The LSU beach volleyball team competed at the CCSA Championship in Huntsville, Alabama. The Tigers played against Missouri State, Texas Christian University and Florida State.
The team played against Missouri State first on Friday, where they won 4-1.
“Overall it was a good performance,” Head Coach Russell Brock said. “In a tournament of this format, you’ve got to win and that’s all that really matters.”
LSU brought home quick wins on a nice sunny day and won on all the courts except Court Two. Claire Coppola and Kelli Greene-Agnew had trouble on Court Two and lost with scores of 21-5 and 21-19.
“There was some rust on Court Two, but we had some great conversation afterward and we anticipate them turning it around in our next match,” Brock said. “We’ll get good performances from them moving forward.”
Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope and Grace Seits led their team to victory on Court Three. They won with scores of 21-12 and 21-6. Olivia Ordonez and Kahlee York joined them with a win on Court Five with scores of 21-11 and 21-4.
Jess Lansman and Sydney Moore won on Court Four with scores of 21-13 and 21-11. Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss once again won on Court One with scores of 21-6 and 21-10. They continued their winning streak, bringing them to their 28th win of the season as the CCSA Pair of the Year.
Later on Friday, the Tigers faced TCU and took home yet another win 3-2.
“I’m really proud of the fives,” Brock said. “We’ve needed them to come through in big matches this year so to have them do it in such a clutch way in a big moment is a huge testament to the hard work they’ve put in the last few weeks to get better. We needed that tonight.”
Lansman and Moore took home one of the three wins on Court Four with scores of 21-13 and 21-15. Kloth and Nuss made winning look easy on Court One with scores of 21-18 and 21-16.
The last win was crucial in order for the Tigers to move on to the semi-finals. Ordonez and York played a close game. They won the first set 21-15 but fell in the second set 21-19. They were forced to play the third set, and Ordonez led the team to victory with her powerful blocks. They won 15-6.
On Saturday, LSU played against Florida State. The Tigers fell 4-1 against the Trojans.
“We have two opportunities tomorrow to clean up our side of things,” Brock said. “I’m liking the fact that as we played that match (vs. FSU), we know that there is at most a couple of points in three of those courts and that’s a 4-1 win for us. It’s our job between now and tomorrow to clean that up.
Kloth and Nuss were the only pair to bring home a win for the Tigers. They won on Court One with scores of 21-19 and 21-19. The Tigers were not able to win on Courts Two, Three, Four and Five. The team did fight a hard battle.
The Tigers played two matches on Sunday against TCU and Florida State. LSU won 5-0 against TCU. LSU fought hard against Florida State but lost 3-2.
Rasnick-Pope and Seits won their first set on Court Three 21-18, but they were forced to play a third set and ended up winning with a score of 15-12.
Kloth and Nuss brought home one of the two wins for the Florida State game. They won 21-14 on the first set and 21-18 on the second set. Ordonez and York were the second duo to take home a win. They won both sets 21-16 and 21-17 on Court Five.
