Beach Bears Host SBU and Ottawa on Senior Day

Missouri State vs. Southwest Baptist | Missouri State vs. Ottawa (Kansas) | Senior Day
Date & Time (CT)	Sat., April 6: vs. Southwest Baptist (10:00 a.m.) | vs. Ottawa (Kasnas) (1:00 p.m.)
Location	Springfield, Missouri
Site	Betty & Bobby Allison Sand Volleyball Courts
Follow Along	Live Stats: vs. Southwest Baptist | vs. Ottawa (Kansas)
Missouri State	Instagram | Twitter/X | Facebook | Beach Volleyball Home Page

SPRINGFIELD – The Missouri State beach volleyball team (16-5) returns home for competition for the first time in over a month as the Bears are set to host Southwest Baptist and Ottawa for its Senior Day on Saturday, April 6. The matches will mark the first time this season that Missouri State has played at Betty & Bobby Allison Sand Volleyball Courts.

The Bears will open the day against the SBU Bearcats at 10:00 a.m. and then battle the Ottawa Braves at 1:00 p.m. with the latter match acting as the Senior Day game. Olivia Muriel, Addison Crider and Brooke Plessner will be honored as outgoing seniors. Admission is free for all matches.

Full Match Schedule (Central Time)
Saturday, April 6
10:00 a.m.: Missouri State vs. Southwest Baptist (Live Stats)
1:00 p.m.: Missouri State vs. Ottawa (Kansas) (Live Stats)
3:00 p.m.: Southwest Baptist vs. Ottawa (Kansas)

Scouting the Bears

• The Missouri State Bears are coming off a 1-3 showing at the Arizona Invitational back on March 22 and 23 in Tucson. Missouri State was defeated by Utah, fellow Conference USA foe UTEP and Arizona before ending the tournament with a win against Arizona Christian.

 

• The Bears have won a program-record 16 matches this season, surpassing the 13 it had after the 2019 season.

 

• Nine of Missouri State’s 16 wins have come via a sweep, which is also the most for the team in a season.

 

• So far this season, The Bears have won 156 of its 235 sets played (.664%). 

 

• The Beach Bears have used eight different pair/flight combinations this season. Missouri State has used the same lineup across flight Nos. 1-3 and have alternated different lineups primarily on No. 4.

 

• Flight No. 5 has been the brightest spot for the Bears this season. Plessner and freshman Maddie Schradnt are 17-3 on the court (17-4 across all courts). They won 14 of Missouri State’s 15 straight flight No. 5 victories before the streak ended, which was the most on a single court in program history.

 

• Plessner and Schradnt are the fourth-ranked No. 5 pair in the nation by collegebeachvb.com. 

A Growing Record Book

• Multiple Bears are either on pace or have surpassed single-season and career records in Missouri State beach volleyball’s seventh season.

 

• Plessner, who became the program’s all-time leader in matches played earlier this season (67), is one win away from tying Grace Cook for most career wins (39). Plessner could set a new record with wins in both matches on Saturday. Plessner and Schrandt are also tied for second in both single-season and career wins as a pair with 17. Cook and Chloe Tome hold the single-season record with 23 wins as a duo in 2022.

 

• Other current Bears have also made their way up the all-time wins list. Junior Olivia Rattler is fourth in career wins with 32. Junior Becca Bach is in sixth with 28 wins. Sophomore MacKenzie Steele is in seventh with 25 wins. Muriel and sophomore Manuela Niemeyer are tied for eighth with 24 career victories. 

 

• The Bears are currently on a program-best 10-match home winning streak going back to April 8, 2023 against SBU on last year’s Senior Day. Missouri State has since gone 9-0 at home this year with all matches at Volleyball Beach Ozark. 

 

• Since 2022, MSU is 21-1 in home matches.

Scouting the Sands & Series History

• Missouri State has won its last five matches at Betty & Bobby Allison Sand Volleyball Courts going back to the 2022 season. The last Bears loss on campus came on March 26, 2021 against Central Arkansas on the last day of the Bear Challenge.

 

• The Bears are 3-0 all-time against the SBU Bearcats, including a 5-0 victory to begin Mo State Tournament 2 in Ozark last month. Missouri State defeated Southwest Baptist by the same score last year on Senior Day to conclude the regular season. The Bearcats are 5-14 this season, but have won two of their last four matches against Park University (Mo.) and McKendree in a March 22 doubleheader at Volleyball Beach Ozark.

 

• Missouri State is 8-0 all-time against Ottawa (Kansas), owning more wins against the Braves than any other team. This is the first time the two teams have met since Missouri State’s Senior Day in 2022. Plessner and Crider each participated in that match as well with Crider winning on flight No. 3 and Plessner winning on the extra court. All but two matches between the Bears and the Braves have ended in a Missouri State sweep.

Head Coach Ashley Emery

• Ashley Emery is in her second season as head coach of Missouri State beach volleyball. She enters the weekend with a 25-18 career head coaching record. 

 

• Emery spent the 2021 season as a volunteer assistant for the MSU indoor volleyball team after three seasons as an assistant at Drury University, where she helped the Panthers to the program’s first regular season Great Lakes Valley Conference championship and their first NCAA Division II Tournament appearance in 2018. 

 

• She served as the interim head coach at Missouri S&T for the 2017 season following five years as a high school coach in Oklahoma where she led the Broken Arrow varsity team to three state tournament appearances from 2014-2016. 

 

• Emery then guided Edison Prep in Tulsa to the school’s first-ever state tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013. She was named the Green County Coach of the Year in 2013.

 

• A native of Osceola, Mo., the former Ashley Jurgensmeyer played indoor volleyball at Southwest Baptist University where she is still the all-time leader in kills (1,156), attack percentage (.303) and points (1,419).

 

• As a beach player, Emery competed on the Association of Volleyball Professionals semi-pro tour AVPNext from 2014-16 and earned an A-level ranking.

Bears in Conference USA

• On May 11, 2023, Missouri State announced that its beach volleyball team would leave the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association after three seasons to compete in Conference USA starting in 2024. Missouri State joins TCU and Tarleton State as new affiliate members of CUSA this season.