WEEKEND ADVANCE: Tampa Travels to LSU to Take On
About the Spartans: The 2021 AVCA small college champions are 8-5 heading into their weekend in Baton Rouge with a statement win coming early in the year against No. 8 Cal Poly (2/27). The team followed that up with another big win over the College of Charleston (3/4). The Spartans have played their toughest schedule in program history thus far this year, all five of their losses coming to top ranked 20 programs including No. 2 USC and two losses to No. 3 FSU.
Tampa's #1's, Juniors Julia Oswald and Rachel Rosequist are 9-4 as a pairing and have faced arguably the best pairing in the country in USC's #1's Tina Graudina and Hailey Harward, losing 21-19 in both sets.
The Spartans are represented by Kiersten Anderson and Payton Brunick in the #2's. The pairing is 8-4 on the season with convincing wins over Cal Poly, North Florida, and College of Charleston. Payton's twin sister, Maddie, plays in the #3's pairing alongside senior Melissa Elias, who are also 8-4 on the year and coming off two very dominant wins over Florida Southern and Jacksonville.
Bringing the energy for the Spartans are the current #4's Katie McKiel and Sara Szalay. The relatively new pairing for the Spartans is 2-3 on the year, with similarly dominant wins over Florida Southern and Jacksonville this past weekend.
Valerie Rosequist, twin sister of Rachel, is 6-7 on the year and has been the only consistent player in the #5 pairing, having played with Claire Overton, Selina Pfuner, and Cassidy Ehrie throughout the year.
Tampa plays nine more matches after this weekend before they travel too Hickory Point beach to defend their title at the AVCA Small College Championship.
About the No. 4 Seminoles: The No. 4 ranked Noles come into the weekend with an overall record of 12-3, tallying eight top 20 wins, and their only losses coming against No. 1 UCLA (3/18), No. 2 USC (3/12), and No. 5 TCU (3/5). FSU squares off against Tampa for the third time this season and look to take the series sweep, possibly without dropping a single set.
About the No. 6 Tigers: The Tigers enter the weekend ranked No. 6 sporting an impressive 16-2 record. Seven of the Tigers wins come against top 20 teams, but similar to FSU, were defeated by No. 1 UCLA (3/20) as well as No. 11 FAU (3/20). This will be the first ever meeting between LSU and Tampa.
About the Islanders: Texas A&M Corpus Christi enter the tournament with an overall record of 11-6, having suffered losses from No. 3 TCU (3/19), No. 4 Loyola Marymount (3/5), and No. 6 LSU (3/5). The Islanders have yet to claim wins over any top 20 opponents this year. This will also be the first ever meeting between the Islanders and the Spartans.
About the No. 2 Horned Frogs: The No. 2 ranked Horned Frogs boast a flawless 19-0 record entering the weekend having claimed nine top 20 victories, one of which came against the then No. 3 ranked FSU Seminoles (3/5). Similar to LSU and A&M Corpus Christi, this will be the first ever meeting between TCU and Tampa.
About the Warhawks: The Warhawks travel to Baton Rouge with a record of 5-10, suffering losses from ranked teams such as No. 3 TCU (3/19), No. 5 LSU (3/12), and No. 15 Pepperdine (3/11). The one and only meeting that took place between the Warhawks and the Spartans took place in September of 2020 and was claimed by Tampa.