CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The HCU beach team opened the 2026 Southland Conference Championships with a 3-2 win over No. 5 seed New Orleans before dropping an afternoon matchup, 3-0, to top-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Water's Edge Park on Wednesday.
The Huskies (10-23) and Privateers (12-18) were the first match of the tournament with HCU's Court 4 pairing of
Emma Chappell and
Dariya Tlevlessova earning the first point of the duel in two sets (21-14, 21-16). New Orleans then won on Court 2 (24-22, 22-20) before
Alexa Landmark and
Lauren Vickery put the Huskies back ahead in two sets at the threes (21-16, 21-11). After the Privateers evened things at 2-2 on Court 5,
Grace Melnick and
Paige Palmer pulled out a thrilling three-set victory (21-17, 16-21, 25-23) on Court 1 to put HCU in the winner's bracket.
In the afternoon, the Huskies fell to host and No. 1 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The three completed duels all finished in two sets while the two unfinished duels saw HCU's pairs on Courts 3 and 5 both go to extra points in the first set.
HCU will face the winner of Thursday morning's matchup between No. 6 seed Stephen F. Austin and No. 7 seed Nicholls at 11:00 a.m.
