MONROE, La. – In a match that included a pair of romps from the Javelina pairings in the first and third flights, the Texas A&M-Kingsville beach volleyball team opened the ULM Beach Bash by trouncing the Nicholls State Colonels, 4-1, on Friday afternoon in Monroe, La. TAMUK's second match of the day ended up as their second narrow defeat of the year against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks by a 3-2 score.
The victory over NSU was the team's fourth straight, but the loss to ULM snapped that run and the squad's overall record is 6-7.
TAMUK vs. Nicholls State
A pair of freshmen in Nicole Murff (San Antonio, Texas) and Christina Gragasin (Celina, Texas) gave the Javelinas the first lead of the match, breezing past their opponents in the fifth flight by a score of 21-18, 21-9. The pairing of Maddie Lowe and Katie Jones stole the No. 5 match from juniors TaylorLynn Noga (Anchorage, Texas) and Melanie Casteel (Dallas, Texas), 15-21, 22-20, 15-13 to tie the proceedings at 1-1. The exhibition match at No. 6 was won by juniors Kadi Shipman (Georgetown, Texas) and Maelee Sowa (Sealy, Texas), 21-13, 28-26.
The Javelinas completely dominated the top three flights to clinch the win, starting with the No. 2 pairing of senior Madison Brabham (Kingwood, Texas) and freshman Kylexus Block (San Antonio), who posted a 21-15, 21-14 final. Sophomores Tenley Housler (Bulverde, Texas) and Whitney Walker (Bellingham, Wash.) crushed NSU's No. 1's by a score of 21-7, 21-9 and senior Haley Hutchinson (Georgetown, Texas) and sophomore Macy Berg (San Antonio, Texas) did the same in the third slot. They collected the third set 21-11 before a 21-2 whitewashing in the second set sealed a 4-1 final.
TAMUK vs. ULM
The pairings of Murff and Gragasin and Housler and Walker provided the bright spots in their team's second 3-2 loss to ULM this season.
After the Warhawks won the contest at No. 4, Murff and Gragasin pulled the Javs even, scoring a 21-15 21-15, victory. The home team would also win the sixth match, 21-15, 15-21, 15-13
ULM moved ahead 2-1 by collecting the second flight in straight sets but Housler and Walker outfought Grace Convey and Gabby Love in top flight, winning 12-21, 21-18, 15-11 and tying things up again. Only a 22-20, 19-21, 15-7 win in the third spot prevented the Javelinas from notching the upset.
The Javelinas will see these same two opponents on Saturday, when they'll scheduled to play ULM at 11 a.m. and Nicholls State at 1 p.m. 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.
