SPRINGFIELD – The Missouri State beach volleyball team will travel to Huntsville, Ala., over the weekend to compete in the 2023 CCSA Beach Volleyball Championships. The Bears will face off against No. 3 seeded LSU to kick off the tournament on Thursday at 12 p.m. (CT). 
 

Missouri State at the 2023 CCSA Beach Volleyball Championships (Huntsville, Ala.)
Date & Event Times	Thursday, April 27 - Saturday, April 29
Location	Huntsville, Ala.
Site	John Hunt Beach Volleyball Complex
Follow Along	Match Notes | Championship Bracket
Missouri State	Beach Volleyball Home Page | Season Stats | Record Book | Twitter

Scouting the Bears 

• The Bears will face off against No. 3 LSU in the first round of the CCSA Championships. The Bears and the Tigers will play at 11 a.m. CT. 

• MSU faced off against LSU in the first round of the championships last season, as well, ending in an 0-5 loss to the nationally sixth-ranked team. 

• The Bears are coming off a 5-0 sweep of SBU on Senior Day where Grayson Hall and Tylar Garrett were honored. Flights 2-5 were decided in two sets apiece while flight one went to three sets. 

• The freshman duo of MacKenzie Steele and Manuela Niemeyer leads the Bears in wins this season. Playing in every match in primarily the No. 3 and No. 4 flights they hold a record of 13-7 

• Freshmen MacKenzie Steele, Manuela Niemeyer and Riley Drew have compiled the most individual wins this season for the Bears with the former two securing 13 victories and the latter, 12.  

• MSU holds an overall record of 9-11 (.450) this season including a mark of 8-1 at home.  

• The Bears nine wins are the third most during a single season since the program's inception in 2018. 

• Out of the team's 20 duals during its 2023 campaign, the team has swept four opponents, beating Hendrix, Oklahoma Wesleyan, McKendree and SBU, 5-0.  

• MSU has seen 22 different pair combinations take the courts over the team's 2023 campaign that featured 20 duals.  

• MSU has played 236 total sets this season compiling a record of 116-120.  

• MSU got off to a hot start in its 2023 campaign, going 7-1 through its opening eight duals. The Bears recorded seven-straight wins to begin the year, the most ever to begin a season in program history as well as the longest win streak in the program's tenure.  

• The Bears 2023 roster consists of 18 players, with 11 freshmen making up the bulk of the team. MSU's team also features seven returners including Madalyn Bass, Becca Bach, Olivia Rattler, Addison Crider, Grayson Hall, Brooke Plessner and Tylar Garrett.    

Championship Central 

• The CCSA Championships will be held in Huntsville, Ala., beginning on Thursday and concluding with the championship match Saturday. 

• The Bears are the sixth-seeded team and will play No. 3 seeded LSU in the first round at 11 a.m. (CT).  

• This is the third-straight year the Bears and the Tigers will face off in the first round of the conference tournament. 

• The tournament will be be played in double elimination format.  

Leader of the Beach Bears  

• Ashley Emery was announced as the Bears new head coach on July 15, 2022.  

• 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.  

• A native of Osceola, Mo., the former Ashley Jurgensmeyer played collegiately at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., graduating in three years but still leaving as the program's all-time leader in kills, attack percentage, and points.  

• 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 the CCSA 

Missouri State officially joined the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association on Dec. 13, 2019. The Bears will vie for a title in the six-team league (TCU, Florida State, LSU, Grand Canyon, South Carolina, Missouri State) at the CCSA Tournament on April 27-29. 

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