No. 6 LSU beach volleyball traveled to compete against four teams in the March to May tournament this past weekend.
The March to May tournament takes place on the site of the NC Beach Volleyball Championship in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and features some of the nation’s top beach volleyball programs.
Five of the nine programs involved were among the top 10 in the nation and the Tigers got a stab at three of them: No. 10 Georgia State University, No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 Florida State University. The fourth team LSU went head-to-head with was Mercer University.
The Tigers started the weekend of play against No. 10 Georgia State and No. 3 UCLA on Friday. Due to expected inclement weather toward the end of the day, the games were ended once a team reached three wins rather than playing out all five matches.
LSU won its morning match against Georgia State 3-0 with wins on Courts 2, 3 and 4. Courts 1 and 5 were marked as ‘Did Not Finish’ games.
Court 2 featured Parker Bracken and Grace Seits. The pair closed out the first set with an easy 21-8 win then went on to take the second set 21-17.
Ella Larkin and Lara Boos finished similarly on Court 3 with a 21-8 first set win, followed by a 21-12 second set win.
The deciding match came out of Court 3 from Reilly Allred and Hannah Brister. With a 21-14, 21-18 straight-set win, the Tigers took the match over the Panthers.
Court 1 had Kylie DeBerg and Ellie Shank and Court 5 had Melia Lindner and Amber Haynes. DeBerg and Shank tied the match up after a 19-21, 21-14 fight before the game was cut short. Lindner and Haynes lost a close first set at 19-21.
After LSU took the match 3-0 over Georgia State, the sand was prepared for the Tigers’ next match against the Bruins.
The Sandy Tigs went up against a more challenging opponent in No. 3 UCLA and were met with a 3-0 deficit. UCLA pulled wins off on Courts 1, 2 and 5 while Courts 3 and 4 were marked DNF.
The first game to finish came from Court 1. DeBerg and Shank lost in straight sets against the Bruins with the first set ending at 16-21 and the second set ending at 19-21.
Court 2 featuring Seits and Bracken ended with identical sets. The Bruins took sets one and two 21-16 to put UCLA up 2-0 over LSU.
The deciding match was on Court 5 with Lindner and Haynes. Set one ended at 16-21 in favor of the Bruins and set two followed with a more hard-fought battle. The second set went into extra points, but in the end, UCLA took it 22-20 to secure the match over the Tigers.
Allred and Brister lost the first set on Court 3, 15-21, before it was cut short. The one set LSU was able to take from the Bruins came from Larkin and Boos on Court 4. The pair took the first set 21-19 before the game was stopped.
The Tigers’ 3-0 loss to the Bruins concluded their first day of play in the March to May tournament.
Saturday’s gameplay for LSU started with an early match against Florida State. The Tigers have a long history with the Seminoles, including a meeting in the tournament last season.
Regular gameplay resumed on Saturday with all five matches being played out. Despite hard efforts from the Tigers, Florida State walked away with a 3-2 win over LSU.
Court 5 with Lindner and Haynes was the first of the match to finish. The Tigers fell in straight sets with the first set ending at 21-19 and the second set ending at 21-15 in favor of the Seminoles.
The next match to finish was on Court 4 with Larkin and Boos. The Tigers took the first set 21-17 before a tie-breaking third was forced after Florida State took the second set 22-20. The third set was a close battle but ended in favor of the Seminoles at 15-12.
LSU’s first win of the match came from Court 1. DeBerg and Shank won the first set 21-17 and went on to take the second set 24-22.
Another LSU win followed after the conclusion of Court 1’s game with Brister and Allred going to three sets on Court 3. The first set was a 21-19 Tiger win, then the Seminoles walked away with an easy 21-12 win in the second set. A tie-breaking third was underway and LSU was down 8-10 before pushing through to take the set 16-14. The win on Court 3 tied the match 2-2, resting the decision for the winner on Court 2.
Seits and Bracken battled it out and managed to push Florida State to three sets on Court 2. After losing the first set 13-21, the Tiger duo took the second set in extra points at 22-20. The third set ended 15-11 in favor of the Seminoles, giving Florida State the 3-2 win.
LSU closed out their weekend play with a match against Mercer. The Tigers came out with a 5-0 sweep, taking each game in straight sets.
Larkin and Boos closed out their weekend of play strong with a 21-13, 21-12 straight-set win over Mercer on Court 4. Cassidy Chambers took to the sand for the first time over the weekend with Lindner, and the duo closed out their match on Court 5 with a 21-17, 21-14 win.
Brister and Allred finished up on Court 3 with a 21-17, 21-12 win. DeBerg and Shank followed similarly with a 21-12, 21-16 win on Court 1.
The final game for the Tigers was on Court 2. Seits and Bracken handled the Bears with ease and closed out the match with a 21-16, 21-14 win.
LSU went 2-2 on the weekend with one win over a top-10 opponent. The Tigers now sit at 13-4 overall on the season.
The Sandy Tigs return home this weekend for another Tiger Beach Challenge. LSU will see some familiar faces from the season in Florida State, the University of New Orleans and the University of Southern Mississippi, along with new opponents from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and the University of Washington.
