LakePoint, Ga. – Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) Beach Volleyball teams entered the month of April with several tournaments this past weekend. Georgia State hosted the GSU Diggin' Duals, while Florida International welcomed several teams to the annual FIU Surf & Turf Invitational. UNCW also hosted some CCSA teams at the Beach Blast Tournament in Wilmington, N.C. to close out the weekend.
LSU, which came in to the weekend ranked No. 7 in the latest AVCA polls, traveled to Georgia State and went undefeated at the Diggin' Duals Tournament. They opened with a hard fought 3-2 victory against the host Panthers, before sweeping Jacksonville State, UAB and Austin Peay to finish with a 4-0 mark. For full details on LSU's victory fans can click Day 1 Recap and Day 2 Recap.
No. 10 Georgia State also was impressive in their first home games since March, going 3-1 on the weekend, with the only loss coming to the above mentioned LSU Tigers. The Panthers rebounded from their tough 3-2 loss to defeat Lincoln Memorial 5-0 on Day one. Georgia State then dominated UAB (4-1) and Jacksonville State (5-0) to close out the Diggin' Duals.
No. 4 Florida State improved to 15-6 on the season with a 4-1 week at the FIU Surf & Turf Invitational. The Seminoles opened the weekend with a 5-0 sweep of Tulane and then a hard fought 3-2 victory against the host FIU. After falling to No. 3 UCLA, the Seminoles bounced back with 5-0 sweeps of Arizona State and New Orleans to close out the weekend.
FIU posted a winning record in its home tournament going 4-2. The Panthers earned victories against New Orleans, Arizona State, Tulane and Florida Atlantic. FIU's only two losses came to top-five ranked teams in Florida State and UCLA. They defeated New Orleans in a clean sweep, 5-0, before winning 4-1 against ASU and Tulane. The final match of the day saw the Panthers defeat CCSA member FAU 3-2.
At the UNCW Beach Bash, No. 11 South Carolina posted a perfect 4-0 record winning every match by the score of 5-0. They opened the tournament with wins against Coastal Carolina and Mercer. On Day two, the Gamecocks continued to dominate with clean sweeps of fellow CCSA members College of Charleston and host UNCW.
It was the only loss suffered by the Cougars as they defeated UNCW, Coastal Carolina and Stevenson to finish the event at 3-1. They opened with a 5-0 sweep of Stevenson, then took down the hosts UNCW by the score of 3-2. After falling to South Carolina to start day two, College of Charleston recorded another 3-2 victory against Coastal Carolina to close out the UNCW Beach Bash.