KINGSVILLE, Texas – The sixth season of the Texas A&M-Kingsville beach volleyball program is about to get underway and TAMUK's road back to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Small College National Championships begins with a tournament at home in which the Javelinas will be tested five times at the Javelina Beach Courts in Kingsville, Texas, a venue where they've been nearly unbeatable since the program's inaugural 2017 season.
Friday is the first day of TAMUK's 2022 regular season and that first day will consist of three matches for the Javs, starting with a 10:30 a.m. match against Missouri Baptist, followed by a 3:45 p.m. meeting with Mary Hardin Baylor and the day will conclude with a 6:15 p.m. tussle with Stephen F. Austin. The Saturday schedule begins with a 10:30 a.m. date with Colorado Mesa and the weekend's final match pits the Javelinas against Ottawa University at 2:15 p.m.
In five seasons, the Javelinas have gone 32-7 on their home courts, including a streak of 11-in-a-row that includes all nine of their home matches in 2020 and 2021. TAMUK is also 5-0 all-time in home openers, with each of those wins coming in the form of a sweep.
The pairs that take the court for the first weekend of the year can be expected to look very different from the ones Javelina fans saw in 2021, as only one set of teammates who played more than 10 matches together a season ago are back in 2022. That tandem of seniors Macie Satterwhite (Callisburg, Texas) and Tenley Housler (Bulverde, Texas) posted the best mark of any of TAMUK's pairings in 2021 , going 12-5.
Housler first arrived in Kingsville prior to the start of the 2018 season and she's already guaranteed to leave TAMUK as the program's all-time leader in victories and matches played. In three of her four seasons, the senior from Bulverde has piled up over 15 wins, including a freshman year in which she was part of a pairing that went 23-7 and earned an AVCA Top Flight award. Housler will be attempting to lead the team back to a National Championship, having helped TAMUK earn that title once before, in 2018.
Among the new faces attempting to assist the Blue and Gold in reaching the summit again are freshman Ayanna Jackson (San Antonio, Texas) and junior Lexi Ahrens (Virginia, Minn.). Jackson has spent two years on TAMUK's indoor volleyball team and already has a list of awards she's earned on the hardwood, including Lone Star Conference Defensive and Freshman of the Year honors in 2020-21. In 2022, she'll have her first chance to put her skills to work in the sand.
Ahrens joins the program after a four-year indoor career at the University of North Dakota, where she was a team captain for the Fighting Hawks. Ahrens saw time at multiple positions while she was a UND and her career numbers include over 650 kills and more than 250 blocks. She finished her career with a season in which she led her squad in kills and rejections and the Javelinas are hoping she can be similarly productive in a new setting.
Live stats for every match will be available on Javelinaathletics.com, as will a recap of all the action on each day. To stay current with everything related to Javelina Beach Volleyball all year long, follow @JavelinaBeach on Twitter and @javelinasports and @JavelinaBeach on Instagram, like Javelina Sports on Facebook and visit Javelinasports.com. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy.
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