Beach Bears Head to Louisiana for CUSA Tournament

2024 Conference USA Beach Volleyball Championships
Date & Times (CT)	Thursday, April 25 – Saturday, April 27  (7) Missouri State vs. (2) No. 14 Florida International: Thursday, April 25 (10:00 a.m.)
Location	Youngsville, Louisiana
Site	Sugar Beach – Youngsville Sports Complex
Follow Along	Tournament Central | Tournament Bracket (PDF)
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SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State beach volleyball (24-5) heads out to Youngsville, Louisiana for its first Conference USA Championship Tournament running from April 25-27 at Sugar Beach in the Youngsville Sports Complex. The Bears are the No. 7 seed in the tournament and will open against the No. 2-seeded Florida International Panthers (20-9) on Thursday at 10 a.m.

Tournament Format

The tournament will be double elimination with teams moving from the “Winner’s Bracket” to the “Contender’s Bracket” following their first loss. All matches on Friday and Saturday will be streamed on ESPN+. The championship match is set for Saturday at 11:00 a.m.

A Bears win against Florida International on Thursday morning would advance the Bears to Friday’s Winner’s Bracket quarterfinal against the winner of No. 3 Florida Atlantic vs. No. 6 UTEP. A Bears loss against the Panthers would send the Bears to the Contender’s Bracket to face the loser of No. 8 Tarleton State vs. No. 9 Jacksonville State on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. The winner of that match would play a third match on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. against the loser of the aforementioned No. 3 FAU vs. No. 6 UTEP match. 

Scouting the Bears

• Missouri State is in the midst of a record-breaking year, securing its most wins (25), sweeps (15) and longest winning streak (10) in one season. 

 

• The Bears own the best record among CUSA teams this season (24-5, .828). The next highest winning percentage belongs to top-seeded TCU (25-7, .781).

 

• After starting the season 10-0, the Bears ended the regular season winners of nine straight with its last loss coming against No. 19-ranked Arizona on March 23 in Tucson. MSU is coming off three straight sweeps at home against Park University (Mo.) on April 16 and against McKendree and Oklahoma Wesleyan on April 18.

 

• The Bears went a perfect 14-0 at home, marking its second undefeated home season in three years. Since 2022, Missouri State is 26-1 at home.

 

• Missouri State has won 230 of 321 sets played (.717). The Bears have won 24 of their last 25 flight matches.

 

• Missouri State has used 11 different pair/flight combinations this season. MacKenzie Steele and Amanda Cleary are the only duo to have played with each other at the same flight all season long. The two are 19-9 on the season. Other Bears who have played every match this season across all flights are Becca Bach, Olivia Muriel, Brooke Plessner and Maddie Schrandt.

 

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

 

• Missouri State is ranked No. 40 in the nation by TruVolley.

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 as a program.

 

• Plessner continues to extend her all-time MSU career wins lead as she sits with 46 total. She and Schrandt are 25-4 as a pair (25-3 at flight No. 5). Their 25 wins together are the most by a Bears pair in a single season, surpassing the 23 wins earned by Grace Cook and Chloe Tome in 2022. 

 

• Other current Bears climbing the all-time wins list include junior Olivia Rattler (40 wins, second), junior Becca Bach (35, fifth), sophomore MacKenzie Steele (32, sixth), senior Olivia Muriel (31, seventh), sophomore Manuela Niemeyer (29, tied for eighth) and Maddie Schrandt (25, 10th).

 

• Plessner is also the program leader in matches played (79), followed by Bach (78) and Rattler (65).

Scouting the Sands

• Three of the nine teams competing in the Conference USA Championship are ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association top 20 with each team being the top seeds this week. No. 1-seeded TCU is sixth in the rankings, No. 2-seeded FIU is 14th and No. 3 -seeded FAU is 19th. No. 4-seeded UAB and No. 5-seeded Tulane received votes in the most recent poll released on April 23.

 

• Missouri State is 0-2 all-time against Florida International with the last meeting coming last year in Fort Worth, Texas at a tournament hosted by TCU. The Bears lost, 4-1, with Steele and Niemeyer winning at flight No. 4. The first meeting between the teams was on Feb. 29. 2020 for the Florida International Beach Bash. The Panthers also won that match, 4-1. FIU was nationally ranked in both matches.

 

• FIU is 20-9 this season and 4-1 against CUSA foes. Of the Panther’s nine losses, eight have come against ranked opponents. Their lone unranked loss was against Florida Gulf Coast on March 23. FIU enters the CUSA Tournament on a five-match winning streak and ended the season with consecutive wins against No. 16 Stetson and No. 18 FAU.

 

• The Bears are looking for their first win against a ranked opponent in program history (0-32). The 4-1 loss to FIU last season was the last time Missouri State won a flight against a ranked team

 

• Missouri State’s one conference match this season came against UTEP in the Arizona Invitational on March 22. The Miners defeated the Bears, 4-1, with Plessner and Schrandt winning at flight No. 5.

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 33-18 career beach volleyball 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 volleyball 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 to 2016. 

 

• Emery 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, Missouri, 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.