DELAND, Fla. – On the final day of the Stetson Beach Blast, the Texas A&M-Kingsville beach volleyball team picked up a 4-1 win over the University of Tampa and a 5-0 victory at the expense of Florida Southern College on Saturday in Deland, Fla. In between, the Javelinas lost a 4-1 decision to Eckerd College.
The Javs now own an overall record of 7-5 and they're more than halfway to their 2017 win total of 10.
TAMUK vs. Tampa
In the No. 5 flight, sophomore Maelee Sowa (Sealy, Texas) and senior Madeline Sims (Aztec, N.M.) were forced to come from behind after dropping the first set, 21-16, but they battled back in the second, trading leads with their opponents until, with a 15-13 lead, Sims and Sowa won six of the next eight points to even the match. In the tiebreaker, a 6-1 run put TAMUK's No. 5's ahead 9-4 and they cruised to 15-9 clincher for their team's first point. Senior Kyra Henderson (Carlsbad, Calif.) and junior Haley Hutchinson (Georgetown, Texas) suffered a narrow 21-15, 14-21, 16-14 defeat in the fourth spot and freshman Shelby Tate (New Braunfels, Texas) and sophomore Kadi Shipman (Georgetown, Texas) dropped the No. 6 match, 19-21, 21-10, 15-11.
The third flight began with a 10-10 tie between freshmen Tenley Houser (Bulverde, Texas) and Erin Umbel (Helotes, Texas) and Nicole Dominguez and Katie McKiel, but Housler and Umbel eventually scratched out a narrow edge and moved in front, 21-17. The second set proved to be much more lopsided, as the two TAMUK freshmen picked up their team's second point, 21-17, 21-14. Sophomore Gabby Atchley (Concord, Calif.) and freshman Whitney Walker (Bellingham, Wash.) had a similarly easy time in their first set in the No. 1 match, leading almost the entire way for a 21-10 final and they reeled off a late run in the second set to clinch the match, 21-15. The toughest contest of the day was at No. 2, where junior Madison Brabham (Kingwood, Texas) and freshman Macy Berg (San Antonio, Texas) needed 27 points in the first set to fend off Gabbi Pacatte and Leah Buttner. They collected the final point of the match in the form of a 27-25, 21-15 win.
TAMUK vs. Eckerd
Against the Tritons, Henderson and Hutchinson bounced back from a first set defeat to take the second by three, but they were unable to maintain that momentum in the final set and were defeated, 21-15, 18-21, 15-3. Sowa and Sims stayed close to Stephanie Bogda and Kali Boatwright, but fell just short, 23-21, 21-16. The No. 6 match went to Fernanda Reis and Samantha Bevilacqua over Tate and sophomore Loren Washington (Round Rock, Texas), 21-16, 21-19.
The first point for TAMUK came from the No. 3 bracket, courtesy of Housler and Umbel, who combined to top Mackenzie Redner and Savanna Cary, 22-20, 21-16, but that was all the Javs could muster. Kaitlyn Sibson and Paula Hoffman won a close No. 1 match, 21-12, 19-21, 15-8, and Arielle Erillo and Madison Whiting took the No. 2 match, 21-17, 21-18.
TAMUK vs. Florida Southern
Against a team that received votes in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll, the Javelinas put on their most impressive performance of the weekend, thoroughly dominating the Mocs.
The groundwork for the win was laid by the No. 4 and No. 5 tandems, who put up TAMUK's first two points. In the fifth spot, Sowa and Sims breezed past Emily Jones and Kayla Dumon, 21-6, 21-7, while Henderson and Hutchinson raced to 14-4 lead in the fifth flight and never looked back in a 21-6, 21-12 win. The sixth flight was seized by Shipman and Tate, 21-14, 21-13.
The top three competitions were all hard-fought, but coach Tanya Allen's student-athletes outlasted their opponents in each instance. Housler and Umbel took the first set, 21-13 and clinched the match with a close second set, 21-19. Brabham and Berg had to fight even harder at No. 2, but they managed to eke out a 21-18, 23-21 victory and Atchley and Walker then finished off the shutout by taking the top flight, 21-16, 15-21, 15-12.
The Javelinas get to enjoy all the comfort of home next weekend, when they host the Emerald Beach Invitational on March 17th and 18th. They'll play four matches over those two days, beginning with a matchup against Ottawa University at 2 p.m. To stay up-to-date with everything related to Javelina beach volleyball, visit Javelinaathletics.com, follow @JavelinaBeach on Twitter and @JavelinaBeach on Instagram and like the /JavelinaSports Facebook page.
