KINGSVILLE, Texas – After seeing a weekend of play at home turn into an idle weekend, the Texas A&M-Kingsville beach volleyball team will head out-of-state for the second time in 2019, traveling to the ULM Beach Bash for matches against the Nicholls State Colonels and the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks on Friday and Saturday in Monroe, La.
The Javelinas will play each team twice, starting on Friday with a 1 p.m. match against Nicholls State, followed by a 3 p.m meeting with ULM. The Javs are then scheduled to take on ULM at 11 a.m. and NSU at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
TAMUK's top three tandems have proven to be their strongest so far this season and that group is led by senior Haley Hutchinson (Georgetown, Texas) and sophomore Macy Berg (San Antonio, Texas). Berg and Hutchinson have been right at home in the third slot, posting an 8-3 record and of their three losses, only one has been in straight sets. They've swept opponents from Houston Baptist, the University of New Mexico and A&M-Corpus Christi and over the last two seasons, Hutchinson has won 29 and lost 12.
Maybe the team that's clicking the best right now is freshman Kylexus Block (San Antonio, Texas) and senior Madison Brabham (Kingwood, Texas). Since moving into the second flight, Block and Brabham are 6-1, defeating San Jose State, New Mexico and ULM in the process. Overall, the Javs are 10-1 in the No. 2 spot this season, including four wins in five chances for sophomores Whitney Walker (Bellingham, Wash.) and Tenley Housler (Bulverde, Texas). Overall, both Block and Brabham and Walker and Housler are 7-3 in 2019.
The Warhawks and the Javelinas have already played this season, tangling at the Javelina beach courts, and ULM escaped with a narrow, 3-2 victory. That triumph was the last one in a string of four consecutive wins the Warhawks earned during their time in Kingsville and it also pushed their record to 7-1. Since then, however, they've lost six of eight and enter Friday attempting to improve upon a 9-7 record.
Louisiana-Monroe has had its best luck in second flight, which has been occupied by Catherine Griffin and Maile Sellers. They've gone 11-3 in 2019, including three wins in four tries at the Emerald Beach Hotel Classic in Kingsville. The tandem's one loss during that competition came against Brabham and Block.
The Colonels last played at the University of New Orleans Beach Bash on March 1st and 2nd, during which time they lost four straight. Nicholls State is in its first year of sponsoring beach volleyball and the program is headed by Kallie Noble, who arrived in January from the University of Memphis and also serves as coach of the indoor volleyball team.
Check Javelinaathletics.com for a recap of each day in Monroe. To stay current with everything related to Javelina Beach Volleyball all season long, follow @JavelinaBeach on Twitter and @javelinasports and @JavelinaBeach on Instagram, like Javelina Sports on Facebook and visit Javelinasports.com.
