Last-hour heroics send LSU beach volleyball to 3-2 win over Cal

GULF SHORES, Ala. – LSU’s beach volleyball team remained alive Wednesday, edging Cal, 3-2, to advance to the double-elimination bracket which begins Friday.

Everybody in LSU’s lineup aside from Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope on Court 5 and Kelli Greene-Agnew on Court 2 were playing in their first ever match at the NCAA Championship Tournament.

“We needed this match to be tested like this in this format to gain some confidence,” LSU beach volleyball coach head coach Russell Brock.

LSU will be back in action Friday against UCLA at noon on ESPN2 and will play a second match on Friday regardless of the outcome.

With the match tied at two courts, Sierra Caffo and Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope took Court 5 in three sets to send LSU into the next round in Gulf Shores.

“That’s what we expect them to do,” Brock said of the three-set win on Court 5. “We knew when we came into this weekend, we needed to be great through the middle and bottom part of our lineup.

Grace Seits and Ellie Shank got thing started for the Tigers on Court 4 with a dominating performance, 21-12 and 21-14. Cal evened the match though with a straight-set win on Court 1, defeating LSU’s Balla Bauman and Parker Bracken.

On Court 3, Reilly Allred and Holly Carlton earned hard-fought wins in both the first and second sets, 21-19 and 21-18, to get the Tigers closer to clinching the match.

On Court 2, Kylie Deberg and Kelli Greene-Agnew dropped the first set, 21-17, but came back strong with a 21-15 win in the second set. After trailing by three for much of the third set, Deberg and Greene-Agnew tied it up at 13 but were unable to hang on as Cal evened the match at two courts.

It all came down to Sierra Caffo and Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope on Court 5. The LSU duo fell, 24-22, in a tightly contested first set, but bounced back in the second set, 21-17 and were took a dominating 15-6 win in the third.

LSU 3, Cal 2

1. Tia Miric/Ella Connor (CAL) def. Parker Bracken/Bella Bauman (LSU) 21-18, 21-15
2. Piper Ferch/Jayelin Lombard (CAL) def. Kelli Greene-Agnew/Kylie Deberg (LSU) 21-18, 15-21, 15-13
3. Reilly Allred/Holly Carlton (LSU) def. Addison Hermstad/Peyton Dueck (CAL) 21-19, 21-18
4. Grace Seits/Ellie Shank (LSU) def. Mariah Whalen/Piper Naess (CAL) 21-12, 21-14
5. Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope/Sierra Caffo (LSU) def. Josie Ulrich/Vanessa Roscoe (CAL) 22-24, 21-17, 15-6