Schnieder and Williams Earn CCSA All-Academic Team Honors
April 18, 2018
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) league office announced its All-Academic beach volleyball team on Wednesday. South Carolina junior Shannon Williams and sophomore Carly Schnieder made the 10-woman team, giving the Gamecocks back-to-back seasons with multiple honorees.
Williams carries a 3.79 grade point average as a Risk Management and Insurance major. She played in the team’s top position throughout the spring with partner Ali Denney, and finished the regular season with 14 wins, despite facing 15 AVCA top-20 opponents over the course of the year. Of those 14 wins, seven came against ranked opponents, which is also a program record for a number-one pair. Against CCSA opponents, Williams and Denney went 6-6. Individually, Williams eclipsed 50-wins for her career late in the season, making her just the fifth Gamecock ever to reach the mark. Outside of the CCSA, Williams is also an SEC Academic Honor Roll member.
Schnieder maintains a 3.65 GPA as a pharmaceutical studies major, and is currently tied for the team lead with individual wins, with 21. Schnieder and her partner Julia Mannisto lead the team with a 19-3 record as a pair, with their winning percentage of .863 ranking as the highest in a single season by any pair in program history. Schnieder’s 21 individual wins heading into the postseason is already the sixth-highest win total for a single season in program history. Of those 21 wins, 10 came against AVCA-ranked opponents, including wins over No. 3 Hawaii, No. 4 Florida State and No. 7 LSU.
South Carolina enters the conference tournament as the number two seed, its highest position since joining the CCSA in 2016. The Gamecocks will play UAB, No. 19 Tulane, College of Charleston and No. 10 FIU in two days of pool play Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, the top two teams from each pool will make it to a semifinal round. The final two rounds will air on Eleven Sports USA, with the final on Sunday scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.
