The LSU Beach Volleyball team has a junior and senior pair like no other this season. This pair can dig, spike and block like no other. This unique pair is Claire Coppola and Kelli Greene-Agnew.
This is their first season playing with each other and they continue to learn and grow after each game they play together. No matter what, they always have each other’s backs and keep their heads high on the Courts.
“If we do what we know we can do then no one can stop us,” Coppola said.
Coppola, senior, and Greene-Agnew, junior, are together for the first time in their beach volleyball careers. Their goal as a pair is to win every game that they can to help the team with an extra point on the scoreboard.
“Also to play with confidence,” Coppola said. “I think that is something we really tried to work on the past couple of weekends.”
They have strength like no other pair. The two tigers have deep chemistry. They are both from Arizona and they play with fire and intensity. This allows them to click on the Court.
“We go for every ball and we want the best for each other,” Greene-Agnew said.
Greene-Agnew said she has always looked up to Coppola as a player. She even went on to say they are from the same club, which is unheard of when both players are recruited from out-of-state.
“Getting to play with her this year has been surreal. I mean I never thought I’d get to step on the Court with Claire and this year has been awesome,” Greene-Agnew said.
The two have trouble in some matches like every other beach volleyball pair. The pair both touched on the fact that their biggest weakness is communication. It is hard when you are with a new teammate to have good communication, but they have been working on it more lately and they have seen results.
“It has been a little bit of a struggle at first, but ever since we started practicing together it is getting better every single day,” Greene-Agnew said.
One thing that amazes most people about beach volleyball is a player’s ability to know who is going to get the ball without even saying anything. This duo practices certain scenarios in order to prepare for a match, so they know who is covering the ball. In most sports, players have time to communicate verbally, but not in beach volleyball.
“Russell, our head coach is always stopping us mid-play and saying ‘okay now in that situation who do you want to get that ball,’” Coppola said.
Coppola and Greene-Agnew are typically only able to communicate in the match during time-outs and that is when they are able to talk about certain plays. The two tiger girls are always diving into the sand on Court two and will do whatever it takes to win.
