BATON ROUGE—Gabi Bailey and Parker Bracken, LSU Beach Volleyball’s Court 1 pair, went 2-2 over the weekend at the East Meets West Invitational in Manhattan Beach, California, and have been named the CCSA Pair of the Week, announced Tuesday. The pair upset No. 1 UCLA and defeated No. 18 Hawaii.
Bailey, a grad student, and Bracken, a senior, are not new faces for the Tigers. Gabi Bailey is a four-year starter from the College of Charleston, where she is the sixth all-time leader in serving, tied for seventh for aces in a single season (44,2021) and single season aces per set (0.39, 2021). In 2024, her first year with the Tigers, Bailey played only on Court 1 and was named AVCA Second Team All-American and achieved five Top-20 victories with wins against California, Georgia State, South Carolina, and GCU.
Bracken is no stranger to success in her time as a Sandy Tig. In her freshman season, she earned a spot on the CCSA All-Freshman Team and earned AVCA Top Flight honors with partner Kylie Deberg on Court 2. In the 2023 season, Bracken went 28-10 overall with partner Grace Seits on Court 2 and had Top 20 wins against TCU, FSU, FAU, Hawaii, Georgia State, and Washington. Bracken also earned a spot on the CCSA All-Tournament Team with Seits on Court 2 in 2023. In her 2024 season campaign, Bracken added multiple accolades to her resume. She made the 2024 NCAA All-Tournament team, CCSA Pair of the Year with partner Reilly Allred, CCSA All-Tournament Team, and CCSA Pair of the Week. To top it all off, Bracken is well on her way to gaining her 100th win as a Sandy Tig.
On Friday, Bailey and Bracken upset No. 1 UCLA Sally Perez and Maggie Boyd in a three-set battle. The pair battled it out in extra points to have the set fall in the Sandy Tig’s favor, winning 23-21. In set two, Bailey and Bracken lost 21-13 but bounced back to win the third set and the match 15-13.
On Saturday, the pair faced No. 18 Hawaii in a match that came down to Court 1 to decide who would take the win. While Bracken and Bailey were early in the first set of their game, the rest of the courts had finished, and the match was tied at two points apiece. With the outcome of the match on the line, Bailey and Bracken took care of business, defeating Hawaii’s Sarah Burton and Caprice Lorenzo; 21-16 and 21-16.
The Sandy Tigs are on the road for the third weekend in a row to Austin, Texas for the East Meets West tournament, March 21-22. LSU will face No. 2 LMU, No. 7 California, No. 10 Arizona State and No. 14 GCU over the course of the weekend.