SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State starts its second season of beach volleyball this weekend with four challenging matches at the Horned Frogs Challenge hosted by TCU.
 

Beach Bears at Horned Frogs Challenge
Weekend Schedule	Fri., March 1, 12:30 p.m. vs. #19 Grand Canyon Fri., March 1, 4:30 p.m. vs. #16 Georgia State Sat., March 2, 12 p.m. vs. #17 Tulane Sat., March 2, 4 p.m. at TCU
Location	Fort Worth, Texas
Site	TCU Beach Volleyball Courts
Follow	Live Stats
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Year 1 Recap
Missouri State posted a 7-10 record in its first season of competition. The Bears earned six victories during an 11-match spring break trip to California, and won the season's only home match against Ottawa University, 5-0. MSU's pairs finished with a cumulative 36-49 record, with six players posting at least eight wins in 17 matches. Four of those six players – Ivy Reynolds, Sarah Demmer, Sam Brinkmann and Mikaela Mosquera – are penciled to MSU's opening day lineup in 2019.
 
Scouting the Bears
Missouri State returns six players among its top five pairs that played in at least four matches last season. Graduate student Ivy Reynolds went 9-8 last year, while Sarah Demmer, Sam Brinkmann and Mikaela Mosquera each posted eight victories. Julia Hanson played predominantly in the Bears' No. 2 pair in 2018, while Kelsey Larsen joined the lineup for the season's final weekend. Newcomers among the top five pairs include graduate transfers Sydney LeMay (Western Michigan) and Bentley Mara (Drury), while true freshmen Kylee Davis and Chloee McDaniel are also slated in the top three pairs.
 
Missouri State's pairs for the opening match are scheduled to be:
No. 1 – Ivy Reynolds and Mikaela Mosquera
No. 2 – Julia Hanson and Chloee McDaniel
No. 3 – Kylee Davis and Kelsey Larsen
No. 4 – Sam Brinkmann and Sydney LeMay
No. 5 – Sarah Demmer and Bentley Mara

The Opponents
Grand Canyon is 1-2 overall and ranked 19^th in the AVCA poll. The Lopes defeated New Mexico and lost to Loyola Marymount and Arizona State.
        No. 16 Georgia State 2-2 with losses to Stetson and Florida International and wins over a pair of non-Division I opponents.
        Tulane is 2-3, losing all three matches to top-7 opponents, and is ranked 17^th in the AVCA poll.
        TCU is 2-2 with wins against two Division II schools and losses to Florida Atlantic and North Florida.
 
Notables

• Missouri State went 0-6 against teams ranked in the AVCA Top 20 last season, and has three such teams on the opening weekend schedule, while TCU is receiving votes in the poll
• The Bears met Tulane on the season's final day last year, falling 5-0 to the Green Wave in Columbia, S.C. This weekend will be the first meeting between MSU and the other participants in the Horned Frogs Challenge.

 
Up Next
The Bears will spend Spring Break in southern California, playing nine matches in five days in the Los Angeles area. MSU begins that trip on March 12 in Huntington Beach with matches against Vanguard and Hope International.