Beach Volleyball Travels to the Bayou for the Tiger Beach Challenge

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss beach volleyball travels to the Bayou State for the Tiger Beach Challenge hosted by LSU in Baton Rouge, La.

"We are attacking a few areas we felt needed to be addressed," head coach Shawn Taylor said. "We will continue to test ourselves, retool and retest. We had three good days of training and feel like we are continuing to improve every time we hit the sand. The level of play in Baton Rouge will be high again so we know we will have to continue to take steps forward to get the results we would like to see."

The Black & Gold look to find their first win on the young season in five matches over the weekend. In the first, the Golden Eagles play their second Conference USA opponent of the year, UAB at 10 A.M. on Saturday, Mar. 5. Continuing play on Saturday, Southern Miss then plays at 6 P.M. and 8 P.M. against Tulane and No. 6 LSU, respectively.

After a brief rest, Coach Taylor and crew round out the tournament against sister schools of the Texas A&M system. Starting with a matchup at high Noon against Texas A&M – Corpus Christi and ending against Texas A&M – Kingsville at 3 P.M.

Last Time Out
In their last appearance, Southern Miss, 0-4 (0-1), returned home winless after four matches against top-end competition at the Florida State Beach Bash. While in Tallahassee, the Golden Eagles faced two top-20 opponents, the reigning AVCA Division II Small College Beach Champions and one opponent that fell just five votes shy of being ranked.

Against DII Champions Tampa, the Golden Eagles fell 0-5 in their first match of the 2022 season but showed promise against a talented Spartans squad. Immediately after the first match, the squad came just three sets short of knocking off the 13th-rankned Florida Atlantic Sandy Owls.

Following the first day of competition, Southern Miss picked up their first overall set victory against North Florida, eventually falling 1-4 in the contest. The Ospreys were the first team out of the AVCA Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Black & Gold finished the weekend against No. 6 TCU and AVCA Pair of the Week Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno.

Overall, the tournament is one of the toughest in program history and the Golden Eagles gained valuable experience for the younger pairings of the team.

Looking ahead to this weekend, the Golden Eagles have a combined record of 2-13 against their five opponents. The two wins come from matches against Texas A&M – Kingsville and UAB.

Comparing the Competition
"UAB is the second conference opponent we will se in the early part of the season," Coach Taylor said. "All matches in a short collegiate beach season are important but that on has implications when it comes time for the conference tournament. Tulane had a great opening weekend, and we are excited to face them. We are also excited about the opportunity to play under the lights in Baton Rouge in Saturday night."

UAB and Southern Miss have met four times since 2019, with the Blazers holding a 3-1 series lead. However, the Golden Eagles took the last match in the series in the CCSA Tournament on Apr. 23, 2021. The Blazers are led by second year head coach Terri Del Conte. Del Conte holds a career record of 35-49 in five seasons while posting a 12-19 record in the Iron City. Both UAB and Southern Miss enter the weekend winless on the 2022 season, each holding 0-4 records.

For the second match of the weekend, Southern Miss faces a familiar foe in Tulane. The Golden Eagles are winless against the Green Wave in seven tries, with each of the last four losses coming in 4-1 decisions. Tulane, led by third year head coach Eyal Zimet, travel to Baton Rouge with three wins and one loss after an opening home tournament. The lone loss coming to this weekend's host, LSU. Overall, Zimet has posted a 33-19 record Uptown and has led the Olive & Blue to winning records each season. This match will be the first of four between the two squads in 2022.

LSU leads the series against the Golden Eagles 2-0, both matches coming in Baton Rouge. The Tigers enter the contest ranked sixth in the nation and sporting a 4-0 record. Head coach Russell Brock and company swept the field at Tulane's Green Wave Invitational last weekend to improve Brock's record on the Bayou to 128-42 in his six seasons. The Purple & Gold are the only ranked team at the Tiger Beach Invitational, having fallen one spot from last week's rankings.

The second day of competition begins against Texas A&M – Corpus Christi. The Islanders are led by Gayle Stammer, who holds a 44-40 record in five seasons. TAMU-CC enters the weekend 4-0 after a stelar performance at the Houston Baptist Invitational last weekend against ULM, Southeastern, New Orleans and Houston Baptist. Southern Miss later plays ULM, New Orleans and Houston Baptist this season. The Golden Eagles lost the only matchup between the two teams last season on Mar. 20, 2021 by a score of 4-1.

The final match of the day is against the Javelinas of Texas A&M – Kingsville, the only team in the Tiger Beach Challenge the Golden Eagles hold a winning record over. In their one matchup, Southern Miss defeated TAMUK 3-2 in the last tournament prior to the cancellation of the 2020 season. The Javelinas are led by Tanya Allen, who enters her sixth season with the Javelinas with a 70-55 record. In the 2022 season, Allen's squad is 4-1 after sweeping their opening tournament and losing Thurdsay against Southeastern. This will be the first of two matchups between TAMUK and Southern Miss, the second coming at the Southern Miss Beach Invitational I on Apr. 2.

Looking forward toward Saturday, Coach Taylor said, "We love to play at home but if we're going to hit the road, is there a better place to be than the jungle, playing one the tops teams in the country in LSU, while listening to some Garth Brooks?"

Viewing Options
All matches of the Tiger Beach Challenge will be live streamed on LSU beach volleyball's YouTube account, except for the match against LSU at 8 P.M. on Saturday. The LSU match will be streamed on Varsity Sports Now. Links to all matches can be found on the Beach Volleyball schedule at SouthernMiss.com. For information, scores and more, follow Southern Miss Beach Volleyball on Twitter @SouthernMissBVB, on Instagram @southernmissbvb or on our website at SouthernMiss.com.

Beach Volleyball Travels to the Bayou for the Tiger Beach Challenge

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