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April 6, 2017

WEEKEND NOTES // SEASON RESULTS // TWITTER // FACEBOOK

WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Saturday: vs. Florida International, 10 a.m. | vs. Florida Atlantic, 2:30 p.m.
Sunday: vs. TCU, 9:30 a.m. | at Florida State, 11 a.m. | vs. Georgia State, 3:30 p.m.

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. – The No. 11 South Carolina beach volleyball team (15-5, 6-3 CCSA) will face another deep field this weekend, taking on five opponents at the Staybridge Suites Invitational. The tournament, hosted by Florida State, runs Friday and Saturday and will pit the Gamecocks against No. 13 FIU, No. 14 FAU, the No. 4-ranked Seminoles, TCU, and No. 10 Georgia State.

SCOUTING NO. 13 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
After briefly dropping out of the national rankings, the Panthers have roared back over the last two weeks and now sit at No. 13 after compiling a 12-3 record over the last three weekends. Last weekend, the team hosted the Surf and Turf Invitational and finished with wins over Arizona State, Tulane and FAU. Sophomore Margherita Bianchin and freshman Federica Frasca are the reigning Coastal Collegiate Sports Association Pair of the Week after going 6-0, beating No. 3 UCLA, New Orleans, No. 4 Florida State, No, 12 Arizona State, No. 18 Tulane, and No. 14 Florida Atlantic. The Panthers’ biggest strength has been their unpredictable lineups – nine different pairs have played in the number one flight, two different pairs have played at least one dual in all five flights, and two others have played in four different flights.

SCOUTING NO. 14 FLORIDA ATLANTIC
Similar to South Carolina, the Owls are in the midst of a breakout year as a program. The team enters the weekend at 17-5 overall, with signature wins over Georgia State and LSU under its belt. FAU had a 16-match winning streak come to an end last weekend after a 3-2 loss to No. 3 UCLA at the Surf and Turf Invitational. The strength of the team comes from a consistently strong trio of pairs. Jessalyn Kinlaw and Megan Rice are currently 18-3 at the number one pairing, Gabrielle Dischler and Candace Lacour are 17-2 with nine wins at the two and eight at the threes, and Nicole Grant and Nicole Navarro are 19-3 between the three and four pairings.

SCOUTING TCU
The Horned Frogs are vying for a spot in the weekly coaches poll, and come in to this tournament with a 13-7 overall record and four straight wins. The team is receiving votes in the April 3 poll. TCU has had a hectic schedule over the last three weeks. Saturday will mark 15 duals since March 24, and the Frogs are 6-4 since the start of this stretch. The top flight for the team is Amy Neal and Jaelyn Greene. Neal is a former indoor standout at Texas, where she was the 2015 Big 12 Player of the Year. Greene is a sophomore who won 19 matches at the threes pair in her first year with the program.

SCOUTING NO. 4 FLORIDA STATE
The Seminoles are the defending CCSA champions and were the national runner-up to Southern Cal at last season’s national championship. This spring, Florida State is 15-6 through its first month of action, with 13 matchups against top-10 teams to date, earning the team the No. 4 spot in the latest AVCA coaches poll. Last weekend at the Surf and Turf Invitational, the team defeated No. 15 FIU and No. 12 Arizona State, but dropped a 4-1 decision to No. 3 UCLA. The team’s top pair so far this season has been Victoria Paranagua and Macy Jerger, who come into the weekend with a 15-4 record in the threes.

SCOUTING NO. 10 GEORGIA STATE
The Panthers are 14-9 entering the weekend after winning three straight duals to end their weekend at the GSU Diggin’ Duals tournament at home. Georgia State is led by top pair Chelsea Ross and Delaney Rohan; Ross is a graduate transfer from Middle Tennessee State’s indoor team, and Rohan went 29-6 last season in the team’s 3s pairing. So far this season, the two are 13-6 overall as the number one pair.

PRESEASON NOTABLES

  • The Gamecocks return seven players who were mainstays in the top five pairs last season. All seven returners won 10 or more dual matches, and six won at least 15 matches.
  • 2017 will be the final go-around for the program’s first-ever freshman class. The group is made up of Erin Neuenfeldt, Helen Recaborde, Jade Vitt and Jordan Wilson-Talmadge.
  • Entering the fold this season are nine newcomers hailing from seven different states. Seven are freshmen, while two join the program as graduate transfers – Adrianna Culbert and Hannah Sorensen.

NIFTY 50
Two Gamecocks have crossed the 50-win plateaus for the their careers here in the early going of 2017. Senior Jade Vitt became the second player in school history to break 50 after her win against Mercer on March 11, and junior Macie Tendrich followed right after with win No. 50 later that night over No. 11 Grand Canyon. Tendrich became the program’s first junior to reach 50 wins, after Sarah Blomgren and Vitt made the milestone as seniors.

