When losing leads to hunger, winning becomes the perfect food.
No. 3 LSU more than satiated the pangs left over from Saturday’s losses to No. 1 UCLA and No. 5 Hawaii by defeating both the Bruins and Rainbow Wahine on Sunday to earn the championship of the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic at Queen’s Beach.
The Tigers (3-2) started their dining early, pulling out a 4-1 victory over the SandBows, clinching the dual at Flight 3 with a 21-16, 13-21, 15-11 win by Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope and Toni Rodriguez over Brooke Van Sickle and Amy Ozee. It was a reversal of Saturday’s outcome where Van Sickle-Ozee rallied to win in three.
In the afternoon final, LSU spotted the two-time defending national champion Bruins a 2-0 lead before charging to a 3-2 victory. The Tigers won first at Flight 4 then Flight 1, the latter tying it up and giving Kristen Nuss and Claire Coppola their 94th career victory by rallying past Abby Van Winkle-Savvy Simo, 16-21, 24-22, 15-11.
>> Photo Gallery: Beach volleyball: UCLA vs. Hawaii
It came down to Flight 3 where Rasnick-Pope and Rodriguez dug out of 8-5 and 11-8 holes against Lily Justine and former SandBow Lea Monkhouse that seemed deeper than the sand at Queen’s. Tough serving by Rodriguez was key at the end and, at 14-13, Justine’s attack sailed long to give the Tigers their first victory over the Bruins (5-1).
“Being down 0-2 in the final and knowing that we’ve got to get to a third or win a third when they get it to a third … you couldn’t ask for a better scenario to see how much we’ve got,” LSU coach Russell Brock said.
The Tigers added a bit to their luggage while boarding a flight Sunday night. Nuss was named the Most Outstanding Player and 6-foot-4 Taryn Kloth the best blocker. Kloth, a former indoor All-American at Creighton, and Kelli Agnew finished 5-0 in the tournament.
Simo was named best attacker; Hawaii’s Maia Hannemann, the best defender, and Stanford’s Tori Ashkinos, the aloha spirit award.
Hannemann and Julia Scoles finished out Hawaii’s 5-0 win over Stanford with a 23-25, 21-10, 15-12 victory over Maddie Kriz and Ashkinos, the only three-set contest of the third-place match. Hannemann and Scoles finished 4-1 in the two-day event, losing only to LSU in Sunday’s semifinal, also in three.
“My first collegiate tournament was awesome,” said Hannemann, a freshman. “I’m so lucky to be playing with Julia. I think our ball control (against Stanf0rd) and our communication was the difference.”
SandBows coach Jeff Hall was happy the players rebounded the way they did after losing to LSU.
“That one stung,” he said. “None of our kids like losing. But (LSU) was better than we were today.
“We take a lot away from the weekend. We got pushed (by Stanford) and our kids responded. We’ll take the 3-2 (record), learn from it and keep moving forward.”
Hawaii’s next move is to Stanford, where the teams will meet for a third time in eight days at the Bay Area Classic. The SandBows play Saint Mary’s and Arizona State on Saturday, and Utah and the host Cardinal on Sunday.
A quirk in the schedule also has the Kahanamoku finalists playing their third dual in seven days, with UCLA traveling to LSU for the Tiger Beach Classic.
