The LSU sand volleyball team dominated day one of the Tiger Sand Invitational on Friday night, defeating the University of New Orleans and North Florida each by a score of 5-0.
The Tigers (5-6) were desperate for a win following a disappointing performance last weekend in the UNF Sand Invitational.
“We really needed this, we were a little bit down in the dumps after last weekend,” said senior Helen Boyle. “We didn’t perform as well, and today we really needed [these wins].”
In the first game against UNO, junior Katie Lindelow and freshman Mandi Orellana won in straight sets, 21-16, 21-8, while on Court 2 junio Cati Leak and sophomore Callan Molle did the same by winning both sets, 21-9. The pairs of Boyle/Cheyenne Wood, Katarina Raicevic/Carly Morris and Riley Young/Emma Hiller finished off the meet all in straight sets.
The Tigers contributed their success to their preparation and how hard they’ve worked in practice all week.
“We did a really good job,” junior Cati Leak said. “This week in practice we’ve worked really hard on being consistent, playing our game and getting into the rhythm we really wanted. and every single person in every court executed that.”
Game two against North Florida was another fine performance by the Tigers, even with a few slipups along the way.
“We couldn’t have done a whole lot better,” said LSU coach Brock Russell “ We slipped up a little after winning a couple of the first sets really big. We let the second set get away, having to play a third a couple times.”
The Tigers will resume play tomorrow with big games beginning at 11 a.m. against Florida International followed by a 2 p.m. start time against Spring Hill.
Florida International defeated LSU, 5-0, at last weekend’s UNF Sand Invitational in St.Augustine, Florida. The loss is still fresh in the Tigers’ minds.
“Last time we just let them play their game, and we were playing catch up the whole time,” Leak said. “With the crowd and we’ve finally found what we’re looking for in consistency, we just really need to force them to play our game, and we’ll be successful.”
Players recognize the advantages of playing at home and how much it means to them and the fans.
“You can’t downplay the emotional advantage of playing at home,” Brock said. “This is our sand, we’re in front of our fans, this is where we practice everyday. That let us have a comfort level that allowed us to play up to our potential.”
You can reach Malcolm on twitter @MalcolmP_TDR.