COLUMBIA, S.C. – The seventh-ranked LSU beach volleyball team is traveling to Columbia, South Carolina, to compete in the Gamecock Grandslam where it will take on No. 11 Georgia State, Jacksonville State, No. 1 Pepperdine and host No. 9 South Carolina.
The Tigers head to Wheeler Beach with a 6-6 record.
“This is a big weekend for us,” said head coach Russell Brock. “We’ve been building and playing well for the last couple weeks of training and really focusing on ways we can be better. This will be an important gauge of how much progress we have made.”
LSU will begin its weekend with a match up with Georgia State (10-3) at 8 a.m. CT Saturday and Jacksonville State (1-7) at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Tigers will take on two top-10 teams on Sunday, starting with top-ranked Pepperdine (11-2) at 8 a.m. CT and will round off the weekend against the host, South Carolina (9-1) at noon CT.
The Tigers fell to Georgia State earlier this season at the UNF Beach Invitational, 3-2. LSU is 0-2 on the year against Pepperdine. The beach volleyball team faced Pepperdine last week at the East vs. West Challenge where the Tigers fell to the Waves, 3-2. The Tigers are a combined 10-7 all-time against its competition this weekend, including a 6-0 record against South Carolina.
“I have high expectations for how our team will play and I’m looking forward to seeing the energy and excitement that we produce together,” said Brock.
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The Tigers went 1-3 last weekend in Los Angeles, competing against the top four teams in the nation. Last Saturday, LSU became just the sixth program all-time to have notched a victory against USC. It joins Pepperdine, Long Beach State, Florida State, UCLA, and Hawaii as the only programs to have recorded the feat.
The Court 3 pair of Emmy Allen and Maddie Ligon were named pair of the week after going 3-1 at the East vs. West Challenge, defeating pairs from No. 1 Pepperdine, No. 2 USC and No. 4 UCLA.
On Court 5, Riley Young and Megan Davenport also went 3-1 in L.A. defeating pairs from USC, Pepperdine and Hawaii.
The pairs of Haleigh Nelson and Hunter Domanski on Court 2 and Olivia Powers and Gina Tillis on Court 4 went 1-3 last weekend.
After beginning the season 8-0, Claire Coppola and Kristen Nuss did not earn a victory last weekend and fell to 8-4 on year.
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