March 6, 2015

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina sand volleyball team will open its second season this weekend as it hosts the Carolina Classic at the Carolina Sand Volleyball Complex.

The Gamecocks will face Mercer on Saturday at 7 p.m. and ULM on Sunday at 11 a.m. in dual play. Carolina’s pairs will also compete in a pairs tournament with play beginning each day at 8 a.m. Both duals will be streamed on the SEC Network+ digital platform. Admission is free to all of South Carolina’s sand volleyball events. The complex is located in the Athletics Village directly behind the right-field wall of Carolina Softball Stadium. Fans and media can park for free in the Athletics Village garage.

CAROLINA CLASSIC INFORMATION
Schedule: Tournament Central
Saturday: vs. Mercer, 7 p.m. | SEC Network+
Sunday: vs. ULM, 11 a.m. | SEC Network+
On Twitter: @GamecockSandVB
Carolina Classic Notes

South Carolina at a Glance
• The Gamecocks are in their second season under the direction of head coach Moritz Moritz after going 5-12 in the program’s inaugural season in 2014.
• All 18 players from last year’s roster are back.
• Carolina currently has a roster size of 25 players. Four players – Paige Wheeler, Litsa Darby, Megan Kent and Maddie Frome – played indoor volleyball for the Gamecocks in 2012 before making the transition to sand only players.
• Five of the players on this year’s roster – Sarah Blomgren, Jordan Wilson-Talmadge, KoKo Atoa-Williams, Allie Monserez and Abby Feruck – are crossover players from the Carolina indoor program.
• South Carolina boasts a diverse roster as it has players from 12 different states, including Virginia, Iowa, Florida, California, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada and Missouri.

Carolina Classic Notes
• The Carolina Classic will be the third home event held at the Carolina Sand Volleyball Complex. Carolina hosted the Gamecock Invitational and College of Charleston for a single dual last season.
• The Gamecocks, No. 10 Georgia State, Jacksonville, Mercer and ULM will be competing in duals and a pairs tournament during the two-day event.
• Carolina will only play Mercer and ULM in dual play and will face pairs from all four visiting teams in the pairs tournament brackets.

Projecting the Lineup
• No. 1: Maddie Frome/Julia Mannisto – Both in their first year with the Gamecocks.
• No. 2: Paige Wheeler/Megan Kent – Went 5-18 overall as a pair last season, playing mostly at No. 1.
• No. 3: Sarah Blomgren/Jade Vitt – Blomgren had a 12-16 overall record in 2014, playing at No. 1 and No. 2. Vitt went 11-13 overall, playing at No. 2 and No. 3.
• No. 4: Jade Hayes/Macie Tendrich: Both in their first year with the Gamecocks.
• No. 5: KoKo Atoa-Williams/Allie Monserez – Atoa-Williams had a 9-15 overall record in 2014, playing at No. 4 and No. 5. Monserez is in her first year with the Gamecocks.
• No. 6: Erin Neuenfeldt/Litsa Darby – Went 3-4 overall as a pair in 2014. Neuenfeldt had an 8-16 overall record for the season, and Darby had a 7-17 overall record.

Gamecocks at Home
• Carolina went 3-2 at the Carolina Sand Volleyball Complex in the program’s first season.
• In the first match in Carolina Sand Volleyball Complex history, the Gamecocks defeated Oregon 4-1 in front of 1,102 fans on March 21, 2014.
• Carolina also had wins over UAB and College of Charleston at home last season while losing duals to LSU and ULM.

Scouting Mercer
• The Bears enter their third season and are under the direction of former Carolina assistant coach Damian Elder (2006-10).
• Mercer went 9-13 in 2014.
• Sophomore Tori Penrod returns to lead the Bears. Penrod was on Mercer’s No. 1 pair last season with Natalie Braun and posted a 6-8 overall record.

Series History vs. Mercer
• The Bears defeated the Gamecocks 3-2 in the teams’ only meeting last year at the Georgia State Diggin’ Duals on March 11, 2014.
• Carolina and Mercer were tied at 2-2 with the dual coming down to a back-and-forth match at No. 1. Tori Penrod and Natalie Braun eventually defeated the Gamecock duo of Paige Wheeler and Megan Kent 21-23, 21-16 and 15-12 to seal the win.

Scouting ULM
• The Warhawks enter their third season of sand volleyball.
• ULM went 5-10 in 2014.
• The Warhawks return all but two players from last year’s squad.
• Senior Marcela Araya will look to lead ULM this season after playing at No. 1 a year ago with Zuzana Markova and going 27-10 overall and earning AVCA All-America honors.

Series History vs. ULM
• The Gamecocks dropped their only matchup with ULM 3-2 last season.
• The dual was tied at 2-2 with the decisive point being at No. 2. Carolina’s No. 2 pair of Sarah Blomgren and Paige Wheeler pulled to within 13-12 in the third set, but ULM’s Michelle McNamee and Hadley Swartz won the next to points to clinch the dual.

Gamecocks on the SEC Network+
• Seven Gamecock duals will be featured on the SEC Network+ digital platform during the 2015 season.
• Carolina’s home duals against Mercer on March 7, ULM on March 8, Arizona State on March 20, Florida State on March 21, UAB on March 22, Pepperdine on March 28 and Florida International on March 29 will be streamed on SEC Network+.
• SEC Network+ is exclusively available on SECNetwork.com and via WatchESPN through participating cable and satellite providers.

Schedule Gets Tougher
• Carolina will face four teams ranked in the top 10 in the AVCA Preseason Poll in 2015, including three teams that played in the 2014 AVCA Sand Volleyball National Championships.
• No. 1 Pepperdine, No. 3 Florida State, No. 9 Florida International and No. 10 Georgia State are all on Carolina’s schedule this season.
• Pepperdine is the defending national champion, while Florida State finished runner-up at the national championship last season. Florida International also played in last year’s national championship.

NCAA Championship Coming
• Division I, II and III have approved sand volleyball as a championship and will make it a full-fledged NCAA Championship in the spring of 2016.
• The fastest emerging sport in NCAA history had 50 schools sponsoring the sport as of January 2015.
• The sport had just 16 teams in its inaugural season in 2012. Carolina was the first school in the SEC to add the sport, followed by LSU.
• The 2016 championship will feature an eight-team bracket with a double elimination format and will be held in early May.

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.