BOCA RATON, Fla. – Seniors Jaelyn Keene and Jayme Bratsberg defeated No. 4 LSU on court two, but the UAB Beach Volleyball team fell to No. 18 Florida Atlantic and the fourth-ranked Tigers on Saturday afternoon to conclude action in Boca Raton.
 
The win for Keene and Bratsberg improved their overall record to 4-4 as a tandem on court two, but UAB (4-4, 0-4 CCSA) lost to Florida Atlantic 5-0 and LSU 4-1 on the final day of the FAU Invitational.
 
Along with the 21-14, 16-21, 15-11 win on court two against Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope and Olivia Powers, two other courts went to three sets in which UAB pushed LSU to the limits but could not pull out the victories.
 
On court five, freshmen Emma Andraka and Jenna Gathright continued their strong play by taking the first set from Hunter Domanski and Allison Coens 21-19, but the Tiger duo rallied to win sets two and three 21-10, 15-7.
 
Court three also saw the Blazers take the Tigers to three sets with Tressa Buckland and Annie Pringle winning set one 21-16 over Taryn Kloth and Kelli Agnew, but LSU's duo rallied for the 21-17, 15-8 victory.
 
In the morning match against FAU, the Owls won all five courts in straight sets.

"It was huge for us to compete at this level with these teams and even though we didn't come away with wins, we had indivudual teams compete at the same level as these program," head coach Kyra Iannone said. "We were very competitive this weekend and I am impressed with our team. We will be ready to take on this same competition at our conference tournament."
 
The Blazers are now set to host the inaugural March to May in Gulf Shores, Ala., next week, March 8-10. This unique experience is poised to be one of the most prestigious regular season tournaments as it is played at the site of the NCAA National Championships, and gives teams an opportunity to compete at the venue in which they strive to be at in May.
 
UAB has hosted the first three NCAA National Championships and will continue to do so through at least 2023.