The LSU sand volleyball team kicked off its inaugural campaign Tuesday at Mango’s Beach Volleyball Club with a 3-2 loss to Louisiana-Monroe that came down to the final set.
LSU coach Russell Brock said he obviously would have rathered the Tigers emerge victorious from their premiere contest, but their performance against a more experienced program made him hopeful for the remainder of the season.
“I would be lying if I said I couldn’t be more pleased,” Brock said. “But we had simple goals going in, and I think we achieved them today. … I can’t over-emphasize how much I appreciated how hard they played.”
With the Tigers trailing two matches to one and the Warhawks a point away from clinching victory, the LSU pair of senior Kaitlin Hatcher and junior Helen Boyle kept the Tigers in the competition late with some second-set heroics.
After falling 21-14 in their first set, the two rallied in the second and overcame seven match points to take the second, 29-27, before going on to win the match with a 15-8 third-set victory to tie the competition up at two matches apiece.
Hatcher and Boyle said the home crowd gave them the boost they needed to pull off the come-from-behind win.
“The fans were phenomenal,” Hatcher said. “We need them to get our momentum back up and they definitely helped. … We weren’t going to lose that game. We were going to fight until the end.”
But sophomores Victoria Boraski and Cati Leak could not hold on after winning their first set, and fell 21-15 in the second set and 15-10 in the third, giving ULM the one-match victory.
The pairing of freshmen Emma Hiller and Katarina Raicevic secured the first match win in LSU history in two sets, taking the first set 21-19 and the second 21-15.
“They served tough, they controlled the ball and they took good shots,” Brock said. “They did a really good job of taking care of the opportunities when they got them.”
ULM coach David Fischer said the Tigers impressed him with their talent and resolve in their first-ever competition. He said LSU’s ability to learn and improve had him continuously warning his Warhawks to stay focused.
“They’re such a dangerous team; they’re already good.” Fischer said. “This team is going to be wicked good in a short amount of time.”
The Tigers will get a chance to see just how fast they grow as a team on April 16, when they travel to Monroe for another shot at the Warhawks.
Until then, the Tigers will continue to treat each game as a learning experience and gain confidence and momentum along the way.
LSU will now embark on a month-long series of road games before they return to Mango’s to close out its season against UAB and Tulane for the program’s first Battle on the Bayou.”
The Tigers will begin their road trip this weekend when they travel to Columbia, S.C., to compete in the Gamecock Invitational with other collegiate sand volleyball programs around the nation, including South Carolina and Oregon.
“We had simple goals going in, and I think we achieved them today… I can’t over-emphasize how much I appreciated how hard they played.”