The bracket for the 2023 CCSA Beach Volleyball Championship was released on April 22, and LSU was given the No. 3 seed in a pool of six teams.
The CCSA beach volleyball conference includes Texas Christian University, Florida State University, Grand Canyon University, the University of South Carolina and Missouri State University.
The Tigers will kick off their tournament run on April 27 against No. 6 Missouri State after the match between No. 4 Grand Canyon and No. 5 South Carolina. No. 1 TCU and No. 2 Florida State received byes to the second round. The CCSA Championship follows a double-elimination bracket, so the losing teams of each match will have another chance to advance in the tournament.
Each team brings something different to the field, with five of the six being ranked in the top 20 nationally. Here’s a rundown on what to expect from the competition:
No. 1 seed: TCU
With the most impressive resume of the group, TCU earned the No. 1 seed for the second year in a row after finishing off the regular season with a 31-1 record and comes into the tournament ranked No. 2 in the nation.
The Horned Frogs held the No. 1 spot in the AVCA Collegiate Beach Volleyball coaches poll for six weeks straight, and their only loss on the season was a close 2-3 battle against UCLA, ending a program-best 29-match win streak.
Of the 31 wins, 14 come from ranked opponents, including eight top-10 teams. TCU has faced both Florida State and LSU twice this season; the Horned Frogs went 4-1, 3-2 against Florida State and 5-0, 4-1 against LSU. They also faced Grand Canyon once this season, taking home a 3-2 victory.
The Horned Frogs headlined the 2023 CCSA Beach Volleyball Postseason All-Conference awards, taking home Freshman of the Year for Anhelina Khmil, Coach of the Year for head coach Hector Gutierrez and a unanimous selection of Pair of the Year for Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno.
This is the second season in a row that TCU has received every postseason accolade awarded by the league’s head coaches. Along with Alvarez and Moreno, TCU also had Hailey Brockett and Rochelle Scott named to the All-Conference Team.
TCU has been the team to beat all season, and no team in the conference has been able to do it yet. After making it to the final round of the conference run last season and losing 1-3, the Horned Frogs are back to take care of unfinished business and have the firepower to do it.
No. 2 seed: Florida State
The six-time defending champions come into the tournament with a 29-6 record, earning the No. 2 seed. The Seminoles have been ranked as high as No. 2 in the coaches poll and as low as No. 4 this season because of their 21 wins over ranked opponents, 10 of which were ranked in the top 10 nationally.
Since the CCSA added beach volleyball to the conference and held the first championship in 2016, Florida State has taken home the title every year. Last season was the first time the Seminoles didn’t receive the No. 1 seed in the tournament, but they still knocked off No. 1 TCU in the final round to win the championship.
The Seminoles have faced four of the other five teams in the conference, coming out with wins against all but TCU. Florida State took South Carolina down twice this season and Grand Canyon once, winning the matches 4-1. After facing LSU three times, the Seminoles walked away with a win in every match, defeating the Tigers 3-2, 3-2 and 4-1.
The last match of the regular season for Florida State was against conference foe TCU, and although the Horned Frogs took the match 3-2, the match was down to the wire and could have easily ended the other way. After TCU went up 2-0, the Seminoles tied it up, and the deciding match went to three sets on Court 3.
The final set of the match ended 22-20 in favor of TCU, going over into extra points by seven. Florida State is coming off a heartbreaker, so a lot of fight is expected from the team that looks to keep the name of conference champion.
No. 3 seed: LSU
The Tigers were given the No. 3 seed after finishing off the regular season with a 24-10 record. Of the 24 wins, six come from ranked opponents with three being in the top 10. The lineup for the Tigers has seen a few changes throughout the season, but all-conference selections Kylie DeBerg and Ellie Shank have remained a constant on Court 1. The duo ended the regular season with a 20-10 record and have a few national titles to their name.
Aside from DeBerg and Shank, the Tigers also lean heavily on duo Lara Boos and Ella Larkin. With most of their matches being on Court 4, the pair leads the team with a 26-5 record. Parker Bracken and Grace Seits of Court 2 have a 20-9 record together and are 7-3 in their last 10 matches.
The best finish LSU has had in the CCSA Tournament is second place. For three consecutive years, the Tigers made it to the final round until last season when TCU broke the streak and took home runner-up. LSU beach volleyball celebrates 10 years this season and will say goodbye to seven seniors that have contributed greatly to the program’s growth.
