BATON ROUGE—Gabi Bailey and Parker Bracken, LSU Beach Volleyball’s Court 1 pair, went 4-0 over the weekend at the Battle On The Bayou in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and have been named the CCSA Pair of the Week, announced Tuesday. The pair upset defeated Houston Christian, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Tulane, and UNO.
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 earned her 100th win as a Sandy Tig just two weekends ago with a Court 1 win over Texas at the Unconquered Invitational in Tallahassee, Florida.
On Friday, Bailey and Bracken started the day off with a straight-set sweep over Houston Christian, winning Court 1; 22-20 and 21-10. After a break, the pair faced Texas A&M Corpus Christi, winning; 21-18 and 23-21.
On Saturday, the pair played two more matches, with LSU coming out on top. Bailey and Bracken got off to a hot start against Tulane, winning; 21-14 and 21-19. In the last match of the weekend, the pair concluded the final game of the regular season with a win on Court 1; 21-9 and 21-18.
The Sandy Tigs are off this weekend in preparation for the CCSA Championship Tournament hosted at the LSU Beach Volleyball Stadium. The Conference Championship will include LSU, FSU, Texas, and South Carolina. The tournament will be held over two days, April 25-26, to decide the CCSA Conference Champions.