No. 6 LSU beach volleyball goes 2-2 in weekend tournament

BY CHLOE RICHMOND @chlorichmond

No. 6 LSU beach volleyball traveled to compete against four teams in the March to May tournament this past weekend.

The March to May tournament takes place on the site of the NC Beach Volleyball Championship in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and features some of the nation’s top beach volleyball programs.

Five of the nine programs involved were among the top 10 in the nation and the Tigers got a stab at three of them: No. 10 Georgia State University, No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 Florida State University. The fourth team LSU went head-to-head with was Mercer University.

The Tigers started the weekend of play against No. 10 Georgia State and No. 3 UCLA on Friday. Due to expected inclement weather toward the end of the day, the games were ended once a team reached three wins rather than playing out all five matches.

LSU won its morning match against Georgia State 3-0 with wins on Courts 2, 3 and 4. Courts 1 and 5 were marked as ‘Did Not Finish’ games.

Court 2 featured Parker Bracken and Grace Seits. The pair closed out the first set with an easy 21-8 win then went on to take the second set 21-17.

Ella Larkin and Lara Boos finished similarly on Court 3 with a 21-8 first set win, followed by a 21-12 second set win.

The deciding match came out of Court 3 from Reilly Allred and Hannah Brister. With a 2114, 21-18 straight-set win, the Tigers took the match over the Panthers.

Court 1 had Kylie DeBerg and Ellie Shank and Court 5 had Melia Lindner and Amber Haynes. DeBerg and Shank tied the match up after a 19-21, 2114 fight before the game was cut short. Lindner and Haynes lost a close first set at 19-21.

FOOTBALL, from page 9 those four transfers will see the field a lot this season, with each primed to land a starting role depending on how they do during the offseason. Fans may also see see sophomore Laterrance Welch and freshman Javien Toviano make an impact as well.

Defensive End

With longtime starting edge rushers BJ Ojulari and Ali Gaye exiting the program, Kelly would have his hands full when it came to replacing them. Through three seasons together, they combined for 215 total tackles and 23.5 sacks.

When it came down to filling their spots, LSU at least had re - turnees it could turn to in Sai’vion Jones and former four-star prospect Quency Wiggins. But the LSU coaching staff still felt the need to recruit to position heavily for both depth and competition.

It brought in two touted freshmen in five-star Da’Shawn Womack and four-star Jaxon Howard from the 2023 class. Then over the offseason, it added an experienced starter in Texas transfer Ovie Oghoufo and Oregon transfer Bradyn Swinson, who played in 30 games with the Ducks as a rotational player.

LSU isn’t a stranger to having freshmen be impactful at the position and while Kelly cited the two transfers as the mix they were expecting to battle for a starting hits and only two strikeouts. role, he also hinted at the freshmen serving an impact. He added that Oghoufo had already gotten to work serving as a mentor to the younger players.

“Ovie [Oghoufo] has been really good as a leader and as a mentor right away to some of the younger players, and I think some of the young kids have shown themselves to be a little bit further along than we thought,” Kelly said. “That will be a position that continues to evolve.”

There are a lot of different combinations that could ultimately serve as LSU’s starting edge rushers and fans likely won’t have a concrete answer until fall camp.

Linebacker

The fact that this is the third biggest question mark regarding position groups on the roster serves as a testament to how well LSU’s coaching staff has maintained its roster from last season.

Harold Perkins, Greg Penn and Oregon State transfer Omar Speights already look like clear candidates to man the three starting linebacker positions, but there are a few reasons this position group sports mystery.

For one, this group hasn’t yet been in game action together. Perkins did start in eight games last season but served more as an edge rusher/outside linebacker than his natural position at inside linebacker. Though Omar Speights was one of the best defensive players in the PAC-12 last season, it will take some adjusting to effectively operate in the SEC. swered the rally with an RBI single to third base.

With Micah Baskerville, Mike Jones Jr. and Demario Tolan all exiting the program, this group lacks proven depth. Other than West Weeks, who was a considerable rotational player last season, there aren’t many clear rotational players on the roster. West’s brother Whit Weeks could also serve as a backup, but there isn’t much depth other than that.

With that in mind, this should still be one of the best linebacker groups in college football next season. Penn is already an established starter with the program, and Perkins and Speights are proven talents that should quickly adjust.

In the second half of the ball game, LSU’s bats were too much for the Bears’ pitching. After walks from freshman designated hitter Jared Jones and junior left fielder Brayden Jobert, junior shortstop Jordan Thompson lined a three-run home run, his second of the season, to give the Tigers a 7-4 lead.

LSU’s offense put three insurance runs on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning, all of which were unearned. Crews scored on a balk, and Jobert reached on a throwing error by catcher Noah Argenta which scored junior first baseman Tre’ Morgan and senior second baseman Gavin Dugas. This score of 10-4 going into the seventh inning held until the end of the ninth.

