University of Georgia
LSU
Georgia Falls 3-1 to LSU
October 26, 2014 | Volleyball
BATON ROUGE, La. - The Georgia volleyball team suffered a 3-1 (15-25, 25-17, 26-28, 20-25) defeat to the LSU Tigers on Sunday, Oct. 26 at the Pete Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, La. With the loss, Georgia drops to 10-11 on the season that includes a 2-7 mark in the Southeastern Conference. LSU is now 12-7 overall and 7-3 in league play.
Tirah Le'au finished the day with nine kills to lead the Bulldogs. Lauren Teknipp added eight kills, while Jasmine Eatmon and Amanda Dachs earned seven kills each. Kaylee Kehoe paced the offense with 19 assists, while Kendall Kazor posted 16. Gaby Smiley and Le'au led the Bulldogs with 11 digs each. Defensively at the net, it was Desiree McCray who led Georgia, posting five blocks.
After dropping the first set 25-15, the Bulldogs bounced back with a 25-17 win in the second set that tied the match at one set each. Using the serve of Cassidy Anderson, Georgia was able to pull out to a 4-1 lead. After LSU made it a one-point set at 8-7, Georgia answered with a 3-0 run that made it an 11-7 set. Le'au and Kehoe combined for a pair of kills that gave the Bulldogs a 16-12 lead and forced LSU to use its first timeout of the set. The Bulldogs continued to put pressure on LSU and extended their lead to 21-16 on a kill by Eatmon. Georgia scored the final four points of the set, including two on kills by Megan Spencer and McCray to take the set 25-17.
The third set remained close over the opening possessions as the teams went point-for-point and tied seven times. The back-and-forth affair ended when a block by Spencer and Eatmon sparked a 3-0 run that also included back-to-back aces by Le'au that put Georgia up 9-7. LSU inched back into the game, cutting the score to 10-9 but Georgia had an answer, getting a kill from Amanda Dachs and block from Le'au to retake a four-point lead at 14-10. Following a service ace by Smiley, LSU used its first timeout. Out of the break, the Tigers scored four of the next five points to tie the set at 17-17. The score knotted seven more times before LSU scored the final two points to seal the 28-26 win and took a 2-1 advantage in the match.
The Tigers got off to a hot start in the fourth set, taking a 13-6 lead. Trailing 19-13, Georgia was able to ride the serve of Eatmon to close the gap to one point at 19-18. LSU was able to score six of the final eight points in the set the take it 25-20 and seal the 3-1 match with.
The Bulldogs return to Stegeman Coliseum on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m., when they host the No. 8 Florida Gators in the annual Dig Pink match. The match will be aired on the SEC Network.
