MACON, GA. — South Carolina beach volleyball will have a conference to call home for the upcoming 2016 season, as the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association announced Tuesday that it would rebrand as the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) and add beach volleyball as a conference sport.

CCSA Beach Volleyball will begin this spring with eight member schools: University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida State, Georgia State, LSU, Tulane and South Carolina. The Gamecocks are already familiar with their new conference partners, and went a combined 5-4 while facing all seven at least one time last season. Georgia State, Florida State and FIU were all part of the American Volleyball Coaches Association Sand Volleyball National Championships last season.

“I think it’s tremendous, it’s an amazing opportunity for our student-athletes to have that experience at the end of the season and to be able to continue to compete. It’s something to really look forward to,” said Carolina’s head beach volleyball coach Moritz Moritz. “This is another goal that we’ll continue to progress towards. The conference has a lot of teams that we’ve faced before, so we’re familiar with them and they’re familiar with us. We’re getting better, they’re getting better and it will be fun to compete.”

The first CCSA Beach Volleyball Championship will be held at LakePoint Sports Complex in Emerson, Ga. on April 22-24. The first NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship will be this May 5-7 in Gulf Shores, Alabama, hosted by CCSA member UAB.

South Carolina continues to be a leader in developing the sport since its inaugural season in 2014. The Carolina Sand Volleyball Complex is the first collegiate beach volleyball facility of its kind and the program is coming off a 2015 season where it went 14-7.

“There will be over 60 beach volleyball programs nation-wide this year, and that number continues to grow,” said Judy Van Horn, South Carolina’s Senior Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator. “We remain in the forefront of the sport by joining this new league, the CCSA will be guaranteed an automatic-qualifier entry into the NCAA tournament once it has been in operation for two years.”

For Coach Moritz, it’s another positive step for the fastest-growing sport in all of college athletics. He and assistant coach RJ Abella are entering their third season leading the program.

“This is what we needed, the goal was to transition into the NCAA championship, and to be there at the rate that we’ve got there is tremendous,” Moritz said. “It’s huge, and exciting for the sport. The continued rise in interest is tremendous. This makes it that much more enjoyable to be on the ground floor and watch this sport develop.”