The Hauge, Netherlands (lsusports.net) – LSU's Kylie Deberg competed for the International Volleyball Federation representing the United States along with Hailey Harward, a USC graduate, at the FIVB Futures Event in The Hauge, Netherlands.
The Futures Event is the beginner level of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. This level is used as a stepping stone to advance to higher levels of the Pro Tour. The tournament takes place in cities where certain countries are able to develop their beach volleyball following and interest.
The tournament included 16 pairs with pool play that led to a single elimination bracket. Deberg and Harward went 1-2 throughout the tournament, earning a win over Japan. They fell to pairs from the Netherlands and Lithuania.
Deberg was elite during her first season in the sand after transitioning from the indoor game. Deberg earned AVCA Top-Flight status with two partners, joining teammate Kelli Grenne-Agnew as the first players to earn Top-Flight honors with multiple partners in the same season. Deberg and Greene-Agnew were Top-Flight as a pair on a Court, going 18-5 together. Deberg also earned the recognition with Parker Bracken on Court 2 as they teamed up to go 14-5 together, winning their first 14 matches and earning AVCA National Pair of the Week the third week of the season.
In her first season at LSU in the sand, Deberg was critical in the Tigers' 32-12 record, setting a new program mark for team wins in a season. LSU's 27 regular season victories were also a new program record for regular season wins.
Deberg continued this success by earning a spot on the USAV Beach Collegiate National Team as one of the top 17 players in the nation. She got to train at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center in Chula Vista, California and competed among the best college beach volleyball players in the country.
Deberg added a title to her name becoming the first ever AVCA Fall National Champion with LSU teammate Ellie Shank. Deberg and Shank cruised through the tournament, going 8-0 on the weekend. Along with that title, Deberg and Shank also claimed the USA Volleyball Women's Beach Collegiate Championship. The pair coasted through the tournament going 5-0 and not dropping a set throughout the championship bracket.
The Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) is a progressive NCAA Division I conference dedicated to the enhancement of opportunities for students. The conference was founded in 2008 to provide a championship opportunity for Swimming and Diving student-athletes and extended that opportunity with the addition of Beach Volleyball in the summer of 2015. The league's footprint extends into several states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia. The CCSA is dedicated to the student-athletes who compete in its championships and their success in the classroom, in the field of competition, and life after graduation.