LSU beach volleyball senior Toni Rodriguez has almost as many years in school as someone pursuing a PhD., and after her sixth year in academics was short due to COVID-19, the St. Amant native will be back for year number seven.

“Started out at LSU as a math major, but then I realized I wanted to coach eventually so I ended up getting my bachelor’s in Kinesiology, ended up getting my master’s in kines. Then, I recently just started, this past fall, my master’s in leadership and human resources,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez called herself the grandma on the team, and she does have wisdom from adversity, recovering from torn ACL’s in both her knees.

“In high school, I tore my ACL, and then I redshirted. When I got to LSU my next year, I started playing and ended up tearing my other ACL. Usually in class, if they ask for a fun fact, I usually do that, and everyone’s like ‘oh my gosh!'”

After the Tigers rose to the number one ranking in the country in 2020, Rodriguez is determined to come back for her seventh year of school to win a national championship.

“Finishing out the season, obviously not how we wanted to, but we still had that number one next to our name, and I think we’re set up just as well, maybe even better, than we were this past year to take it all.”

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