Dennis and McAda Make History in Beach Volleyball’s First Day at LSU’s Battle on the Bayou

BATON ROUGE, La. – Sophomore pairing Laurel Dennis and Sadie McAda played their 64th and 65th career matches together today at the Battle on the Bayou as the pair finished 2-0 on the day to record their 35th career victory as a pair. The duo is the first Golden Eagle pairing to reach 35 career victories and leads the program's all-time pair career records.

The Golden Eagles as a team collected a 5-0 sweep over New Orleans before dropping a narrow decision to Stephen F. Austin to end the day.

Southern Miss 5, New Orleans 0
The Golden Eagles opened their portion of the Battle on the Bayou with a 5-0 sweep over New Orleans (4-25). Southern Miss (11-16) won in straight sets in all flights except the threes, where Carmen Sanchez Delgado (Málaga, Spain) and Jaden White (West Palm Beach, Fla.) rebounded to win 15-6 in the third set after dropping the opening frame.

Baton Rouge native Madison Cassidy opened her time in her hometown with a two-set decision over the Privateers' top flight. She and partner Zuzanna Michalska (Warsaw, Poland) improved to 14-14 on the year. Sophomore pairing Laurel Dennis (Gulfport, Miss.) and Sadie McAda (Pleasanton, Texas) grabbed their 18th win of the year at the second dual as well.

Jessica Fairly (Fort Walton Beach, Fla.) and Dylan Russell (Oklahoma City, Okla.) won in straight sets at the fourth pairing while Y-Nhu Do (Cary, N.C.) and Giovanna Gurgel Bahia (Recife, Brazil) collected a two-set decision at the fives.

Box Score
1 . Cassidy, Madison/Michalska, Zuzanna (USM) 2-0 de Carvalho Peixe, Ivana/Lander, Nikelle (UNO) 22-20 21-16
2 . Dennis, Laurel/McAda, Sadie (USM) 2-0 Smith, Tristin/Hinchman, Grace (UNO) 21-18 21-16
3 . Sanchez Delgado, Carmen/White, Jaden (USM) 2-1 Dykstra, Renata/Salgado, Mona (UNO) 17-21 21-19 15-6
4 . Fairly, Jessica/Russell, Dylan (USM) 2-0 Salazar, Ashley/Moberly, Savannah (UNO) 21-16 21-13
5 . Do, Y-Nhu/Gurgel Bahia, Giovanna (USM) 2-0 Ward, Dayla/Neal, Lindsey (UNO) 21-10 21-9
Order of finish: 5, 4, 2*, 1, 3

Stephen F. Austin 3, Southern Miss 2
Southern Miss' trip to Baton Rouge continued with a match against one of the Southland Conference's best in Stephen F. Austin (19-11). The Lumberjacks opened their day at LSU with a 4-1 loss to South Carolina before facing off against the Golden Eagles.

SFA won the first point of the match at the fourth flight before Dennis and McAda picked up their 19th win of the season thanks to a two-set romp at the twos. The duo now own 35 career wins as a pair – the first pair in program history to reach 35 career wins. Their career record sits at 35-30 after a record-setting 16-20 last season as true freshman. Their 19 wins this year are currently third-most in a single season, trailing No. 2 Ola Chudzik and Vanessa Hurnikova (2023) by one victory and all-time leaders Kylie Grandy and Abbey Wilson (2021) by two.

The Lumberjacks clinched the match by taking the next two points the fifth and third flights before Southern Miss' top flight of Cassidy/Michalska eaked out a 15-12 third-set decision to pick up Southern Miss' second point of the day. Two of Southern Miss' lost points came in three-set decisions on the day with the Golden Eagles coming with four points of flipping the overall match.

Box Score
1 . Cassidy, Madison/Michalska, Zuzanna (USM) 2-1 Rogers, Tessa/Hansen, Katherine (SFA) 18-21 21-18 15-12
2 . Dennis, Laurel/McAda, Sadie (USM) 2-0 Zeigler, Olivia/Denyer, Lizzie (SFA) 21-18 21-11
3 . Amador, Elaina/Johnson, Savannah (SFA) 2-1 Fairly, Jessica/Russell, Dylan (USM) 13-21 21-17 15-11
4 . Golden, Kylie/Boswell, Ashley (SFA) 2-0 Meinheit, Wiio/Martini Adamsone, Kitija (USM) 21-14 21-9
5 . Ledbetter, Meagan/Atchley, Jennah (SFA) 2-1 Do, Y-Nhu/Gurgel Bahia, Giovanna (USM) 21-17 17-21 15-9
Order of finish: 4, 2, 5, 3*, 1

Up Next
Southern Miss will stay the night in Baton Rouge before heading back to the LSU Beach Volleyball Stadium to play two matches before heading home. Play opens against (RV) Texas A&M – Corpus Christi at 8 a.m. with the last match of the tournament slated for a 2:15 p.m. start against Houston Christian.

– #SMTTT –

Dennis and McAda Make History in Beach Volleyball’s First Day at LSU’s Battle on the Bayou

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Players Mentioned

Madison Cassidy

Ola Chudzik

Laurel Dennis

Y-Nhu Do

Jessica Fairly

Giovanna Gurgel Bahia

Sadie McAda

Zuzanna Michalska

Dylan Russell

Carmen Sanchez Delgado

Jaden White