MONROE, La. – The Warhawks beach volleyball team opens its 2021 home tournament starting on Thursday, March 11, when it begins play at the ULM Beach Invitational by squaring off against Missouri State at 1:30 p.m.
The clash with Missouri State is the first of seven for ULM, who will return to the courts on Friday, March 12 for a trio of matches against Houston Baptist (12 p.m.), Hendrix (3 p.m.) and Central Arkansas (4:30 p.m.). The Warhawks begin a second three-match slate on Saturday by clashing with New Orleans (10:30 a.m.), Central Arkansas (1:30 p.m.) and Southeastern Louisiana (3 p.m.).
ULM heads into the weekend with two wins in its last four matches, which came against Spring Hill College (3-2) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (3-2) at the Bayou Beach Duals in New Orleans on March 5-6.
The Warhawks are a combined 15-10 against the six opponents at this week's tournament. ULM is 12-1 all-time against New Orleans, 1-5 when facing Central Arkansas and 2-4 in six all-time meetings against Houston Baptist. The Warhawks have no previous matches against Missouri State, Hendrix and Southeastern Louisiana.
ULM is led individually by the duo of
Audrey Brooks and
Julia Blazek, who have captured five wins as the No. 1 seed. Two of the five wins for the Brooks/Blazek tandem have come in three-set matches, which came against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Abigail Elder and
Kayla Gallant have the second-most wins for the Warhawks this season, coming through with four. Consistently serving as ULM's No. 3 pair, Elder and Gallant have posted two three-set wins in 2021.
OPPONENT CAPSULES
MISSOURI STATE: The Bears began their fourth season of beach volleyball with a series of 4-1 victories over Ottawa University (Kansas) on March 3. The wins halted a seven-game losing streak for Missouri State, which ended the 2020 campaign with a series of losses to No. 17 Arizona (5-0), No. 1 LSU (5-0) and No. 16 TCU (5-0) at the Fight for the Fort in Fort Worth, Texas.
HOUSTON BAPTIST: The Huskies make their trek to Monroe with a 1-7 mark with six straight losses. After emerging with a 3-2 victory over ULM on February 26 at the HBU Beach Tournament, Houston Baptist has dropped its last six straight. Five of those setbacks have come against ranked opponents— No. 1 LSU (twice), No. 19 Georgia State, No. 2 Florida State and No. 11 Florida Atlantic.
HENDRIX: The Warriors bring a 2-4 record into the weekend after dropping three straight matches on February 26 to North Alabama (5-0), Huntingdon (3-2) and Central Arkansas (5-0) as part of the Shoals Beach Clash. The best tandem on the Hendrix team is Grace Dean and Meghan Fuller-Freeman, who are 4-2 on the slate.
CENTRAL ARKANSAS: The Warhawks won their most recent meeting with Central Arkansas, posting a 4-1 victory on April 5, 2019, which halted a five-match winning streak in the series by the Beach Bears. Central Arkansas is 5-4 in the 2021 campaign, claiming all five wins on a neutral surface. The Bears were winless in four matches at the Horned Frog Challenge, dropping matches to Southern Miss (3-2), No. 15 TCU (5-0), No. 13 Florida International (5-0) and UAB (5-0) in succession last weekend.
NEW ORLEANS: New Orleans began its 2021 season two weeks ago when it took part in the Green Wave Invitational on February 26-27. The Privateers began the slate with a 5-0 setback to host Tulane, but rebounded in the second match to claim a 3-1 win over Southeastern Louisiana on Feb. 26. The following day, New Orleans suffered a 5-0 loss to UAB in the morning session before downing Utah 4-1 in the afternoon match.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA: Competing in its second season, the Southeastern Louisiana beach volleyball team heads to Monroe with an 0-4 mark after wrapping up the Green Wave Invitational at the end of February. The Lions, who are in search of the first team win in program history, opened the 2021 season with a 3-1 loss to New Orleans. That was followed by a 3-1 setback to Utah in the second match of the day on February 26. UAB handed the Lions a 5-0 loss in the first of two matches on Feb. 27 and Tulane followed with a 5-0 win in the afternoon session.
