BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 10 ranked LSU beach volleyball team will officially kickoff the 2017 season on Saturday, competing in the Stetson Invitational to take on No. 2 Florida State and Florida Atlantic at the Cooper Beach Volleyball Courts in DeLand, Florida.
The team will face the Lady Seminoles and Owls at 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. CT on Saturday and will conclude the Invite against No. 9 Stetson on Sunday at 7 a.m. CT.
“It’s been a long offseason, and we’ve been working really hard. We’re excited to get across the net from somebody else that’s already going to make a huge impact on our mentality and how we play the game,” said head coach Russell Brock.
“We have really high expectations. It doesn’t matter who is across the net from us. We expect to be competitive, play hard and put ourselves in a position to win.”
LSU is coming off of a program-best 20-9 season after increasing their win total each of the year since its inaugural season. The team will also bring back eight starters, as well as eight players with 16 or more wins.
Two-time Coastal Collegiate Sports Association Preseason All-Conference selections Katie Lindelow and Mandi Orellana return to the sand, looking to improve on their performances from last season.
Lindelow has played exclusively at the one spot during her three-year tenure with the team. A native of Covington, Louisiana, Lindelow totaled 16 victories last season while also collecting five conference wins.
Orellana tallied five wins against ranked teams and closed out last season securing points in 10 of her final 12 matches.
Lilly Kessler also returns after being selected to the 2017 CCSA Beach Volleyball Watch List. Last year, Kessler anchored the two spot, notching 23 wins, including eight against ranked opponents en route to earning CCSA Co-Freshman of the Year accolades.
A member of the CCSA All-Freshmen squad, Ashley Allmer looks to pick up where she left off after finishing her first season compiling 16 wins alongside Lindelow at the one spot.
LSU enters the weekend 0-3 all-time against Florida State and is looking for its first win in the series. The Lady Tigers are also 0-1 against Stetson and 1-1 against Florida Atlantic all-time.
“We think we’ve put in the work and earned it, and we’re ready to see how we match up,” said Brock.
For the latest information on LSU’s beach volleyball team, fans can follow the Tigers on Twitter and Instagram @LSUbeachVB and @RussLSUbeach, or on Facebook by liking LSU Beach Volleyball.