No. 4 seed: Grand Canyon
As the newest addition to the playing field this season, Grand Canyon ended the regular season with a 23-6 record to earn the No. 4 seed in the tournament. The Lopes have been back and forth between the No. 6 and No. 7 spot in the coaches poll and are headed into tournament play hot after securing a 4-1 win over No. 9 California.
Grand Canyon has taken home seven wins over ranked opponents, two being from the top 10. Despite a low number of ranked wins, the Lopes have pushed high-caliber teams to the limit as they made No. 1 TCU and No. 4 USC work hard for a 3-2 win.
Coming off a stellar season in 2022, returning AVCA Collegiate Beach National Coach of the Year Kristen Rohr looks to push teams in the conference to a limit they haven’t met before.
This season’s conference tournament is the first for the Lopes, and the only opponents they’re familiar with are Florida State and TCU. They head into the tournament with a strong team, including All-Conference Team selections Samaya Morin and Allanis Navas.
There’s a lot of questions about how Grand Canyon will perform in the conference tournament, but after earning their first bid ever to the NC Beach Volleyball Championship last season, the Lopes have proven that they have what it takes to go up against some of the best teams in the country.
No. 5 seed: South Carolina
The No. 5 seed was given to South Carolina after a regular season finish of 19-10. The Gamecocks have bounced all around the coaches poll, peaking at No. 15—they come into the tournament ranked No. 16 in the nation with wins against three ranked opponents, one being over a top-5 opponent.
The team is led by All-Conference selections Skylar Allen and Simone Priebe, a pair that has a 20-8 record on the season.
The Gamecocks have flown under the radar all season, but an impressive 3-2 win over No. 5 Loyola-Marymount grabbed the attention of many and proved that they’ve gotten significantly better as the season has progressed. South Carolina is currently on a five-match win streak, so the Gamecocks are definitely a team to pay attention to in the tournament.
No. 6 seed: Missouri State
The Bears earned the No. 6 seed and come into the tournament with a 9-11 record.
The beach volleyball program has only been around since 2018 for Missouri State, so its experience in the sand is rather minimal. Missouri State has been a part of the CCSA since 2020 and has competed in two conference tournaments. They have yet to secure a win in the tournament, losing in the first round of the regular bracket and then the first round of the elimination bracket every year.
No team in the conference has faced Missouri State this season, but in years past, the Bears have seen TCU, LSU, Grand Canyon and South Carolina a handful of times, and every match ended with a loss for Missouri State. Since there’s yet to be a ranked win in program history, the Bears don’t seem to pose much of a threat to the other teams.
What are the odds for LSU?
After looking at the road ahead for the Tigers, there’s a lot to consider. Assuming LSU is able to take care of No. 6 Missouri State with ease, they’ll look to face No. 2 Florida State in the following round.
LSU doesn’t have the greatest history with the Seminoles—Florida State leads the series 22-2 and is currently on a six-match win streak over LSU. The last time LSU clinched a win over Florida State was on May 8, 2021, in the NCAA Tournament, and the only other time the Tigers beat the Seminoles was on February 23, 2019.
The most recent meeting between the two ended 4-1 in favor of the Seminoles, so if the trend were to continue, it’s expected that the Tigers will be knocked to the elimination bracket after going up against Florida State.
Usually seeding with tournaments can be second-guessed, but with the strength of schedules combined with notable wins across the playing field, I can see the seeding matching up with who will come out on top.
If I had to give my two cents, I’d make the bet that LSU will go as far as the last round of the elimination bracket, giving them third overall in the tournament behind runner-up Florida State and conference champion TCU.
It’s debatable that TCU and Florida State could swap places, but with Florida State falling to the Horned Frogs twice already this season, I think TCU has what it takes to dethrone the defending champions.
All matches for the CCSA Beach Volleyball Championship will be live streamed on Bally Live and YouTube with gameplay running from April 27 to April 29. The first day of competition will consist of Matches 1, 2, 3 and 4 at 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.
The next morning will start with elimination bracket matches—Match 5 will begin at 9:30 a.m., followed by Match 6 at 11 a.m. The regular bracket will resume with Match 7 starting at 12:30 p.m., then the day will end with Match 8 in the elimination bracket at 2 p.m.
On the final day of the tournament, whichever team fell in Match 7 will have another chance to reach the final round, going up against the victor of the elimination bracket at 10:30 a.m. in Match 9.
The winner of Match 9 will head to the final round to face the tournament’s only undefeated team. The conference champion will be crowned on Saturday, April 29, after a deciding match at 1:30 p.m.
