KINGSVILLE, Texas – For the first time in program history, the Texas A&M-Kingsville beach volleyball team has gotten off to a 6-1 start, defeating three Division I opponents along the way and TAMUK will try and stay hot as they cross state lines for the first time for two days in New Orleans at the New Orleans Invitational, which will be held at the Digs Volleyball Complex.
The Javelinas will begin their weekend by taking on the tournament's host school, the University of New Orleans Privateers, on Friday at 9 a.m., followed later that day by a 2 p.m. tilt against the Southeastern Louisiana Lions. TAMUK will start early again on a busy Saturday, first tangling with the Spring Hill College Badgers at 9 a.m. before an 11 a.m. match in which they'll be pitted against the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles, then a 2 p.m. clash with the No. 20 Tulane Green Wave to close the day.
One of the most important factors in the Javelinas' impressive start has been the immediate success of two of the team's freshman in the fourth flight. Emily North (Red Oak, Texas) and Macie Satterwhite (Callisburg, Texas) have yet to lose in six matches together and each of their victories have been sweeps, with their most impressive triumph coming at the expense of the No. 4's for 15th-ranked TCU on Saturday. "Their chemistry is phenomenal," said coach Tanya Allen after her freshman went a perfect 3-0 in their most recent weekend of play. "They're really working well together."
The Javs have also been excellent late in matches and are a perfect 9-0 in third sets. Three of those triumphs came in TAMUK's 4-1 vanquishing of Nebraska and Allen's team has also won six times after dropping the first set. Two of those come-from-behind wins have come from junior Tenley Housler (Bulverde, Texas) and sophomore Roxanne Morris (Goliad, Texas) in the No. 1 flight and two more have been courtesy of junior Shelby Tate (New Braunfels, Texas) and freshman Rylie Anderson (Justin, Texas) at No. 5. For Tate, she's already exceeded the combined number of matches she played outside of the sixth slot in her first two years in Kingsville and she's tripled the win total she entered the season with in the fifth flight.
This will mark the third straight year the Javelinas have met the Privateers and they've won their last two meetings with UNO, including a 3-2 decision in 2019. Most of the rest of the field will present some unfamiliarity, however. The Javelinas last met Spring Hill in the 2018 National Semifinals and slipped past the Badgers 3-2 one year after SHC swept the Javelinas in their only regular season meeting. Tulane was also a 2017 opponent that defeated TAMUK, but SLU and Southern Miss will both be testing the Blue and Gold for the first time. For the Lions, their match against TAMUK will be the first in the history of their beach volleyball program, while the Golden Eagles are in year two in the sand.
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