LSU grad transfer Haleigh Nelson is expected to play a big role for the LSU beach volleyball team as it seeks its second NCAA tournament appearance.
It would not be anything new for her.
As a two-time All-American for the Wisconsin Badgers, Nelson helped her team get to four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances in indoor volleyball.
“It was a really great experience,” Nelson said. “I loved my coaches, teammates and playing in the UW Field House. I will cherish it forever.”
For Nelson, leaving Wisconsin was hard after four years.
Although she is from North Carolina, she had made a home in Madison.
“I loved it there,” Nelson said. “I did not know what to expect when I first got there, but it ended up being one of the best experiences of my life. I really grew as a person. I was challenged every day to be the best version of myself by the community.”
The opportunity to get her master’s in business administration and continue playing volleyball was too much to pass up for her.
While several other programs wanted Nelson, ultimately it was LSU that won her over because of its similarity to Wisconsin.
Both universities are obsessed with their teams.
“They are very different,” Nelson said. “The cities are extremely different. The one thing that they have in common is everyone in Baton Rouge lives and breathes LSU, and everyone in Madison lives and breathes Wisconsin. So, while the setting and culture is different, the love of the universities is the same. That is something I really wanted when I was looking for a school.”
That choice to come here was a big boost for the Tigers as Nelson helped close out a highly touted class of nine newcomers.
LSU coach Russell Brock sees plenty of potential in Nelson as she makes the jump from indoor volleyball to beach volleyball.
“It was clear from the moment she stepped into the program that she was going to be a great impact on our program,” Brock said. “She is going to continue to understand and learn the game and that part is going to continue to grow. Her understanding of leadership and her enthusiasm is undeniable.”
Nelson has had to adjust to that difference.
Indoor volleyball has six players on a court while beach has just two on the sand. It has required her to learn a different style of play than she did as
a Badger.
“It is totally different, especially for me,” Nelson said. “The position I played inside was pretty limited to the skills I had to master as far as defense and passing. I did not pass very much out of the middle. So, technically it is different. Then you add the wind and the sun that I never had to deal with inside. It is so different.”
“The big part for us is how much of her skill set can translate to our game,” Brock said. “There are great players in the indoor game that will struggle in our game and there are other players that all of there will set will transfer easily.”
She is not alone in her adjustments.
LSU has two other graduate transfers, Emily Hardesty from Texas A&M and Emmy Allen from Gonzaga.
Nelson found a reliable friendship from her fellow graduate transfers.
“It is awesome,” she said. “We joke about maxing out our eligibility sometime. It has been really cool to play with people from different indoor programs. I would have never met them if it were not for LSU beach volleyball. We get to compare different experiences.”
For Nelson, that experience in Wisconsin was a university that embraced her and volleyball in general. The Badgers were third in the nation in attendance in her senior season.
While she has not had a chance to encounter LSU’s beach volleyball fans yet, she is confident they will, too.
She is equally as confident that the Badgers will continue to support her here.
“I actually do wonder if any of them will make a road trip down here to see us play,” Nelson said. “That would be really cool. They are really great. They really care about us as people. I know that they still keep track of the people that played there before me and support them. They live and breathe Wisconsin volleyball. We hope to build a culture like that here.”