YOUNGSVILLE, La. – Tarleton State will begin its Conference USA 2026 Beach Volleyball Championship run on Thursday, starting with an 8:30 a.m. CT match against Sam Houston.
 
The Texans are slotted as the 8-seed in the tournament, which will commence at Sugar Beach in Youngsville, Louisiana, Thursday-Saturday. The postseason conference tournament is a double-elimination bracket with a single-elimination championship match competing for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
 
Tarleton State has won a match at the C-USA Beach Volleyball Championship in each of its first two seasons. In the Texans' inaugural campaign in 2024, they defeated 9-seed Jacksonville State 3-1 before falling against 1-seed TCU and 4-seed UAB. Last year, the Texans opened with a loss to 2-seed Tulane, then defeated 8-seed Sam Houston, before a final loss against 6-seed Missouri State.
 
The Texans will match up with the Bearkats in the conference tournament for the second straight year. This will be the first meeting between 8-seed Tarleton State (10-16) and 9-seed Sam Houston (2-19) this season. The two were scheduled to play on March 7 at the UMHBeach Spring Break Bash in Belton, Texas, but the match was canceled due to inclement weather. Tarleton State is 2-0 all-time against Sam Houston, both wins in 2025, and both sweeps (5-0 and 3-0).
 
The winner of the Tarleton State-Sam Houston match will face 1-seed Florida Atlantic on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. CT. The winner of that match will advance in the winner's bracket to face the winner of the match between 4-seed South Florida and 5-seed Tulane. That match will be Friday at 10 a.m. CT. The loser of a potential match against 1-seed Florida Atlantic will drop to the contender's bracket to face the loser of USF-Tulane on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT.
 
The loser of the Tarleton State-Sam Houston match will drop to the contender's bracket and play on Thursday at 4 p.m. CT against the loser of 2-seed UAB and 7-seed UTEP. The victor of that potential match would advance in the contender's bracket to play Thursday at 7 p.m. CT against the loser of 3-seed Florida International and 6-seed Missouri State.
 
The full seeds list for the Conference USA 2026 Beach Volleyball Championship; 1-seed Florida Atlantic, 2-seed UAB, 3-seed Florida International, 4-seed South Florida, 5-seed Tulane, 6-seed Missouri State, 7-seed UTEP, 8-seed Tarleton State, 9-seed Sam Houston. There will be 16 matches total across three days, with the championship match scheduled for Saturday at 11:30 a.m. CT.
 
Tarleton State Beach Volleyball enters the conference tournament on a four-match winning streak, its longest winning streak in program history. Tarleton State Beach Volleyball, in its third year as a program, has the most wins in a single-season in team history with 10, more than the Texans' first two years combined (two in 2024 and six in 2025).
 
Allison Bryant and Candace Ceballos have been the top pair for Tarleton State, a 15-11 record together across Courts 1 (11-10) and 2 (4-1). Hayden Huber and Bella Parayno have primarily been together on Court 2 this season, with the pair 10-9 overall, 2-3 on Court 1 and 8-6 on Court 2. Lately, Camilla Chun and Emily Vickers have paired on Court 3, 4-4 together on that court, 7-8 overall (3-4 on Court 2). Salome Galvez Lira and Taylor Orris have played on Court 4 together recently, going 8-6. Angelina Linke and Sofia Bendele have typically rounded out Tarleton State on Court 5, going 10-12 together.
 
All matches at Sugar Beach will streamed on ESPN+ and live scoring will be available.