Cy-Woods alum Desiree Elliott helps lead LSU into NCAA Tournament

Cy-Woods graduate Desiree Elliott, a 6-foot freshman middle blocker, has become a star for the NCAA Tournament-bound LSU Tigers.

The LSU volleyball team secured the No. 13 national seed and its sixth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance with an at-large selection as the 64-team field was announced.

As a freshman, Elliott leads the team with 104 blocks. She is also fourth on the team with 257 kills and 2.47 kills per set.

At Cy-Woods, Elliott garnered the 2006 Newcomer of the Year and Most Valuable Hitter awards.

The freshman chose LSU over Duke, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas.

LSU (25-4, 16-4 SEC) squares off with Tulsa (30-2, 20-0 C-USA) at Oklahoma's McCasland Fieldhouse as part of the NCAA Norman Regional, which begins Friday at 5 p.m. The winner advances to face either Oklahoma (21-10, 13-7 Big 12) or Wichita State (21-7, 14-4 MVC) Saturday at 2 p.m. for the right to advance to the Sweet 16 in University Park, Pennsylvania, hosted by Penn State.

Elliott is the daughter of Irma and Colin George and Angie and Joseph Elliott. She was coached by Ashley Ahlfinger at Cypress Woods High School. She was in LSU's 2010 recruiting class and ranked No. 27 nationally by PrepVolleyball.com. She came away with multiple All-District and All-State accolades. Her JV team went 31-0 in 2006  and also was ranked No. 90 among PrepVolleyball.com's Senior Aces. Elliott won a gold medal in addition to a pair of bronze medals at the Junior Olympics and notched multiple All-District Academic Honor Roll selections.

See Desiree Elliott's Athlete Tracker page