Johnson and his coaching staff went with junior right-handed pitcher Blake Money to start the game. This was his first start of the season. Money retired his first nine batters of the ball game before he allowed that four-run rally in the fourth inning. He was relieved after 3.2 innings and allowed four runs on three

VOLLEYBALL, from page 9

After LSU took the match 3-0 over Georgia State, the sand was prepared for the Tigers’ next match against the Bruins.

The Sandy Tigs went up against a more challenging opponent in No. 3 UCLA and were met with a 3-0 deficit. UCLA pulled wins off on Courts 1, 2 and 5 while Courts 3 and 4 were marked DNF.

The first game to finish came from Court 1. DeBerg and Shank lost in straight sets against the Bruins with the first set ending at 16-21 and the second set ending at 19-21.

Court 2 featuring Seits and Bracken ended with identical sets. The Bruins took sets one and two 21-16 to put UCLA up 2-0 over LSU.

The deciding match was on Court 5 with Lindner and Haynes. Set one ended at 16-21 in favor of the Bruins and set two followed with a more hard-fought battle. The second set went into extra points, but in the end, UCLA took it 22-20 to secure the match over the Tigers.

Freshman left-hander Griffin Herring provided the Tigers’ defense with 2.1 solid innings of pitching following Money’s performance. He only allowed one hit with three strikeouts and was credited with his first win of the season.

Central Arkansas used four pitchers in the first six innings of the game.

LSU’s offense ranks No. 1 one in scoring average. The Tigers’ most consistent hitter, Crews, extended his hit streak to 19 games. He is also the best in the country for on-base percentage. Third baseman Tommy White, who was named SEC player of the week, leads the nation in RBIs per game.

Defensively, LSU ranks No. 1 in shutouts and hits allowed. The Tigers sit at No. 2 in fielding percentage.

Next up for LSU baseball will be a three-game series in Alex Box Stadium against the Arkansas Razorbacks which begins Friday at 7 p.m.

The Tigers will be looking for revenge after a series sweep for the Razorbacks in Arkansas last year. This was the first time since 2011 Arkansas had swept LSU baseball in a three-game series.

Allred and Brister lost the first set on Court 3, 15-21, before it was cut short. The one set LSU was able to take from the Bruins came from Larkin and Boos on Court 4. The pair took the first set 21-19 before the game was stopped.

The Tigers’ 3-0 loss to the Bruins concluded their first day of play in the March to May tournament.

Saturday’s gameplay for LSU started with an early match against Florida State. The Tigers have a long history with the Seminoles, including a meeting in the tournament last season.

Regular gameplay resumed on Saturday with all five matches being played out. Despite hard efforts from the Tigers, Florida

State walked away with a 3-2 win over LSU.

Court 5 with Lindner and Haynes was the first of the match to finish. The Tigers fell in straight sets with the first set ending at 21-19 and the second set ending at 21-15 in favor of the Seminoles.

The next match to finish was on Court 4 with Larkin and Boos.

The Tigers took the first set 21-17 before a tie-breaking third was forced after Florida State took the second set 22-20. The third set was a close battle but ended in favor of the Seminoles at 1512.

LSU’s first win of the match came from Court 1. DeBerg and Shank won the first set 21-17 and went on to take the second set 24-22.

Another LSU win followed after the conclusion of Court 1’s game with Brister and Allred going to three sets on Court 3. The first set was a 21-19 Tiger win, then the Seminoles walked away with an easy 21-12 win in the second set. A tie-breaking third was underway and LSU was down 8-10 before pushing through to take the set 16-14. The win on Court 3 tied the match 2-2, resting the decision for the winner on Court 2.

Seits and Bracken battled it out and managed to push Florida State to three sets on Court 2. After losing the first set 13-21, the Tiger duo took the second set in extra points at 22-20. The third set ended 15-11 in favor of the Seminoles, giving Florida State the 3-2 win.

LSU closed out its weekend play with a match against Mercer. The Tigers came out with a 5-0 sweep, taking each game in straight sets.

Boos’ closed out the weekend of play strong with a 21-13, 21-12 straight-set win over Mercer on Court 4. Cassidy Chambers took to the sand for the first time over the weekend with Lindner, and the duo closed out their match on Court 5 with a 2117, 21-14 win.

Brister and Allred finished up on Court 3 with a 21-17, 21-12 win. DeBerg and Shank followed similarly with a 21-12, 21-16 win on Court 1.

The final game for the Tigers was on Court 2. Seits and Bracken handled the Bears with ease and closed out the match with a 21-16, 21-14 win.

LSU went 2-2 on the weekend with one win over a top-10 opponent. The Tigers now sit at 13-4 overall on the season.

The Sandy Tigs return home this weekend for another Tiger Beach Challenge. LSU will see some familiar faces from the season in Florida State, the University of New Orleans and the University of Southern Mississippi, along with new opponents in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and the University of Washington.