Volleyball drops sixth straight, swept by LSU

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CW / Hannah Saad

Hunter Jones, Contributing Writer

Alabama volleyball was swept by LSU on Sunday afternoon. It was the team’s sixth straight loss, which is its longest losing streak since 2012. Four of its last five losses have been in straight sets.

“It’s our mental mindset, we have to shift it to making the decisions that’s going to help the team,” coach Lindsey Devine said. “We have to train with the belief and understanding that our training is going to carry over into the games and right now our team, we’ve been challenged.”

The Crimson Tide (12-15 overall, 4-12 SEC) lost each set by a larger margin, falling 25-21, 25-16 and 25-15. After the game Devine said LSU made an adjustment to prevent Alabama from hitting down sidelines, which helps to explain junior outside hitter Doris Carter’s one kill, which tied her career low.

“Teams make adjustments and we have to be able to make those adjustments with them and right now that’s kind of where we’re struggling,” Devine said. “We have a great game plan, we go out, we execute it to a certain point then a team makes an adjustment and we’re having a little difficulty trying to make those adjustments going forward.”

LSU recorded 14 blocks in the game to just seven for Alabama. Junior Taylor Bannister led LSU with 14 kills on 33 attacks while senior middle blocker Hayley McSparin led Alabama with nine kills on 18 attacks. In total, Alabama posted 26 errors to 11 for LSU.

“They were just a great blocking team, their defense was good,” freshman middle blocker Alyiah Wells said. “Their block was set up right every single time and their defensive players were in the right spot, something we probably need to strive towards but they made all the right adjustments and read us very well.”

Wells added that the Tigers were disciplined in their defense, which left some Crimson Tide players visibly frustrated as the errors mounted.

“Sometimes when you want to do so well that creates that anxiousness, that fear inside of you and so when it doesn’t go to plan, then you’re kind of focusing on the errors versus how can I be better going forward,” said coach Lindsey Devine.

Alabama will host Georgia on Wednesday before ending its season on Saturday against Auburn.

“We just need to stay aggressive, playing 100%, giving 100% effort every single time and just playing a good mental game, leaving it all out on the court,” Wells said. “We don’t have anything to lose at this point so just finishing strong needs to be our main priority.”