BATON ROUGE, La. — McKenzie Adams recorded a match-high 29 kills and 20 digs, but LSU got double-digit kills from Cati Leak (19) and Emily Ehrle (10) in a 3-1 victory (25-22, 25-17, 28-30, 25-21) against UTSA on Friday at the Tigers Classic.
The Roadrunners (0-1) fell behind by a 2-0 count but forced a fourth set with a 30-28 decision in the third. The host Tigers (1-0) countered with a 25-21 triumph to secure the season-opening victory.
Adams, the preseason Conference USA Player of the Year, hit .344 for the match, added three block assists and tallied 30.5 points. Meanwhile, Annie Kunes posted a match-high 26 digs and Brandy Huskey led all players with 50 assists.
UTSA held an 18-14 lead in the opening set after the third kill of the frame by Dajana Boskovic, who finished the night with nine winners, but LSU responded with six unanswered points, including a pair of kills by Desiree Elliott, and took a 20-18 advantage. The Roadrunners later erased a 22-20 deficit with a kill from Adams and a block by Adams and Tessa Dahnert, but the Tigers reeled off the next three points to take the early lead.
LSU turned a 6-6 tie into a 14-8 advantage in the second set en route to a 25-17 decision that gave the host squad a 2-0 edge at intermission.
UTSA stormed out to a 7-0 lead to start the third on the strength of a pair of aces from Kasey Kiefer and three consecutive kills from Adams. LSU rallied late in the set to knot the score at 20-all and the two teams saw the score tied eight more times until the Roadrunners were able to break through for a 30-28 victory, the final point coming on an ace from Kunes.
LSU overcame an 18-17 deficit in the fourth stanza with a kill by Helen Boyle and ace from Katie Lindelow and it did not relinquish the lead in the 25-21 victory.
The Roadrunners will wrap up tournament play on Saturday against San Diego State (12:30 p.m.) and UC Davis (5:30 p.m.). The Aztecs held the Aggies in five sets in the tournament opener.