March 20, 2014
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina sand volleyball team will host the Gamecock Invitational, the program’s first-ever home event, this weekend at the Carolina Sand Volleyball Complex.
The invitational runs Friday through Sunday and will feature teams from all across the country, including Oregon, UAB, LSU, ULM, Mercer and College of Charleston. The Gamecocks will play their first match on their home courts on Friday at 7 p.m. against Oregon. South Carolina will also play UAB (3:15 p.m.) and LSU (7 p.m.) on Saturday and ULM (1:15 p.m.) on Sunday.
Admission is free to all of South Carolina’s sand volleyball home matches. The complex is located in the Athletics Village directly behind the right-field wall of Carolina Softball Stadium. Fans can park for free in the Athletics Village garage, and a shuttle will be available for those who need it. South Carolina Athletics’ prohibited items list will remain the same this weekend with the exception of folding chairs, umbrellas, seatbacks and strollers.
While supplies last, fans will be given posters, thunder sticks and rally towels on Friday, T-shirts on Saturday and car stickers on Sunday.
Friday: vs. Oregon, 7 p.m.
Saturday: vs. UAB, 3:15 p.m. & LSU, 7 p.m.
Sunday: vs. ULM, 1:15 p.m.
On Twitter: @GamecockSandVB
Promotions
Match Notes
South Carolina Overview
• The Gamecocks are in their inaugural season under the direction of head coach Moritz Moritz, who served as an assistant on the Carolina indoor staff the previous two seasons.
• South Carolina was the first SEC school to add the sport and 31st overall.
• The Gamecocks currently have a roster size of 18 players. Three of those individuals – Paige Wheeler, Litsa Darby and Megan Kent – played indoor volleyball for Carolina in 2012 before making the transition to sand only players this year.
• Twelve of the 18 players are sand only players, while six – Mikaela Christiaansen, Erin Neuenfeldt, Sarah Blomgren, Jordan Wilson-Talmadge, Helen Récaborde and KoKo Atoa-Williams – are crossover players from the indoor program.
• South Carolina boasts a diverse roster as it has players from 12 different states, including Virginia, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Nevada, California, Florida, Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Maryland and New Jersey.
Gamecock Invitational Notes
• The Gamecock Invitational is South Carolina’s first-ever home event.
• Including South Carolina, a total of seven teams will be competing this weekend. LSU, Oregon, College of Charleston, UAB, ULM and Mercer will all be in action.
• LSU and Oregon are both in their inaugural seasons. Friday’s match with the Gamecocks will be Oregon’s first-ever match.
• Two of the teams – College of Charleston (2012) and ULM (2013) – have played in the AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Championships.
Projecting the Lineup
• No. 1: Paige Wheeler/Megan Kent – Went 1-4 as the Gamecocks’ top pair during the trips to North Florida and Georgia State.
• No. 2: Mikaela Christiaansen/Sarah Blomgren – Produced a 4-1 record at No. 2 during the opening week, with the lone loss coming against No. 9 FIU.
• No. 3: Jordan Loney/Jade Vitt – Enter the weekend with a 3-3 record as the No. 3 pair.
• No. 4: Litsa Darby/Chynna Ratner – Lost their only match paired together, a 2-0 loss to Georgia State.
• No. 5: KoKo Atoa-Williams/Erin Neuenfeldt – Fell 2-0 in their lone match paired together against Georgia State.
A Bunch of Firsts
• The Gamecocks’ played their first-ever dual on March 8 against North Florida in St. Augustine, Fla.
• The No. 4 pair of KoKo Atoa-Williams and Litsa Darby was the first pair to take the court for South Carolina against North Florida (3/8).
• Atoa-Williams and Darby scored the first point and won the first set in school history, defeating North Florida’s Tanner Garbut and Cameron McGuire in the second set, 21-18 (3/8).
• South Carolina’s No. 2 pair of Sarah Blomgren and Mikaela Christiaansen became the first pair to win a match in school history, defeating North Florida’s Anna Budinska and Carie Whitmire in two sets, 21-19 and 21-18 (3/8).
• The Gamecocks recorded the program’s first win with a 3-2 victory over Jacksonville (3/8).
Scouting Oregon
• Oregon enters its inaugural season, with Friday’s matchup against the Gamecocks being its first-ever match.
• The Ducks’ roster is made up entirely of Oregon’s indoor team roster.
• Oregon advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championships in 2013 and lost in the national title match in 2012.
• Two-time All-American Liz Brenner led they way for the indoor team, averaging 4.67 kills per set.
Scouting UAB
• The Blazers enter the weekend at 0-3 overall, including a pair of 3-2 losses to Mercer.
• UAB returns its top pair from a year ago in Bethanie Thomas and Kiriana Hirini. The duo is 2-1 at No. 1 on the season and went 10-9 a year ago, including a win as the No. 4 seed in Pool A of the AVCA National Pairs Championships.
• UAB’s No. 3 pair of Alison Woods and Sam Serley is also 2-1 this season.
• The Blazers, who are in their third season of sand volleyball, went 10-8 last season.
Scouting LSU
• LSU is in its first season of sand volleyball. The Tigers became the second SEC team to add the sport, with South Carolina being the first.
• The Tigers are 0-1 on the season after dropping a 3-2 decision at home against ULM in their first-ever dual.
• LSU’s No. 2 pair of Kaitlin Hatcher and Helen Boyle and No. 5 pair of Emma Hiller and Katarina Raicevic won their matches against the Warhawks.
• LSU’s roster features four sand only players and 12 players from its indoor program.
Scouting ULM
• ULM is in its second season of sand volleyball. The Warhawks went 7-6 in their inaugural season last year and made the field at the AVCA Sand National Championships.
• The Warhawks are 1-4 entering this weekend, with the win coming at LSU.
• One member of ULM’s top pair from 2013 returns in All-American Zuzana Markova. She teamed up with Tetiana Sukach to go 17-8 at No. 1 last season.
• Markova is paired at No. 1 with Marcela Araya this season. The duo is 4-1 heading into the Gamecock Invitational.
Fastest Emerging Sport in NCAA History
• Sand volleyball is the fastest growing NCAA sport ever.
• The sport had just 16 teams in its inaugural season in 2012. A total number of 41 Division I schools have decided to add the sport since then.
• Now that the number of schools is over 40, the NCAA will sponsor an NCAA Championships when those programs have sponsored the sport for two years.
There’s a Difference?
• Although sand volleyball and indoor volleyball have plenty of similarities, they also have several differences, including a court size of 16m x 8m compared to 18m x 9m.
• Each team event is called a dual and consists of five pairs for each team.
• A winner is determined when a team wins three of the five pairs matches. Each pairs match is a best-of-three format. The first two sets are rally scoring to 21 points with the third set to 15 if necessary.
• There is no open-hand tipping in sand volleyball.
• The block touch does count as the first of three allowable touches in sand volleyball.
• With the weather elements, pairs swap courts every seven points in a 21-point set and every five points in a 15-point set.
• Sand coaches are only allowed to give instructions to players during timeouts and between sets.
