This weekend could make or break the No. 9 LSU beach volleyball team.
The National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship will be on May 5 in Gulf Shores, Alabama and the Tigers (18-8) have one last chance to produce a mind-blowing performance in order to secure one of eight spots in the championship.
“I think we’ve definitely proven over the last month of the season we’re one of the best teams playing right now,” said LSU coach Russell Brock in a press release. “We feel like we have a strong case, and we know there are several strong teams who have good cases. When it’s coming down to the end, there is no room to slip up. We have to finish really strong.”
LSU will host its last home matches of the 2016 season — the Battle of the Bayou tournament — at Mango’s Beach Volleyball Club on Saturday and Sunday.
Now, LSU looks to impress after a disappointing loss in the semifinals of the CCSA Conference Championship Tournament on April 24 but fell to Georgia State in the final match of the weekend.
Sophomore Lilly Kessler said the loss and the weekend’s overall success was a learning experience.
“Last weekend it was good to see that we kind of proved ourselves to be considered one of the top teams in the conference,” Kessler said, “Even though we didn’t finish where we wanted to, it showed us some vulnerabilities. This week we were able to work on that for this weekend.”
The criteria the Tigers have to meet to qualify for Nationals include strength of schedule, head-to-head competition and records versus regional opponents as well as common opponents.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Tigers’ four playing pairs hope to cultivate five wins.
The No. 3 pair seniors Callan Molle and Cati Leak have 15 wins for the Tigers.
Freshman Megan Davenport and sophomore Cheyenne Wood have a 10-1 record.
Sophomores Mandi Orellana and Riley Young have eight wins.
The No. 2 duo senior Helen Boyle and Kessler spearhead the Tigers.
Boyle and Kessler said last season the power duo were only able to play in one match as a team before Kessler had to sit out because of an illness.
Since then, they’ve been able to watch each other grow while achieving a 19-4 record, and have recently been named the CCSA All-Tournament team for their performance in the CCSA Championship Tournament.
The team has been improving all season long but hasn’t reached it’s full potential yet, Boyle said.
“It’s the last time for people in Baton Rouge to see us,” Boyle said. “We’re probably playing the best we ever had. It’s great. The people at Mango’s have seen us get better and better each week … It’s sad we can’t play together next year, but it’s been fun [playing with Lilly].”
The Tigers look to overpower their opponents as they’ll see matches against New Orleans, No. 16 New Mexico and TCU on Saturday. They will play against No. 18 Tulane and Houston Baptist on Sunday.