The second day of the Horned Frog Challenge had a slightly different outcome for the No. 4 LSU beach volleyball team.
The Tigers won their first match 5-0 against Texas A&M-Kingsville and followed it with a 1-4 loss to No. 1 Texas Christian University.
The Sandy Tigs were in the sand early against Texas A&M-Kingsville, and a few different faces were in the lineup for the first time this weekend.
Ella Larkin and Lara Boos were on Court 4 and secured the Tigers’ first point of the dual. In a straight-set win, the Tiger duo took the match with ease as the scoreboard read 21-10 in the first and 21-14 in the second.
Court 5 featured Melia Lindner and Amber Haynes, and the pair quickly took care of the Javelinas. Set one finished off at 21-9 and set two ended similarly at 21-13.
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As the Tigers went up 2-0 against the Javelinas, Courts 1, 2 and 3 prepared for gameplay.
Kylie DeBerg and Ellie Shank were back at it on Court 1 for the Tigers and handled their match in dominant fashion, not letting the Javelinas score more than 10 points over the whole game. A straight-set win with set one finishing at 21-6 and set two finishing at 21-4 added a third game point for the Tigers, giving the overall dual win to LSU.
Another straight-set win on Court 2 came from Elizabeth Masters and Parker Bracken. Masters and Bracken capped their sets off at 21-17 and 21-10 without losing the lead once.
Grace Seits was put on Court 3 with Reilly Allred, and the first set for the pair was full of back-and-forth ties and lead changes. The set went into extra points and finished off in favor of the Tigers at 22-20, then the pair went on to take set two 21-17.
After the Tigers’ 5-0 sweep over Texas A&M-Kingsville, LSU had some time to rest and prepare for a rematch against No. 1 TCU, who swept LSU 5-0 during the first day of the Horned Frog Challenge.
TCU claimed its first game point on Court 4 against Larkin and Boos. The first two sets finished identically with each side taking one at 21-16. During a tie-breaking third, the Tiger pair let a 12-10 lead slip out of their hands and the Horned Frogs went on a 5-1 run to close it out 15-13.
Court 5 with Lindner and Haynes also took three sets to decide the winner. After a close 19-21 loss in the first set, the Tigers took the second set 21-14. Despite a strong finish in the second, LSU dropped the third set 9-15, giving TCU a 2-0 lead in the dual.
With the Horned Frogs up 2-0 over the Sandy Tigs, LSU was still looking for a match win over TCU. Similar to the first time the two teams battled, the Tigers had to win every match on Courts 1, 2 and 3 to win the dual.
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Hannah Brister joined Allred on Court 3. Despite pushing the Horned Frogs to three sets the first time they went up against TCU, Brister and Allred fell in straight sets at 16-21 and 11-21. The loss put TCU at 3-0, taking away any chance for the Tigers to win the dual.
Another Tiger loss followed after the conclusion of gameplay on Court 3. DeBerg and Shank were handled in straight sets on Court 1 with both scores finishing off at 15-21.
The last game of the Horned Frog Challenge was finished on Court 2. After a hard fight, LSU was able to leave the dual with one win over TCU thanks to Seits and Bracken. The Tiger 2’s took a close first-set win at 21-19 and followed it up with a 21-17 win in the second.
LSU ended the weekend going 11-9 across four matchups and 2-2 overall, losing twice to TCU.
There’s still work to be done for the Sandy Tigs, and they’ll be tested again soon. The Tigers have five days to train before they head to Gulf Shores, Alabama for the March to May tournament on March 17-18.
In the tournament, LSU will face Georgia State University, Florida State University, UCLA and Mercer University. With three of the four teams currently ranked in the top 10, the Tigers have a lot to work on if they want to stay within the top five.
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