Skyhawks Jumpstart 2026 Campaign This Weekend In The Peach State

Friday, March 13

Macon, Ga.

9 a.m.

UT Martin

Wesleyan College

Photo by: UT Martin University Relations

Skyhawks Jumpstart 2026 Campaign This Weekend In The Peach State

3/11/2026 9:46:00 AM | Beach Volleyball

Live Stats (Wesleyan)Live Stats (Mercer)Live Stats (Huntingdon)Live Stats (Palm Beach Atlantic)

MARTIN, Tenn. – Nearly 11 months after its last official competition, the University of Tennessee at Martin beach volleyball team is back in action this weekend for its 2026 opener, taking part in the Bears Beach Bash hosted by Mercer.

The Skyhawks will officially begin the season against Wesleyan College (9 a.m. CT) and tournament host Mercer (1 p.m. CT) on Friday, March 13 before taking on Huntingdon College (7 a.m. CT) and Palm Beach Atlantic (1:30 p.m. CT) on Saturday, March 14 in Macon, Ga.

UT Martin will then host its lone regular season home match of the spring on March 18, taking on Ohio Valley Conference foe Chattanooga for Senior Day. The Skyhawks follow with four matches in the UCA Spring Break Invitational (March 20-21) before an OVC Weekend at Chattanooga that will feature four matchups from March 27-28. Four more matches in the Scenic City Showdown in Chattanooga on April 10-11 before the OVC Weekend at Morehead State takes place with four matches ranging from April 17-18.

For the third time in program history, UT Martin will host the OVC Championship Tournament as this year's event is set for April 23-25 at the Skyhawk Beach Volleyball Complex.

A total of 10 returners and nine newcomers make up the 2026 UT Martin roster as Jaclynn Wilson enters her ninth season as head coach. The Skyhawks were chosen to finish second in the OVC's preseason poll after going 24-10 overall last spring, making their third OVC Championship finals appearance in the last four years on the way to the second-most wins in school history.

A trio of UT Martin representatives earned OVC preseason accolades in Kayla Bryant (2025 All-OVC first teamer and AVCA Top Flight winner after going 25-7), Reagan McGee (two-time All-OVC and AVCA Top Flight recipient, 45 career victories in two seasons) and Riley Rushing (16 combined wins at No. 1 and No. 2 in her debut Skyhawk season in 2025).

Lauren Mariscal also returns for UT Martin after she was named only the second player in program history to secure OVC Freshman of the Year honors last spring. The duo of Dylan Sulcer (18 career wins, mostly at No. 1 and No. 2) and Kristin Phillips (15 career victories, including a 9-2 mark in OVC play) are additionally back after serving as starters during the 2025 season.

Overall, 13 Skyhawks are slated to make their UT Martin debuts in 2026. That list includes redshirt junior Amara Traiger (Stetson transfer who missed 2025 with an injury), redshirt sophomore MC Rehm (Louisiana-Monroe transfer) and the redshirt freshman tandem of Abby Freund and Maddy Gladson, who were all members of the program last season. Chyler Martin, Carly Mueller, Sienna Wnetrzak and Megan Wood are each true freshmen who were members of the Skyhawk indoor volleyball squad in the fall while Luli Arcucci (Buffalo), Reagan Hamm (Northwestern State), Bella Heyne (North Alabama), Andie Kryak (Stetson) and Ida Wiszomirska (Hampton) all bring NCAA Division I experience in either beach volleyball or indoor volleyball.

Wilson's Opening Day lineup will include Rushing and Sulcer at No. 1, Bryant and McGee at No. 2, Arcucci and Mariscal at No. 3, Kryak and Traiger at No. 4 with Phillips and Rehm at No. 5.

Links for live stats from all four matches this weekend can be found above.