Baton Rouge, La. – LSU Beach Volleyball is sending two pairs to the second annual AVCA Fall Collegiate Beach Championships in Huntsville, Alabama, on November 15-17. Gabi Bailey, Parker Bracken, Aubrey O’Gorman and Skylar Martin will be making the trip.
The pairs will face off against some of the best programs in the country, competing in a field of 64 invite-and-bid qualifying teams. Courts 1-3 will be streamed for free on Volleyball World.
Bailey enters her sixth year in NCAA athletics with the first part of her career playing at the College of Charleston before transferring to LSU. In 2024, Bailey made an immediate impact in the lineup, playing on Court 1 for the entirety of the season. With AVCA Top 20 wins against California, Georgia State, Stetson and South Carolina, Bailey was awarded AVCA Second Team All-American honors with partner Ellie Shank.
Bracken is no stranger to success in her time at LSU. She is a two-time CCSS All-Tournament selection, CCSA All-Freshman selection and a AVCA Top Flight recipient in 2022. In 2024 alone, Bracken earned CCSA Pair of the Year and a spot on the NCAA All-Tournament Team with partner Reilly Allred, CCSA All-Tournament team and CCSA All-Conference team. At the 2024 NCAA Championships, Bracken and Allred clinched the upset against No. 2 Stanford to send the Sandy Tigs to their Final Four run.
O’Gorman hasn’t been in the sand for long, but success has followed her in the short time she has played. She came into the lineup halfway through the 2024 season and solidified her spot. In her second season with the Sandy Tigs in 2024, O’Gorman played on Court 3 with partner Ella Larkin. In their first match as a pair, they clinched the upset against No. 1 USC at the Death Volley Invitational. As the season continued, O’Gorman and Larkin were awarded AVCA Top Flight and clinched the upset against No. 6 TCU at the NCAA Championship Tournament in 2024.
Marin is entering her second season with the LSU Tigers, but she made quite an impact in her freshman season. She primarily played on Courts 4 and 5 throughout the 2024 season and earned a spot on the CCSA All-Freshman team. Before her time as a Sandy Tig, Martin is a 2023 AVCA Junior Beach All-American, three-time USAV Beach National Champion and ranked No. 2 beach player in the country in 2020.
In 2022, Ellie Shank and partner Kylie Deberg won the first ever AVCA Fall Collegiate Beach Championships. They went on to have a 22-12 record on Court 1 in the spring and both became AVCA First Team All-Americans.
“Excited for our pairs to compete this weekend,” said head coach Russell Brock. “We’ve had a great fall so far and feel like we’ve made good progress. This will be a fantastic test to finish up. Our pairs are both talented enough to make a great run, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing how we hold up to the pressure of the moments. There are lots of ways we can be successful as we navigate the weekend. My expectation is that we come back stronger as individuals, as pairs, and as a team.”
The remainder of the team will be at the LSU Beach Volleyball Stadium for the LSU Fall Competition November 15-17. Friday will consist of Queen of the Court-style play from 5 pm to 7 pm CT. Saturday will consist of pool play starting at 9 am CT and Sunday will consist of a double elimination bracket based off the results on Saturday starting at 8 am CT.