GULF SHORES, Ala. – LSU’s Reilly Allred and Parker Bracken earned a spot on the NCAA All-Tournament Team after going a perfect 3-0 as a pair on Court 2 at the NCAA Beach Championship.
LSU entered the tournament as the No. 11 seed and defeated No. 6 TCU and No. 3 Stanford – the largest upset in NCAA Beach Tournament history – to reach the Final Four where the Tigers’ season came to an end against No. 2 UCLA. LSU’s trip to the semifinals marked the furthest a No. 11 seed has ever made it at the national tournament.
Allred and Bracken, this season’s CCSA Pair of the Year, played critically for the Tigers to go on their run to the semifinals. LSU began the tournament on Friday with a match against TCU, marking the third time the two teams have met in an elimination match in the NCAA Tournament. Like the two previous times, the Tigers sent the Horned Frogs home once again. For LSU’s Court 2 duo, Allred and Bracken took the first set, 21-15, before dropping the second, 16-21, to force a third. In a neck-and-neck third, Allred and Bracken got the job done in the third set, 16-14, to give LSU two court victories in the match. Amber Haynes and Skylar Martin had already earned a point on Court 4. Moments after Allred and Bracken’s win, Aubrey O’Gorman and Ella Larkin clinched to dual on Court 3 to give LSU a 3-2 victory.
Facing off against Stanford early Saturday afternoon, LSU fell behind early, 2-0. O’Gorman and Larkin got the Tigers on the board with another three-set win on Court 3. They won the third set rallying off three straight points after facing match point, down 14-13. Then Emily Meyer and Yali Ashush evened up the match with another three-set victory on Court 5. It would all come down the Allred and Bracken on Court 2. The LSU pair faced match point, trailing 14-11, but refused to give in which led to an extended third set. Ultimately, Allred and Bracken finished the job, 24-22, to give LSU the largest upset in tournament history, reaching the Final Four.
Hardly over one hour after they wrapped up clinching the win against Stanford, Allred and Bracken went back to work on Court 2 against UCLA. After going three sets in their first two matches of the tournament, they would need only two despite having limited rest. Allred and Bracken earned the sweep on Court 2, 23-21 and 21-18, to give LSU its only point of the dual. UCLA advanced with a 3-1 victory over LSU and the Bruins ultimately fell in the National Championship against USC.