Beach Bears End Road Swing at Arizona Invitational

Friday, March 22

Tucson, Ariz. / Bear Down Beach

11:00 a.m.

Missouri State University

Utah

Beach Bears End Road Swing at Arizona Invitational

March 21, 2024 | Beach Volleyball

Season Stats (PDF)Live Stats vs. Utah Live Stats vs. UTEP Live Stats vs. No. 19 Arizona Live Stats vs. Arizona Christian

Arizona Invitational
Dates & Times (CT)	Fri., March 22: vs. Utah (11:00 a.m.), vs. UTEP (2:00 p.m.) Sat., March 23: vs. No. 19 Arizona (Noon), vs. Arizona Christian (2:00 p.m.)
Location	Tucson, Arizona
Site	Bear Down Beach
Follow Along	Live Stats: vs. Utah \| vs. UTEP \| vs. No. 19 Arizona \| vs. Arizona Christian
Missouri State	I nstagram \| Twitter \| Facebook \| Beach Volleyball Home Page

SPRINGFIELD - The Missouri State beach volleyball team (15-2) takes its record-breaking season on the road to the Copper State where it will end its three-weekend road stretch at the Arizona Invitational in Tucson hosted by the University of Arizona at Bear Down Beach.

The Bears will play four matches across two days on Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23. On Friday, Missouri State will start the invitational against the University of Utah (9-7) at 11:00 a.m. and then take on fellow Conference USA opponent UTEP (5-6) at 2 p.m. CT. On Saturday, the Bears will close their stretch of 12 matches away from home against No. 19-ranked Arizona (10-3) at noon and Arizona Christian (12-6) at 2 p.m. CT.

Full Tournament Schedule (Central Time)
Friday, March 22
11:00 a.m.: Missouri State vs. Utah (Live Stats)
12:00 p.m.: UTEP vs. Arizona Christian
1:00 p.m.: Santa Clara vs. No. 19 Arizona
2:00 p.m.: Missouri State vs. UTEP (Live Stats)
4:00 p.m.: Utah vs. No. 19 Arizona
6:00 p.m.: Arizona Christian vs. Santa Clara

Saturday, March 23
11:00 a.m.: Santa Clara vs. Utah
12:00 p.m.: Missouri State vs. No. 19 Arizona (Live Stats)
1:00 p.m.: UTEP vs. Utah
2:00 p.m.: Missouri State vs. Arizona Christian (Live Stats)
3:00 p.m.: Santa Clara vs. UTEP
4:00 p.m.: Arizona Christian vs. No. 19 Arizona

Scouting the Bears

The Missouri State Bears are coming off a perfect 4-0 showing at the ULM Bayou Bash in Monroe, Louisiana last weekend. MSU defeated Nicholls State, Louisiana Monroe, Texas A&M - Kingsville and McNeese State to improve to 15-2 this season.

A little over halfway through the regular season, Missouri State's 15 wins are already a program record, surpassing the 13 wins it had after the 2019 season.

Nine of Missouri State's 15 wins have come via sweeps, which is also a program-best.

So far this season, Missouri State has won 140 of 189 sets played. The Bears are also a combined 66-17 on each flight.

Missouri State has used eight different pair/flight combinations this season. The Bears used the same lineup throughout last week's Bayou Bash after making various changes at No. 4 and No. 5 at the Battle on the Bay in St. Petersburg, Florida the week prior.

Flight No. 5 entries are on a 15-match winning streak, the longest on any flight in Bears history. Senior Brooke Plessner and freshman Maddie Schrandt are responsible for 14 of those wins. The pair is 15-2 this year, including a 15-1 mark on flight No. 5.

Plessner and Schrandt are the second-ranked No. 5 pair in the nation by collegebeachvb.com. The freshman duo of Kenzi McSpadden and Allyson Larkin (10-1) are also the second-ranked pair on flight No. 4.

A Growing Record Book

Multiple Bears are either on pace or have already broken career and single-season program records in Missouri State beach volleyball's seventh season.

Plessner, Missouri State's all-time leader in matches played, is third all-time in career individual wins with 36. She is two wins behind Chloe Tome (38) and three behind Grace Cook (39) for the program record. Plessner and Schrandt are also third in team history in single season and career wins as a pair (15).

Olivia Rattler is right behind Plessner in all-time wins in fourth with 31. She is 5-1 this year after making her season debut at the Battle on the Bay Tournament. Other active Bears in the top 10 in career victories at Missouri State are Becca Bach in sixth (28), Manuela Niemeyer and MacKenzie Steele tied for seventh (24) and Olivia Muriel in 10th (22).

McSpadden's 2024 record of 10-1 (.909) is on pace for the highest win percentage by a Bear in a single season.

Scouting the Sands & Series History

Missouri State is making its second appearance at the Arizona Invitational in as many years and its fourth appearance in a tournament hosted by the University of Arizona. The Bears participated in the 2020 Cactus Classic, the 2021 Arizona Invitational and the 2023 Wildcat Spring Challenge. MSU is 3-9 all-time across all three Tucson tournaments.

The Bears will play Utah for the first time on Friday. The Utes enter the weekend 9-7 this season, including a 0-3 record against PAC-12 opponents. Utah is riding a three-match winning streak with wins against St. Mary's (CA), Sacramento State and San Jose State.

UTEP will represent Missouri State's first conference opponent since joining as a CUSA affiliate member this season. MSU suffered a 3-2 loss against UTEP in the last of four wins for the Miners last year in their inaugural season at the Wildcat Spring Challenge. UTEP is 5-6 this season and is also on a three-match winning streak with two wins against Park University Gilbert (AZ) and one over Benedictine Mesa. The Miners are 0-2 in CUSA play with losses against Alabama Birmingham and No. 15 Florida Atlantic.

Missouri State is 0-5 all-time against Arizona with the Wildcats holding a combined score of 21-4 across all flights against the Bears. Three of the five meetings between the teams came in the 2020 season. Arizona is ranked a season-high No. 19 in the nation in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association Collegiate Beach Poll. The Wildcats have been ranked in the top 20 in every match against the Bears. Missouri State is 0-31 all-time against ranked opponents and has been swept in its last four ranked matchups. Arizona is 10-3 this season, including a perfect 6-0 record at home.

The Bears defeated the NAIA Arizona Christian Firestorm, 5-0, on March 10, 2022 in Glendale, Arizona in the first and only matchup between the two. Bach, Plessner, and Rattler earned wins on their respective flights. ACU is 12-6 in 2024 and also holds a three-match winning streak with Golden State Athletic Conference wins over Life Pacific, Vanguard and Hope International.

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 24-15 career 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.

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.

#BearsUnite