HOUSTON – The Texas A&M-Kingsville beach volleyball team secured their 10th win of 2019 and their fifth at the expense of a Division I opponent by eking out a 3-2 victory over the New Orleans Privateers at Third Coast Beach Club on the final day of the Houston Baptist University Tournament in Houston, Texas on Saturday afternoon. The Javelinas dropped their first match of the day, 3-2, to the New Mexico Lobos.
The Javs picked up two wins in three tries at the HBU Tournament and have won eight of their last 10 to put their record at 10-8 in 2019.
TAMUK VS. New Mexico
The Lobos got on the board first by taking the fourth flight, Abbey Willison and Emily Nenninger topping sophomore Shelby Tate (New Braunfels, Texas) and freshman Lauren Kadilis (Spring Branch, Texas), 21-17, 21-15. Freshmen Nicole Murff (San Antonio, Texas) and Christian Gragasin (Celina, Texas) battled their way to a third set, but suffered a 9-21, 21-18, 15-11 defeat at No. 5.
The Javelinas broke through in the third flight thanks to sophomore Macy Berg (San Antonio, Texas) and senior Haley Hutchinson (Georgetown, Texas), who triumphed 21-14, 21-13. Another straight set win came courtesy senior Madison Brabham (Kingwood, Texas) and Kylexus Block (San Antonio, Texas) in the No. 2 slot, 21-16, 21-14. UMN secured the win, however, when Dali Rosado and Lauren Twitty won the No. 1 match, 21-18, 21-12.
TAMUK VS. UNO
Against the Privateers, it was the Javelinas who moved in front first, as Gragasin and Murff scored a clean sweep in the fifth flight, 21-17, 21-13. New Orleans came back to capture the fourth flight in narrow fashion, 21-18, 20-22, 15-7 as Rhyan Rand and Madison Miller defeated juniors Melanie Casteel (Dallas, Texas) and TaylorLynn Noga (Anchorage, Alaska).
All of the top three matches went to a third set and it was the Javs who scored the first win, with Brabham and Block taking the No. 2 flight, 21-16, 19-21, 15-12. New Orleans evened the match when they took the No. 1 flight, 21-17, 16-21, 15-8, but the third slot belonged to the Javelinas. Berg and Hutchinson secured the win with a 21-18, 18-21, 15-12 final. Both TAMUK's No. 2 and No. 3 pairings went undefeated in three matches in Houston.
A trip to Baton Rouge is next on the schedule for the Javelinas, who will play three matches on April 6th starting with a contest against LSU at 11 a.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.
