Kentucky won the set, 15-11 on a Hempel ace that went off the net.
Follow along with the Wildcats on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
Courtesy LSU Athletics:
BATON ROUGE – After taking a 2-0 lead on the No. 6 ranked team in the country, the LSU volleyball team (16-5, 7-3 SEC) suffered its first loss in the Maravich Center, falling in five sets to Kentucky (18-2, 9-0 SEC) by scores of 25-12, 25-18, 19-25, 18-25, 11-15 Friday evening.
Senior Gina Tillis led the Tigers with a match-high of 15 kills and 17 digs, her ninth double-double on the year. Junior Toni Rodriguez added 12 kills, while sophomore Anna Zwiebel dished out 40 assists and freshman Raigen Cianciulli registered 17 digs.
Fran’s Final Thoughts
“I thought we gave an incredible effort. We had our chances and we just didn’t quite play clean enough at critical times to either catch them or expand the lead. When you jump on a team like that the first two sets you can’t let them off the mat. You have to give them credit. They rose to the occasion. They have a top-ten program and they have an incredibly talented lineup. We had the game plan to beat them, we had the situation to beat them, and we had the matchups to beat them. We were just a few plays short. I’m super proud of our team. I’m proud of their effort. I’m proud of Gina Tillis, most kills and digs in the match. I thought we were pretty balanced tonight.”
Opening Set
It was all about runs for the Tigers in the first set as they got out to a strong start by scoring the first three points of the match. A 6-0 run pushed their lead over the Wildcats to 11-4. Another run gave the Tigers a 15-8 lead and forced the Wildcats to take a timeout. LSU led 21-10 after another 5-0 run. The Tigers finished out the set on a 4-1, claiming the first set 25-12. The Tigers hit .480 and tallied 15 kills on the set. They held Kentucky to a .000 hitting percentage and just eight kills.
Set Two
After being down 9-4 to start the second set, the Tigers rallied with a 6-1 run to tie up the set 10-10. The Tigers and the Wildcats went point-for-point before the Tigers took the lead for good after a 3-0 run. A 4-0 run for LSU pushed its lead to 19-13. The Tigers closed out the set on a 6-3 run for a 25-18 set win. The Tigers outhit the Wildcats again, .286-.189.
Set Three
Kentucky got out to a 6-1 lead to start the third set. The Tigers went on a 4-0 run to cut the Wildcats lead to 6-5. But Kentucky went on an 11-4 run to jump to a 17-9 lead. The Tigers battled back and cut the Wildcats lead to 22-16 after four straight points. Kentucky had set point after two straight points but the Tigers held them off for three straight before the Wildcats claimed the set 25-19. The Wildcats outhit the Tigers .333-.000.
Set Four
The fourth set went back and forth as the set was tied up 8-8, 9-9 and 10-10. But Kentucky regained its lead at 13-10. The Wildcats extended their lead to 20-14 and forced LSU to call a timeout. LSU put together two straight points but two Tiger errors gave Kentucky the set 25-18 and forced a deciding fifth set.
Set Five
The set was tied up five times and had three lead changes. The Tigers were down 10-7 but two straight points brought them within two, cutting the Kentucky lead to 10-9. The Wildcats went on a 3-0 run to take a 13-9 advantage. LSU rallied for two straight points to bring the Tigers within two, but the Wildcats finished off the set with the final two points.
Match Notes
>> The loss is the first loss for the Tigers in the Maravich Center this year. They are now 6-1 in the PMAC.
>> The five-set loss is the first five-set loss on the season. The Tigers are now 5-1 in five-set matches.
>> The Tigers held Kentucky to their lowest hitting percentage on the year at .199.
Next Up
The Tigers will look to get back on the winning track as they play host to Tennessee on Sunday in the PMAC at 1 p.m. CT. The match will be available on the SEC Network+ with Lyn Rollins and Garrett Walvoord on the call.
Volleyball Social Center
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger volleyball, visit www.lsusports.net/volleyball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsuvolleyball along with @lsuvolleyball and @lsucoachfran on Twitter and @lsuvolleyball on Instagram.
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