by Matt Dunaway, Associate Sports Information Director
OXFORD, Miss. – Sam Dabbs circulated 39 assists and sparked the No. 19 LSU volleyball team to a season-best .416 hitting percentage as the Tigers claimed their fifth straight SEC Western Division crown with a 3-0 victory over Ole Miss [25-16, 25-18, 29-27] Friday at the Gillom Sports Center.
LSU (19-5, 13-2 SEC) has won 12 of its last 13 matches highlighted by nine sweeps. The Tigers also pushed their winning streak to 27 straight victories over SEC Western Division opponents.
“There’s not one player on this roster that hasn’t contributed to the division title at some point during the season,” head coach Fran Flory said. “We’re proud of our players and staff to earn this ultimate team accomplishment.”
“Our first goal was to win the west this season,” Dabbs said. “It’s a great accomplishment to have, but we know that we have other goals that we want to reach.”
Marina Skender cranked 17 kills on a season-high .556 hitting percentage and added 11 digs for her 10th double-double of the season. Brittnee Cooper powered home 12 kills and tacked on four blocks.
Michele Williams belted seven kills to go along with five blocks, while Lauren DeGirolamo chipped in a complete effort with four kills, seven digs and five blocks.
Lauren Waclawczyk corralled eight digs and passed out three assists to anchor the back row as LSU compiled a 71 sideout percentage for the match.
“Ole Miss is traditionally a tough place to play,” Flory said. “We were really happy with the way we managed our offense. Sam did an excellent job of setting and creating opportunities. Marina also worked extremely hard to adjust some things in her approach. She hit the right shot in the right situation and I don’t think she can be much better than she was tonight.”
LSU raced out to a 6-0 lead in the opening set behind a pair of Cooper-DeGirolamo blocks and two Cooper spikes. The Tigers never looked back as Dabbs set LSU to a season-best .609 hitting clip en route to a 25-16 romp. Skender and Cooper combined to crank 11 kills on 15 swings without an attack error.
Ole Miss grabbed a 5-2 advantage to start set two before LSU reeled off 13 of the next 18 points to build a 15-10 edge. The run was fueled by two kills apiece from Dabbs, Skender and Williams. LSU continued its strong play and claimed a 25-18 win.
The Rebels used a trio of spikes from Whitney Craven and Caitlin Weiss to go up 19-14 in the third set. LSU fired back with a 7-2 spurt to even the tally at 21-21 capped by a Skender-Williams stuff. After six ties and two lead changes, the Tigers picked up a block on Weiss along with Meghan Mannari’s first career service ace to secure the sweep with a 29-27 triumph.
“Meghan has progressed very well from her knee injury at the beginning of the season,” Flory said. “She has done a great job serving and had a couple of great weeks in practice. It wasn’t anything that Sam [Delahoussaye] wasn’t doing. We wanted to get Meghan some match experience passing.”
LSU continues its four-match road swing Sunday at Arkansas. First serve against the Razorbacks is set for 1 p.m. and the match will be televised live on CST. Live stats also are available in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net and fans can follow in-match updates of the five-time SEC Western Division champions via www.twitter.com/lsuvolleyball.
