Beach Bears to End Regular Season at Fight in the Fort

Fight in the Fort Tournament
Dates and Times (CT)	Friday, April 18: vs. No. 13 Grand Canyon (8:00 a.m.) \| at No. 2 Texas Christian (2:00 p.m.) Saturday, April 19: vs. Louisiana Monroe (10:00 a.m.) \| vs. Houston Christian (2:00 p.m.)
Location	Fort Worth, Texas
Site	TCU Beach Volleyball Courts \| Texas Christian University
Live Stats	vs. No. 13 Grand Canyon \| at No. 2 Texas Christian \| vs. Louisiana Monroe \| vs. Houston Christian
Missouri State	Beach Volleyball Home Page \| Instagram \| Twitter/X \| Facebook

SPRINGFIELD - Missouri State beach volleyball (16-5) is set to finish its eighth regular season as a program this weekend at the Fight in the Fort Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Bears will play two matches on Friday against nationally ranked opponents. MoState will start the tournament against No. 13 Grand Canyon at 8:00 a.m. and No. 2 Texas Christian at 2:00 p.m. The regular season ends on Saturday with matchups against Louisiana Monroe at 10:00 a.m. and Houston Christian at 2:00 p.m.

Full Tournament Schedule (CT)
Friday, April 18
8:00 a.m.: Missouri State vs. Grand Canyon (Live Stats)
10:00 a.m.: Houston Christian at Texas Christian (Live Stats)
12:00 p.m.: Grand Canyon vs. Louisiana Monroe (Live Stats)
2:00 p.m.: Missouri State at Texas Christian (Live Stats)
4:00 p.m.: Houston Christian vs. Louisiana Monroe (Live Stats)

Saturday, April 19
8:00 a.m.: Grand Canyon vs. Houston Christian (Live Stats)
10:00 a.m.: Missouri State vs. Louisiana Monroe (Live Stats)
12:00 p.m.: Grand Canyon at Texas Christian (Live Stats)
2:00 p.m.: Missouri State vs. Houston Christian (Live Stats)
4:00 p.m.: Louisiana Monroe at Texas Christian (Live Stats)

Bears on the Beach

Missouri State is coming off a 2-2 showing at the Blazer Beach Bash in Birmingham, Alabama last weekend. The Bears split each day of the tournament. They swept Austin Peay State before falling to Conference USA foe UAB on Friday. MoState was swept by Chattanooga before ending the tournament with a 4-1 victory over Tennessee Tech.

Across 21 matches this season, Missouri State has swept its opponents in 13 of them. The Bears have won 169 of their 222 total sets played (.761).

Head coach Ashley Emery earned her 50th career win last week against Austin Peay.

MacKenzie Steele and Amanda Cleary went 2-2 last weekend to reach 35 career victories as a pair, tying Grace Cook and Chloe Tome for the most by a duo in program history. Steele and Cleary went 20-11 last season and are 15-5 at Flight No. 2 this season.

Rylie Cepicky and Manuela Niemeyer were the only Bears pairing to go 3-1 at the Blazer Beach Bash, only falling to Chattanooga. The No. 4 pair is a team-best 18-2 this season and has been on separate winning streaks of 10 and seven matches this year.

Olivia Rattler and Erin Eschleman went 2-2 last weekend to set their season record at 14-4. Rattler is 17-4 this season, including 3-0 at the start of the year with Riley Drew. Rattler is one win away from becoming the first player in team history to reach 60 in a career.

Becca Bach and Allyson Larkin also went 2-2 in last weekend's tournament. They finished the Blazer Beach Bash with the match-clinching point against Tennessee Tech at Flight No. 1. The duo is 16-5 this season, elevating Larkin to become the seventh player in team history to reach 40 career wins.

Maddie Schrandt and Morgan Sprague are 15-6 this year at Flight No. 3 after a 2-2 showing last weekend in Birmingham. Schrandt is 42-11 in her first two years at Missouri State.

Program Career Wins List
1. Olivia Rattler (2022-25) - 59
2. Becca Bach (2022-25) - 52
T-3. Brooke Plessner (2021-24) - 48
T-3. MacKenzie Steele (2023-25) - 48
T-3. Manuela Niemeyer (2023-25) - 48
6. Maddie Schrandt (2024-25) - 42
7. Allyson Larkin (2024-25) - 41
8. Grace Cook (2020-22) - 39
T-9. Chloe Tome (2020-22) - 38
T-9. Erin Eschleman (2024-25) - 38

Scouting the Sands & Series History

Missouri State is 0-2 all-time against Grand Canyon (19-8). The Bears opened the 2019 season with a 5-0 loss to the No. 19 Lopes. Most recently, GCU handed MoState another sweep as the No. 7-ranked team in the nation back in 2022. Grand Canyon enters the weekend ranked No. 13. All eight of GCU's losses this year have come against schools ranked in the top 11 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association at the time.

The Bears are 0-4 all-time against Texas Christian (21-5). Last year was the first time since 2021 that the two teams did not play. Last season, TCU was the No. 1 seed in the CUSA Tournament and earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Horned Frogs' five losses have come to either UCLA, USC or LMU, all of whom were ranked no lower than No. 7. TCU defeated No. 1 UCLA at the Death Valley Invitational on March 29 to take the top ranking for the next two weeks.

MoState is 2-2 all-time against Louisiana Monroe (12-17), including 2-0 last season when the Bears beat the Warhawks both at home and on the road. Before last season, ULM won both home and away matches against Missouri State in 2021. Louisiana Monroe enters the Fight on the Fort on a five-match losing streak after going 0-5 at the Georgia State Diggin' Duals.

Missouri State is 2-1 all-time against Houston Christian (11-15). The last time the two teams faced was at the 2022 Fight in the Fort when the formerly-named Houston Baptist University won, 4-1. Olivia Rattler and Becca Bach played at Flight Nos. 4 and 5 in that match. The Huskies started the season 4-1 and went 2-2 last weekend at the Battle on the Bayou Tournament hosted by LSU.

Head Coach Ashley Emery

Ashley Emery is in her third season as head coach of Missouri State beach volleyball, tying her with inaugural head coach Terri Del Conte (2018-20) for the longest tenure in program history. She enters the weekend with a 51-25 (.671) career beach volleyball head coaching record, making her the all-time winningest coach in the program's history.

Emery spent the 2021 season as a volunteer assistant for the Missouri State 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

Missouri State beach volleyball is in its second season as an affiliate member of Conference USA after announcing the move on May 11, 2023. The Bears advanced to the second day of the CUSA Tournament last season.