KINGSVILLE, Texas – For the third straight season, the Texas A&M-Kingsville beach volleyball team is off to a 4-0 start and the Javelinas will be attempting to keep that momentum going when they travel first to Hammond, La., then to Baton Rouge, La., where they'll play five matches in three days against five different opponents.
The Javelinas will start their week on Thursday, when they'll be taking on the Southeastern Louisiana Lions at 1 p.m. in Hammond, La. On Saturday, the Javs will spend the first of two days at the Tiger Beach Challenge at the LSU Beach Volleyball Stadium, taking on the Tulane Green Wave at 1 p.m., then the No. 4 LSU Tigers at 4 p.m. Sunday's schedule begins with the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles at 8 a.m., followed by a 3 p.m. match against the UAB Dragons.
At the end of the season's first weekend, the Javelinas had three pairs earn all-tournament honors, including their No. 1 tandem of seniors Tenley Housler (Bulverde, Texas) and Macie Satterwhite (Callisburg, Texas). Housler and Satterwhite picked up where they left off after going 12-5 together in 2021. They rattled off four straight wins to start 2022 and dropped only a single set in the process and the three sweeps they logged also mean 13 of their 16 victories have come in straight sets.
In the fourth and fifth flights, senior Kapri Pelle (Auburn, Calif.) and sophomore Rylie Anderson (Justin, Texas) and seniors Christina Gragasin (Celina, Texas) and Meghan Merlino (Sacramento, Calif.) also posted 4-0 records. Merlino and Gragasin also dropped only a single set during the season's first weekend. Their lone victory that didn't come via a sweep was a come-from-behind effort against Colorado Mesa in which TAMUK's No. 5 pairing took the third set 15-11 to secure a Javelina victory.
All five of TAMUK's opponents during the season's second week are squads the Javs have played in the last few years, including SLU, who they've defeated each of the last two campaigns. The Javelinas swept the Lions in 2020, then pulled out a 3-2 nail-biter in 2021.
The last time TAMUK took on UAB, it was in 2018 when the Dragons were receiving votes in American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 20 poll, but the Javelinas found a way to spring a 3-2 upset. When the Blue and Gold met LSU in 2021 and Javs won the second flight and pushed the No. 3 and No. 4 matches to a third set before the Tigers prevailed.
Be sure to visit Javelinaathletics.com to keep up with all the action in Louisiana, including links to live video of TAMUK's matches in Baton Rouge, as well as a recap at the end of 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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