KINGSVILLE, Texas – One more regular season tournament remains on the schedule for the Texas A&M-Kingsville beach volleyball team and coach Tanya Allen's crew will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., the site of the Southern Miss Beach Invitational, which will be held on Friday and Saturday at the Southern Miss Beach Volleyball Complex.
The tournament begins on Friday, when the Javelinas will take on the Spring Hill Badgers at 2 p.m. and the Nicholls State Colonels at 6:30 p.m. On Saturday, TAMUK's schedule includes a match against the UT-Chattanooga Mocs at 8:30 a.m. and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at 12:30 p.m.
The Javelinas closed the month of March by winning seven consecutive matches before consecutive close losses gave the Javs an 11-8 record with six matchups remaining before the American Volleyball Coaches Association Small College Beach Championships begin on April 14th.
One of TAMUK's strongest tandems over their last nine matches has been their No. 1 pairing of seniors Tenley Housler (Bulverde, Texas) and Macie Satterwhite (Callisburg, Texas). They finished the Javs most recent road trip by pulling out a come-from-behind 15-21, 22-20, 15-13 victory against the College of Charleston, their eighth win in their last nine tries. The 13 total victories they've produced are the third-most ever by a Javelina pairing at No. 1 and put them just four away from the mark of 17 that Housler and Whitney Walker reached in 2019.
The fifth flight in the Javelinas' lineup has recently become the property of sophomore Grace Gettys (New Braunfels, Texas) and senior Christina Gragasin (Celina, Texas). A loss to the Cougars in their last match is the only blemish on a record that now stands at 5-1. The 11 victories Gragasin has picked up so far in 2022 has allowed her to move into the top 10 in that statistic in program history.
TAMUK's time in Mississippi will begin against a team the Javs have become extremely familiar with over the past five seasons. Friday's matchup with Spring Hill will be the fifth time the two programs have met in the last three years and the seventh time overall. The Javelinas defeated the Badgers in 2018 and 2019, with the former matchup coming the national semifinals, but SHC topped TAMUK three times in 2021. Those three matches included 15 sets that were decided by only two points, four of which came in the teams' meeting at the AVCA Championships in April.
To keep up with all the action in Hattiesburg, including a recap at the end of each day, visit Javelinaathletics.com. 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.
Get the Official Javelina Athletics Mobile App today! Download on the App Store or Get It on Google Play to keep up with all the news, scores and updates of your favorite Javelinas.
