CONWAY, Ark. – The University of Central Arkansas beach volleyball is set to head back down to Louisiana for the second of three trips down to the Pelican State this month. UCA will face the likes of Texas A&M – Kingsville, Southeastern Louisiana, Spring Hill, and McNeese State as the Bears are in search for its first victory on the young season.
Last weekend in Baton Rouge, the Beach Bears scuffled once again, with Tulane and Texas A&M – Corpus Christi dashing past the Bears, but the Bears showed reasonable improvement in the latter matches on Sunday, pushing Nebraska to three sets three times, and again playing better against Southern Miss. Payton Sproule and Anna Collums were fairly dominant in their victory over the No. 3 pair for Southern Miss, giving UCA its first doubles match victory since the opening match of the season.
Texas A&M – Kingsville comes into this weekend holding a 5-2 record, including a perfect 4-0 opening weekend against some fellow Lone Star State teams in East Texas Baptist and Mary Hardin-Baylor. This past weekend, the Javelinas fell to Colorado Mesa and Arizona State, before salvaging the weekend with a win over Park University out in Tempe, Arizona. The history between these two teams is relatively brief, as UCA has won all three matches. The two teams haven't met since the spring of 2021, and the all-time series goes back to 2017. UCA will look to nab its first win this season while staying perfect against the Javelinas.
The hosting Southeastern Louisiana Lions go into this weekend with an even 3-3 mark in the early going. The Lions have certainly faced some tough competition, opening the season against teams like Tulane, UNA, and Oregon. SLU has won three in a row, however, salvaging opening weekend against Spring Hill, and winning against New Orleans and Nicholls down in Thibodaux, La. last weekend. The Beach Bears have a much more thorough history with the Lions, as UCA holds a 7-0 lead in the all-time series. The Bears beat the Lions last season in Baton Rouge, and then thrice in both 2021 and 2022 in various host sites. This weekend will be the first time the teams have met in Hammond, so this should be a good experience for this Bears team to branch out in this series.
The Badgers of Spring Hill enter this weekend with a record of 4-5 on the season. The Badgers, like UCA, were shut out in the opening weekend, losing matches to New Orleans, Stephen F. Austin, SLU, and Tulane. Last weekend, SHC left Gulf Shores with a 4-1 record on the weekend, with wins over Hendrix, Huntingdon, Stevenson, and the Berry Vikings. The wins, while they were not against the same level of talent the Badgers saw opening weekend, helped SHC get back on track ahead of this weekend's tournament. This will be the fourth straight season that these two programs will match up, with the Badgers winning three of the four overall meetings.
The Beach Bears are slated to close things out in Hammond on Saturday against the McNeese Cowgirls. McNeese, like UCA has faced some tough programs, and it has resulted in a 1-7 start on the season. The Cowgirls' lone win on the season came against Tarleton State, and they have fallen to Cal Poly, Texas A&M – CC, Nicholls, Utah, and SFA. The Beach Bears and Cowgirls have never met on the court, so this will one again be a unique opportunity for this year's squad.
The Bears start out in Hammond, Louisiana on Friday, March 8th at 9:00 a.m. against Texas A&M – Kingsville and then they will take on the host Southeastern Louisiana. UCA will then close things out on Saturday, March 9th against Spring Hill at 11:00 a.m. and then the Bears will take on McNeese State for the first time ever at 3:00 p.m. For all things UCA beach volleyball, follow along on Twitter/X at @UCABeachVB.
