BATON ROUGE, La. – The University of Tennessee at Martin beach volleyball squad were matched up against a pair of tough opponents today as the Skyhawks fell 5-0 to No. 10 LSU and 4-1 to Louisiana-Monroe to wrap up the season-opening Tiger Beach Challenge.
UT Martin’s No. 3 pairing of Kayla Bryant and Olivia O’Keefe brought home a victory in the Louisiana-Monroe contest, winning by a 21-15, 21-17 margin for their team-best third win of the young 2025 campaign. The duo nearly completed a perfect weekend but fell in a third-set heartbreaker against LSU (15-21, 23-21, 12-15).
In the first match of the day against the nationally ranked Tigers (8-1), the Skyhawks’ No. 2 pairing of Riley Rushing and Dylan Sulcer competed throughout but fell 21-16, 21-15. At No. 1, Dylan Mott and Jenna Vallée were defeated 21-10, 21-16 while Reagan McGee/Kristin Phillips dropped a 21-11, 21-15 decision at No. 4. The tandem of Sydney Eckhardt and Ryan Rednour also represented UT Martin at No. 5 but fell 21-14, 21-7.
Pitted against the Warhawks – a 16-win Sun Belt Conference squad from last season – in the second match of the day, the Skyhawks battled but were unable to piece together momentum. The No. 5 duo of Eckhardt/Rednour put up a fight but narrowly fell 21-16, 21-19 while McGee/Phillips were defeated by a 21-14, 21-18 margin. Mott/Vallée (lost 21-15, 21-10) and Rushing/Sulcer (lost 21-12, 21-13) rounded out UT Martin’s lineup at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
The Skyhawks head back down south next weekend, taking part in The March to May tournament in Birmingham, Ala. UT Martin will square off against North Alabama and Houston Christian on Friday, March 7 before colliding against New Orleans and Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, March 8.
