These two LSU beach volleyball players grew up together and are now competing side by side on the sand

No. 11 LSU beach volleyball soon heads to the national championships in Gulf Shores, Alabama starting Friday. For two members of the team, it’s the culmination of years of pushing each other in constructive competition as best friends.

LSU redshirt sophomore Kate Baker and freshman Camryn Chatellier are childhood best friends who have fueled one another from their youth all the way to college.

Both from New Orleans, Chatellier and Baker have been training together since the ages of 15 and 13 years old and now compete side-by-side in the purple and gold uniform under head coach Russell Brock.

“I think it’s super lucky to actually have your best friend on the team,” Chatellier said. “Not that many people get that opportunity – to have someone you grew up with get to actually be on the team with you too.”

Graduating from St. Mary’s Dominican High School, both girls shared a career in basketball and indoor volleyball before jointly choosing to focus on beach volleyball.

While playing indoor volleyball, they played under Chatellier’s mother, St. Mary’s head volleyball coach Jessica Chatellier.

Chatellier’s mother said it was difficult to find the line between being a coach and being a mom to her daughter, but the two have grown to where they are now.

“I’ve never really got the chance to be like ‘mom,’” Jessica Chatellier said. “So this is awesome. It’s so great just to sit back and support her and watch her really live the dream that she’s been working for for so long.”

While Chatellier’s family played a large part in guiding her daughter to her athletic career, she always found that she had her best friend’s shoulder to lean on in times of need.

“A big part of my life here is making sure Cameron’s doing everything she needs to do and just pushing her to be better,” Baker said. “Obviously she has been super successful this season. So any part I can play in making her even better – that’s almost more rewarding for me.”

During her redshirt freshman season, Baker competed in five matches where she finished with a 2-3 overall record. Now that Chatellier has joined her this year at LSU, she has served as anchor for the freshman, who’s been named to the CCSA All-Freshman team.

“When we were really close in a game against Cal, I could hear her on the side,” Chatellier said. “So hearing what feels like my sister’s voice on the side, is just so calming and comforting in the most high pressure movements.”

Behind every player’s jersey number is a story. When Chatellier arrived at LSU, she took the No. 3 to honor her great grandmother. It’s the number she once wore when she played the sport.

Chatellier said she grew closer to her great grandmother during her time in high school. She never missed a match, even if she had to watch on Facebook Live.

“She’s got volleyball in her, in her blood, definitely,” Chatellier’s grandmother Debi Perdue said. “I just wish my mother could have seen her, she definitely knew she committed to LSU.”

Chatellier’s great grandmother passed – on the third day of February 2024, also adding to the meaning of the jersey number. Chatellier expressed how difficult the loss of her great grandmother was to her and how grateful she is for being able to continue her legacy through the No. 3.

“I like wearing that number because I want to spread what she gave to me,” Chatellier said. “Like all the good stuff that she passed to me.”

Baker’s jersey number, No. 7, is a nod to the football team’s annual tradition of giving out the No. 7 to the best playmaker.

“I want to make an impact here,” Baker said. “And I think it would be really special to kind of carry that tradition of football’s No. 7 into beach volleyball.”

In awe of her best friend, Chatellier commented on Baker’s work ethic and training definitely backs up the number.

Baker and Chatellier have competed side-by-side for as long as they can remember, but what led them to choose LSU?

For Baker it was a no-brainer, as she grew up being an LSU fan. Her father Gavin Baker attended the university for an undergraduate and graduate degree in nursing and anesthesiology.

“We can appreciate what it means to be a real Tiger fan,” Gavin Baker said. “She’s grown up as an LSU basketball, gymnastics and football fan, of course, just ever since she was born.”

Chatellier was just as eager to make her way to LSU and compete alongside Baker, but her parents made sure she kept her options open before fully committing to the university.

“We talked to a lot of other schools,” Jessica Chatellier said. “Being a coach’s kid, she knows what the word culture means. She loved the culture here. She could just really see that this is a family.”

There was also one other person ready to welcome Chatellier to the Tiger family: her older brother Quint Chatellier, a sophomore studying electrical engineering at LSU.

“I honestly think Cameron can achieve anything she puts her mind to,” Quint Chatellier said. “And I could never say it in front of her, but I’m extremely proud of her… I love the amazing human being she’s become.”

Chatellier praised her teammate for pushing her to be the best version of herself while balancing her own hard work.

“Kate has always been my role model, since I was six years old,” Chatellier said. “So just the fact that she’s just such a good one from the age of eight – and now she’s 21 – being that person consistently is a testament to the kind of person she is.”

Baker echoed the same idea, while also acknowledging how well Chatellier has balanced the lifestyle adjustment that comes with being a freshman in college.

“Seeing how she’s handled it, and how she’s been so successful this season does make me super proud,” Baker said about her teammate. “Especially since I’ve had a front row seat, watching each day how hard she works, seeing it all come to life and watching her dream come true does make me really proud.”