MONROE, La. – After earning a pair of 5-0 victories at the Blazer Beach Bash over Eastern Kentucky and Nicholls State on Feb. 28-29, the ULM beach volleyball team heads to New Orleans this weekend to participate in the New Orleans Invitational. The two-day event will pit the Warhawks against Nicholls State and Tulane on Friday, March 6, as well as Spring Hill and Southern Miss on Saturday, March 7.
The Warhawks (2-7) are in search of consecutive wins for the first time since winning four straight between April 6, 2019 and April 13, 2019. That stretch resulted in victories against New Orleans (4-1), Spring Hill (5-0), New Orleans (3-2) and Nicholls State (5-0).
The best individual tandem for ULM this season is
Grace Convey and
Julia Blazek, who have four wins. The pair claimed the first point of the season for the Warhawks against Tampa on Feb. 22, when they downed Bri Civiero and Valerie Rosequist by scores of 21-18, 21-19. Two days later, in a clash with Southern Miss, they came through with a 21-15, 17-21, 15-12 triumph against Piper Matsumoto and Madison Lawler.
Last weekend, Convey and Blazek claimed their third win of the season, 21-10, 21-8, in a clash with Eastern Kentucky's Kaylin Johnson and Kennedy Wilson on Feb. 28. The following afternoon, ULM's No. 2-seeded pair emerged with a 21-8, 21-16 victory against Emily Venable and Jackie Alanis from Nicholls State.
ULM owns a 4-0 mark in the all-time series with Nicholls State, earning 5-0 team wins in every meeting with the Colonels. After facing off against each other on three occasions in 2019, the Warhawks cruised to a 5-0 win last weekend in Birmingham, Alabama, to claim the fourth win in the series. All five of the points were by virtue of two-set sweeps.
Nicholls State (1-3) earned its first win in the program's two-year history at the Blazer Beach Bash by downing Eastern Kentucky, 5-0, on Feb. 29.
Tulane is 6-5 in head-to-head meetings with ULM, enjoying a five-match winning streak in the series since March 5, 2017, when the Green Wave emerged victorious 5-0. The last time the two Louisiana programs clashed was on April 4 at the Green Wave Duals, which resulted in 5-0 and 4-1 wins by Tulane.
Tulane is 5-2 entering the weekend after claiming three wins during the Tiger Beach Challenge, which took place between Feb. 29 and March 1. The Green Wave capped off the event with wins over Spring Hill (5-0), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3-2) and Houston Baptist (3-2). Tulane faced No. 1 ranked UCLA and No. 2 ranked LSU, falling by scores of 4-1 and 5-0, respectively.
The Warhawks have won five of six meetings against Spring Hill since the first meeting since 2015. The Badgers are .500 on the season with a mark of 5-5 after winning back-to-back matches against William Carey in 5-0 fashion on Tuesday, March 3. Spring Hill, who also participated in the Tiger Beach Challenge, suffered 5-0 setbacks to Tulane (Feb. 29) and No. 2 LSU (March 1).
ULM will look to avenge a 4-1 setback to Southern Miss which came on Feb. 24 in Hattiesburg, Miss. In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, the Golden Eagles took advantage of a three-day, five-match road swing by ULM. The lone win by the Warhawks came from Convey and Blazek.
Southern Miss (1-2) has not taken the court since posting a 4-1 win over ULM on Feb. 24. The Golden Eagles have also played New Orleans (Feb. 22) this season, which resulted in a pair of 3-2 losses.
