Do you like favorable weather conditions, endless imprints in the sand and making new traditions? So do the four women who decided to kick their shoes off and wave goodbye to an air conditioned court to play LSU Sand Volleyball, the first sport added to LSU’s lineup of teams since women’s soccer and softball were added in the 1996-97 athletic year.
Five years ago when sand volleyball was on the brink of becoming an “it” sport, head volleyball coach Fran Flory proposed the addition of sand volleyball to the women’s varsity lineup. During the last fall semester, sports administrators gave her the green light and hired Associate Head Coach Russell Brock from Rice University.
“Adding Russell to our staff has been seamless,” Flory said. “We knew from the start who we wanted to lead this program. I wasn’t sure I could get him…He has worked tirelessly in terms of recruiting for this year and beyond. He has already created the image that LSU Sand Volleyball is going to be one of those truly elite programs that is the same as every other program at LSU.”
Nationally, Flory said men’s volleyball is not the hot commodity that women’s is. The sand-only roster includes Kaitlin Hatcher, Meghan Mannari, Victoria Boraski and Emma Hiller. Hatcher’s mother was one of the first to be on the women’s indoor volleyball team at LSU.
Flory explained that the volleyball IQ of spectators is much higher while watching sand volleyball versus indoor volleyball because fans do not have to follow the intricacies of six people moving on a court. She said when viewers get confused they don’t enjoy the sport.
In indoor volleyball, players are highly specialized in their position. Flory said that sand volleyball is an unforgiving sport because teams target an individual opponent. Since there are only two players per team in sand, each player must be highly proficient in every position.
“Do I hate coming out here and practicing and getting my butt kicked?” Hatcher said. “No, I love it, and Russell makes volleyball interesting again.”
Games are played like a tennis match; the best three out of five pairs wins. The type of athlete is also different, even though Flory said some indoor players transition well. Hatcher said she likes not being in a controlled environment where there are different variables like the wind and sun.
“First and foremost, in terms of my responsibilities, I am an indoor coach,” Flory said. “My forte is not on the sand. That’s why I wanted Russell. He is a great sand coach.”
Brock started playing sand volleyball competitively toward the end of his college career. As his first head coaching experience, Brock said he was thrilled to be a part of the vision for the whole program rather than being responsible for different parts of it.
“In my understanding, when you have opportunities to do work, eventually you find what you were created to do,” Brock said. “I could do whatever and probably live a fairly joyful life, but when I coach it’s clear to me that that’s what I was made to do.”
Brock said his main focus is on recruiting. For a process that would have been going on for three or four years, Brock has to play catch-up because of the constrained timeline.
Unlike indoor, Brock said there was no formula for position recruitment. Sand athletes can come in all shapes and sizes, but Brock said they all have one thing in common: great ball control. He said the unformulated process requires a lot more watching to see how players are effective. The final step is pairing a recruited athlete with a teammate that enhances their current skillset.
“I truly look forward to being in the office and being out in the sand with the girls,” Brock said. Training, planning practices, recruiting; all of it has been better than it should be.”
Brock said he wanted to start traditions that create a certain vibe when the women walked onto the sand. He said the groundwork is being laid to build on, so the team can look back and know how they have always done things and continue down the same path. Hiller said she hopes to make sleepovers one of the first traditions.
“Everything is a new tradition,” Brock said. “We have none. That’s part of the fun in doing something new. Everyday is the first of everything we’ve ever done.”
While the indoor women practice with Flory, the sand women train with Brock. The indoor members sank their feet in the sand for the first practice as a full team on March 10. Flory said the element of surprise might be their best asset for the first season. She said the goal is to get exposure and experience.
Brock said it will be up to the sand-only women to help train and ingrain sand game plans into their mindset. The indoor members will only have had seven practices to transition before their first match at Mangos on March 19 against UL Monroe.
“Getting to play a sport where you get to take off your shoes and socks, it’s awesome,” Boraski said.

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Charles Champagne