The LSU volleyball team is teeming with freshmen.
Seven of the 18 Tigers on the roster are in their first year at LSU, but for Gina Tillis, Kelly Quinn and Mimi Eugene, their bond goes beyond their first few months in Baton Rouge.
Tillis hails from Rockwall, Texas, just northeast of Dallas. Quinn is from The Woodlands, Texas, about 30 miles north of Houston, the city Eugene calls home.
More than 250 total miles separated the three of them in the Lone Star State, but Tillis, Quinn and Eugene crossed paths frequently thanks to club volleyball.
Eugene said the trio shared a friendly rivalry because they all knew they’d be teammates one day.
“It was just funny because when you cross the net and you clap hands with everyone, we would always just smile and laugh at each other,” Eugene said. “It was fun, and it was competitive, too, because we had fun with it. It was like, ‘Oh, we’re going to the same school and we’re just showing out, having fun.’”
Eugene and Tillis are outside hitters, while Quinn is a defensive specialist.
Quinn said she remembers both Tillis and Eugene being the go-to players on their teams and having to prepare for both of them.
“When I was 13, Mimi played up a couple years,” Quinn said. “I remember watching her and thinking, ‘Wow, she’s really good. That’s incredible that she’s my age and playing at that high of a level.’”
Though Tillis and Eugene were the top killers on their teams, getting kills on Quinn wasn’t easy because she would always be in the right spot to get the dig, Eugene said.
“Kelly definitely got them up,” Eugene said. “I definitely remember that.”
Now the three are at LSU making major contributions to the Tigers in their own way.
Tillis and Eugene are fourth and fifth on the team in kills, respectively. LSU coach Fran Flory said she expected that type of performance when she recruited them.
“We knew Mimi and Gina were going to end up being kind of the dynamic duo, if you will, on the pen for us,” Flory said. “[Mimi’s] a precise, true volleyball player that understands the game [and] that is going to be able to beat you because she sees and picks the right shot to hit at the right time. Gina is going to be a blaster. I call her ‘The Terminator.’”
Flory said she expected Quinn to contribute on passing and playing defense, but she got more than that from the young defensive specialist.
“We knew [Quinn] was going to come in and contribute,” Flory said. “She’s a great passer, a great defender. We didn’t realize how valuable her serve was going to be to us. She is absolutely vital. She’s had great training, but she has great confidence. She’s one of the most mature kids on our team, even as a freshman.”
Flory tends to turn to Quinn’s serving skills late in sets when the ball needs to be placed in a specific zone. Normally, entering a set with the game on the line would rattle a player, but Quinn said the support of her teammates gives her the confidence she needs.
“It was nerve-wracking, coming in at that position, but knowing that my teammates and my coaches trust me in that position makes it a lot easier to know that I can come in and make that play and everybody trusts that I can do it,” Quinn said.
Quinn, Eugene and Tillis have each left their marks on many matches with their kills and serves, but they also bring a fun, focused attitude to practice each day.
Flory said at this time of the year, most freshmen have crashed, but not this year.
“They all want to be great,” Flory said. “The fun part of it is they want to have and they are capable and mature enough to have balance. When they step between the lines and onto the court, they take care of business, but at any free moment, any one of them is goofing off and having a great time.”
The trio may have their “silly” moments at practice, but they also have some in their apartment. The three are roommates along with fellow freshman Elly Ogle.
Eugene called Tillis the best chef and threw Quinn’s cooking skills under the bus, saying she remembers Quinn burning food not too long ago.
“It was getting smoky in there and I was like, ‘Kelly, are you OK?’” Eugene said, laughing. “But usually Regina is the cook for us. She makes big family dinners and we just eat together.”
The three are enjoying their time at LSU, but they haven’t forgotten their roots in Texas. Tillis said the three have a road trip planned back to their hometowns.
“We always say we’re going to do a road trip back to home, but that hasn’t happened yet,” Tillis said. “One day we’re going to do it, but none of us have cars, so that’s going to be a problem.”
Eugene found one more problem with the plan: Tillis lives near Dallas, more than three hours north of Houston.
But Tillis has that part covered.
“I’ll drop them off and then I’ll keep going,” Tillis said.