MARSHALL, Texas – Competing with the best AVCA Division III Beach Volleyball teams this weekend, East Texas Baptist University is head to the Small College Beach Volleyball Championships in Florida. It will be the second year in a row that ETBU will play in the national tournament in as many years as the program is old.
 
The tournament will take place April 12-14 in Tavares, Fla., at Hickory Point Beach. ETBU will be the no. 7 seed in the tournament and play in Pool B with no. 2 Stevenson, no. 3 Hendrix College and no. 6 Huntingdon. In Pool A will be no. 1 Mary Hardin-Baylor, no. 4 Berry College, and no. 5 Lynchburg.
 
ETBU opens the tournament facing no. 3 Hendrix on Saturday at 9:10 a.m. central time. They will then turn around and play no. 2 Stevenson at 11:20 a.m. Depending on the pool play records, they may play Huntingdon at 3:35 p.m. The Sunday schedule will be made up after the pool play records on Saturday.
 
Last year, ETBU played four matches in the tournament with their closest match vs. Lynchburg where they fell, 3-2. They also faced Berry College (L, 3-0), Mary Hardin-Baylor (L, 3-0), and Lynchburg, again, falling 3-0.
 
In the second year of the program, ETBU has won a program best 11 matches and hosted two home tournaments going 6-2. They are coming off a 2-2 performance at the Vikings Classic Mt. Berry, Ga., where they won their final to matches, 5-0, over Reinhardt and 3-2 vs. Emmanuel. They opened the Classic with a close, 3-2, loss to Huntingdon.
 
ETBU is in their second year under Allison Kuster who started the program in 2023.