The CCSA championship stage was set on the sand with LSU fighting for its victories last weekend in a trying 1-2 matchup.
For the first time in program history, LSU hosted the conference championship for beach volleyball. Tiger alumni and Olympians Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth Brasher were in attendance for the historic moment.
However, LSU fell in two out of three of its matches between Florida State University and South Carolina.
Before the competition kicked off, it was announced that LSU’s graduate student Gabi Bailey and senior Parker Bracken were named the Pair of the Year with All-Conference honors. Following their success was freshman Camryn Chatellier, who was named to the CCSA All-Freshman Team.
“We’ve had a great tradition of really good freshmen over the history of our program,” LSU head coach Russell Brock said. “This year we had three who played big roles for our season. For Cam to represent that group is really impressive.”
Starting on Friday, No. 3 seed LSU set out on the sand to face off the No. 2 seed FSU, where it fell court by court against the Seminoles.
The only two players on the sand who were able to secure a point in LSU’s favor were fifth-year senior Emily Meyer and sophomore Skylar Martin on Court 5, going 24-22 and 21-15.
Despite its 3-1 loss against FSU, the Tigers kept their heads held high as they moved on to compete against No. 4 seed South Carolina.
The Gamecocks came in swinging as senior Rachel Hartman and graduate student Riley Whitesides took Court 2 from LSU senior Aubrey O’Gorman and Chatellier, 21-18 and 21-14.
With one point on the board against it, LSU pushed through its previous loss and brought home Courts 3, 4 and 5 with Meyer and Martin scoring 21-19 in both matches against USC’s sophomore Lauren Lawson and junior VB Trost.
From there, the Tigers were able to slap their name on the CCSA bracket for the next day of competition, where they would face FSU once more on Saturday.
“I’m really glad we did enough today to get to tomorrow. I don’t think we played our best, but it was enough to get a big win and to advance in the bracket,” Brock said. “I know we have a lot more in us, and that excites me to play again tomorrow.”
LSU lined the sand on Saturday with a 4-0 loss despite its attempts to scrape by the Seminoles. FSU would go on to fall to Texas in the final round of competition, 0-3.
The Tigers were officially knocked off the bracket after they fell short to FSU, resulting in a semifinals loss.
Brock expressed great pride in his team regardless of the conference loss and commented on how “phenomenal” the team’s growth has been from the start of the season until now.
“Obviously, we would have preferred to finish this weekend with a win, but that didn’t happen,” Brock said. “We battled in every match and just couldn’t quite come up with the points we needed to pull off the team wins.”
However, the postseason isn’t over yet for LSU.
Ever since 2017, the Tigers have advanced to the NCAA Championship, but have yet to bring home a victory in the competition.
“Couldn’t be more thrilled with the opportunity our team has earned to compete in Gulf Shores again this year,” Brock said. “There’s a lot that has to go well through the course of a season to be in position to get there and to do it for nine years straight is just really humbling.
Set as the No. 11 seed, LSU will compete against No. 6 seed Cal Poly, in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on May 2. The last time the team took on the Cal Poly Mustangs was in 2019 at the FSU Invitational, where the Tigers came out on top, 3-2.
“Cal Poly is a great team that has had lots of really big wins this year,” Brock said. “They pose a very big challenge, but one that we are excited to prepare for and we are looking forward to the match.”