A half-and-half matchup: that’s what LSU’s beach volleyball team saw at the Death Volley Invitational last weekend as it battled against USC, UCLA, Long Beach State and Stanford.
Stretching over March 28 and 29, the Tigers worked hard in what proved to be a familiar win-loss pattern in line with the East versus West competition.
“Today is a day that our team grew up a little bit,” said LSU head coach Russell Brock after the first day of the invitational. “You couldn’t have had a longer day of competition, and there wasn’t any break in the programs we had to play against today.
The then-No. 11 Tigers set out on the sand to tackle three very talented teams, but LSU came out on top with two wins, one over the No. 4 Trojans (3-2) and No. 9 49ers (3-1), yet ultimately fell to No. 1 Bruins (2-1).
“Obviously, we still have another match to play tomorrow against another really good team, so there’s still work left to do,” Brock said. “But I can’t wait to see how we respond to another matchup against one of the top teams in the country. This team is special. I love working with them.”
Some diamonds found in this upset over day one for the Tigers were the CCSA Pair of the Week, redshirt sophomore Kate Baker and sophomore Tatum Finlason, serving as LSU’s anchors.
Down early, the Tigers’ tandem took momentum to win three games on Court 4, 21-19, 27-29 and 21-19.
While LSU failed to upset UCLA, Baker and Finlason kept their heat going, winning the first few points for the Tigers on Court 4, 21-19, in both matches.
The persistent pair closed the day of competition on Court 4 again with 21-19, helping secure a team win.
LSU moved onto the second day of the competition with one final match against then No. 5 Stanford.
While the Cardinal swept the Tigers 3-0, the Baker-Finlason combo faced its first and only tournament loss on Court 4, 12-21 and 9-21.
“The tournament was really important for us as a program season,” Brock said. “The wins are an easy way to measure our improvement, but the most important truth of who we are and what we’re doing is that we can commit to continuing to get better week after week.”
So what’s next for LSU?
The Tigers will compete in the FSU Unconquered Invitational as the No. 10 team in the nation.
With its 17-8 record, LSU will face five beach teams, two of which are in the top 10 of the AVCA.
No. 5 Florida State will host with its 20-5 record, and No. 8 Texas will attend with a 17-8 record, matching the Tigers’. No. 15 Florida Atlantic, South Florida and South Carolina will also be in attendance.
The Tigers continue to climb the ladder with national championship hopes as they travel to Tallahassee, Fla., this Friday.