FRESHMEN PHENOMS
South Carolina’s seven-member freshman class has been one of the biggest keys to the team’s rise in the national polls. To this point in the season, the Gamecocks have a freshman locked in to four of the top five pairs: Ali Denney and Katie Smith have each spent time at the number one flight, Carly Schnieder has won 16 matches in the third/fourth flights, and Franky Harrison has 13 wins with the fives pair. On top of the starters, the team has also seen Hannah Edelman, Caroline Skaff and Sarah Nacouzi play in most of the matches out of the exhibition slot.

GAMECOCKS IN THE NATIONAL RANKS
For the fifh straight week, the Gamecocks made the AVCA national rankings. After debuting at No. 15 on March 6, the team went as high as ninth before settling back to 11, where they have remained for two weeks. In the weekly DiG Magazine Top-20 poll, Carolina also comes in at the No. 11 position.

CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS

  • For the season, the Gamecocks as a team are out-hitting opponents .349 to .263.
  • In sets won, the team is hitting .415, but in sets lost the percentage drops out to .2223 Errors per set to from 5.9 in sets won up to 8.7 in sets lost.
  • Offensively, South Carolina’s five pairs combine to average 25.6 kills and 4.1 aces per match, opponents stand at 21.3 and 2.9, respectively.
  • The single-match high for kills this season is 39, put together by Katie Smith and Katie Zimmerman against Florida Gulf Coast on March 19.
  • The Gamecocks have four matches this season where a pair recorded double-figure aces: Macie Tendrich and Shannon Williams against North Florida (10, 3/6), Carly Schnieder and Julia Mannisto twice (11 vs. Jackonville, 10 vs. Tulane) and Adrianna Culbert and Ali Denney against Florida State (10, 3/28).

SOUTH CAROLINA STAT LEADERS (As of 4/4)

WELCOME TO THE GREAT OUTDOORS!
After finding tremendous success converting Wichita State indoor volleyball standout Katie Zimmerman to the beach last season, the coaching staff will try that same formula this season with Adrianna Culbert. While playing indoors for Colorado State, Culbert earned 2015 Mountain West Player of the Year honors and was a three-time AVCA All-Pacific North Region Team member for the Rams. Her experience indoors as a setter and pin hitter has prepared her well for the outdoor lifestyle, as Culbert has racked up a 15-5 record so far this season (eight wins in the 1s pair, seven in the 2s). Additionally, she leads the team in blocks (averaging one per set) and is hitting .390 with 4.7 kills and 5.95 assists per set.

YEAR TWO OF CONFERENCE ACTION HEATS UP
South Carolina’s 2017 slate will feature a number of brewing rivalries thanks to an expanded conference this season. The Coastal Collegiate Sports Association added two more programs this past fall, welcoming College of Charleston and UNC Wilmington to push the conference up to 10 teams. The Gamecocks finished 5-5 in CCSA matches during the regular season, and made the semifinal round of the conference’s first-ever postseason tournament. Carolina is currently 6-3 in conference matches so far this season, with wins over two wins over College of Charleston, and wins versus UNCW, FIU, Tulane and UAB.

CHALLENGING SCHEDULE AWAITS GAMECOCKS IN 2017
As the program heads into its fourth year, the competition level has been stepped up to another level. The Gamecocks have lined up seven regular season tournaments that will cover 30 duals. Of those 30 matches, 11 are against opponents currently in the AVCA Coaches top-15, and 14 against teams in the current DiG Magazine top-20 poll. The team hosted a big tournament on March 25 and 26, bringing in No. 1 Southern Cal, No. 4 Florida State, No. 9 Georgia State and No. 13 Stetson. Another regular-season tournament to watch will be the Staybridge Suites Invitational in Tallahassee on April 7 and 8. Hosted by Florida State, the weekend features matches against the No. 4 Seminoles, #13 FIU, No. 14 Florida Atlantic, TCU and No. 10 Georgia State.

STRONG SUMMER EARNS GAMECOCK DUO ALL-AMERICA HONORS
Freshmen Carly Schnieder and Katie Smith come to Carolina with accomplished prep careers on the beach. The duo won the AAU Jr. National Beach Volleyball Championship as well as the USA Volleyball Junior Beach Volleyball Tour Championship. For their efforts, Carly and Katie made the six-member AVCA High School Beach All-America Team. South Carolina Beach Volleyball now has three first-team All-Americans on the roster, as the two freshmen joined junior Julia Mannisto, who was on the four-member 2014 All-America team. South Carolina is the only school in the country to have three AVCA Beach All-Americans on their roster.

ALL-TIME RECORDS

  • South Carolina holds a 54-40 all-time record, dating back to 2014.
  • The Gamecocks joined the CCSA for volleyball in 2016, and have an all-time conference record of 11-8.
  • In home matches at Wheeler Beach, Carolina is 27-12.
  • Moritz Moritz is entering his fourth season as head coach of the Gamecocks, spanning the young history of the program. He earned his 50th career win against UAB on March 19, 2017.

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