Nov. 4, 2002
LEXINGTON, Ky. –
LSU Game Notes
The University of Kentucky volleyball team takes to the road for the first time in two weeks on Tuesday, Nov. 4, when the Wildcats travel to Baton Rouge for a make-up match with LSU. The Cats and Tigers were originally slated to meet on Oct. 4, but the impending arrival of Hurricane Lili shut down the Louisiana State campus and forced the match’s postponement.
UK rides a three-match SEC win streak into the bayou, while the Tigers are coming off of a solid weekend which saw them earn wins over Auburn and Alabama. With sweeps of Mississippi State and Ole Miss over the weekend, Kentucky put itself in excellent position for the conference showdown in Fayetteville in two weeks. The Cats are currently tied with Georgia for seventh in the league and the top-eight teams will travel south for the tourney.
LSU enters the match with UK on a five-match win streak which includes sweeps of Ole Miss, MSU and Auburn. The Tigers won a close 3-1 match over Alabama on Sunday.Leading the way for they Bayou Bengals are Jennifer Hampton, who averages 4.04 kills per game and Lauren Cuyler, who is hitting .350 on the season. Hampton averages a team-leading 3.82 kpg in conference play, while Cuyler’s .337 hitting percentage is still tops for the Tigers.
Coach Fran Flory is in her fifth season as head coach at LSU, earning a 78-66 record in that time. It’s Flory’s second stint in Baton Rouge after serving as a graduate assistant and assistant coach from 1988-91. Flory was named Kentucky’s head coach in 1993, a position she held for five seasons.
UK holds the 20-15 advantage in the series with Louisiana State, dating back to the 1977 season. Kentucky had a nine match win streak from 1993-1998, but Tiger wins in 1999 and 2000 ended the run. UK claimed a 3-0 victory in Lexington last fall.
