Tarleton State starts Conference USA Beach Volleyball Championship Thursday

YOUNGSVILLE, La. - The Texans will begin their Conference USA Beach Volleyball Championship run on Thursday at Sugar Beach in Youngsville, Louisiana.

Tarleton State will play in the second match of the tournament following an 8:30 a.m. match between 8-seed Sam Houston and 9-seed Jacksonville State on Thursday. The Texans, who are the 7-seed, will take on 2-seed Tulane at 10 a.m.

The tournament is double-elimination, culminating in a winner-take-all championship match on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Depending on outcomes, Tarleton State could play between 1-3 matches on Thursday. If the Texans defeat the Green Wave, the Texans will advance to Friday and face the winner of 3-seed Florida International and 6-seed Missouri State at 8:30 a.m. If the Green Wave defeats the Texans, Tarleton State would move to the Contender's Bracket for a 4 p.m. elimination match against the loser of Sam Houston-Jacksonville State. The winner of that match would then play at 7 p.m. on Thursday against the loser of the FIU-Missouri State match.

There are 16 total matches across the three days, with eight on Thursday, six on Friday and two on Saturday. The matches on Friday and Saturday will be broadcast on ESPN+. Nine teams will be playing in this event; 1-seed Florida Atlantic, 2-seed Tulane, 3-seed Florida International, 4-seed UAB, 5-seed UTEP, 6-seed Missouri State, 7-seed Tarleton State, 8-seed Sam Houston and 9-seed Jacksonville State.

The winner of the Conference USA Beach Volleyball Championship will clinch the automatic berth into the 2025 NC Beach Volleyball Championship, set for May 2-4 at Gulf Place Beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

For the match against Tulane, the Texans will keep and together on Court 1, who have played together in that position all season. The pair is 10-10 overall, with wins in two of the last three matches. Bryant and Halcomb nearly knocked off Tulane's top pairing this past Friday, falling 21-13 14-21 9-15.

On Court 2, the Texans will play and . Schirpik and Huber have played the last 12 matches together at No. 2. Schirpik has played 18 of her 20 matches on Court 2 this season, with a 6-12 record there. This past Saturday, Schirpik and Huber got their best win together against Southeastern Louisiana 21-17 21-18.

On Court 3, the Texans will pair with , who have also played 12 straight matches together between Courts 2-3. They defeated Sam Houston's No. 3 pair 26-24 21-10 on April 4.

On Court 4, Tarleton will play and . The duo has won three times in 11 matches together this year.

On Court 5, will play with . Ching has nine wins on the year, third most on the team, and she has played eight straight matches with Chun between Courts 4-5. They defeated Sam Houston's No. 4 pair 21-8 21-7.

Tarleton State and Tulane just met this past Friday in New Orleans. The Green Wave won 5-0, with two of the matches going three sets, on Courts 1 and 3.

This is the second straight year the Texans will play in the Conference USA Beach Volleyball Championship. Tarleton won its opener against Jacksonville State last year 3-1 before losing 3-0 to TCU and 3-0 to UAB.