KINGSVILLE, Texas – Five matches in four days in two different locations are on tap for the Texas A&M-Kingsville beach volleyball team, which will be in Houston on Wednesday to take on Houston Baptist University at 2 p.m., followed by a trip to Baton Rouge, La. for the LSU Beach Invitational, an event that, for the Javelinas, will include matches with the University of Arizona and Central Arkansas on Friday and contests against the University of Alabama-Birmingham and Louisiana State University on Saturday.
Although the Javs will be attempting to bounce back from a difficult road defeat to the Corpus Christi Islanders, two of their tandems remained red hot despite the loss. Senior Kyra Henderson (Carlsbad, Calif.) and junior Haley Hutchinson (Georgetown, Texas) upped their record to 7-3 with their sixth straight win, a clean sweep out of the fourth flight. Freshmen Tenley Housler (Bulverde, Texas) and Erin Umbel (Helotes, Texas) will be trying to stretch their win streak to double-digits, as they've shot down nine straight opponents to craft a team-best 14-3 mark.
The Javelinas also own winning records out of the No. 1 and No. 2 slots. At No. 1, freshman Whitney Walker (Bellingham, Wash.) and sophomore Gabby Atchley (Concord, Calif.) have stumbled their last two times out, but they have a mark of 10-7 to their credit. Junior Madison Brabham (Kingwood, Texas) and freshman Macy Berg (San Antonio, Texas) also had a tough time in Corpus Christi, but they stand at 11-6 having spent the entire year at No. 2. In the fifth flight, coach Tanya Allen has used five different pairings while searching for the right combination.
Wednesday's meeting was supposed to be the second time the Javelinas and Huskies got together, but a match scheduled for February 24th at the Horned Frog Challenge in Fort Worth was cancelled. HBU has had an up-and-down season thus far, starting the year 4-2 before losing seven of nine. Most recently, they traveled to an event hosted by Central Arkansas and grabbed a pair of victories to put their record at 8-9. In 2017, these teams clashed three times, with Houston Baptist winning each one.
The Arizona Wildcats, who the Javelina will play at 11 a.m. on Friday, have earned a ranking of No. 15 in the last American Volleyball Coaches Association poll by collecting nine wins against seven losses. They started the year 5-0, but since then, they've strung together consecutive victories only once and they'll enter Friday's row on a four-game losing streak. All four of those defeats, however, came at the hands of ranked squads, including No. 2 UCLA and No. 4 USC.
Central Arkansas has played a limited slate to this point, only participating in five matches, but they own a mark of 4-1. Their only loss came on March 24th against Houston Baptist, a narrow, 3-2 defeat that came after the Sugar Bears took their first three matchups. Coach Jeni Jones Chatman's most dangerous pairing has been that of Colene Hamilton and Kristine Hjembo. Out of the fourth slot, they own a record of 5-0 and are the only UCA team that's undefeated this season.
Day two in Baton Rouge begins with TAMUK and UAB squaring off at 11 a.m. and the Javs will be tangling with a Blazers squad that enters the weekend fresh off a 3-2 upset of No. 8 South Carolina. That shocker broke a four-game losing streak and coach Kyra Iannone will be looking to see her team ride that momentum into Louisiana. The team of Kenley Adams and Devon May have amassed a record of 6-3 out of the No. 1 flight, the top mark on the team. Iannone has spent most of the season mixing and matching her lineups, as she's used 23 different tandems thus far. By comparison, the Javelinas have used 10.
Awaiting TAMUK in the final match of the tournament are the LSU Tigers, the nation's No. 10 team. They've totaled 12 wins against nine losses, with every loss, save one, coming against a team in the top 10, including three from No. 1 Pepperdine. Coach Russell Brock and his student-athletes recently got done hosting the Tiger Beach Challenge, where they took on five teams and vanquished them all. Sophomores Kristen Nuss and Claire Coppola have been nearly unbeatable in the No. 1 position, posting a record of 17-4 in 2018. They'll enter the weekend carrying a nine-game win streak that includes triumphs over tandems from South Carolina and Pepperdine.
At the end of the day at each site, Javelinaathletics.com will post a recap and results for each match. To stay up-to-date with everything related to Javelina beach volleyball, you can also follow @JavelinaBeach on Twitter and Instagram and like the /JavelinaSports Facebook page.
