April 15, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Coastal Collegiate Sports Association announced the seeding for the upcoming beach volleyball conference tournament on Saturday night. The No. 12 South Carolina Gamecocks (21-7, 11-5 CCSA) earned the fourth seed in year two with the conference, and will begin pool play on the morning of Friday, April 21 at Lakepoint Sporting Community in Emerson, Ga.

The ten conference members have been divided into two five-team pools, with each team guaranteed a match against the other four teams in its group. The two best records from each pool will advance to the semifinals. The championship match on Sunday, April 23 will be broadcast live on ESPN3 at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The fourth-seeded Gamecocks will play against fifth seed FIU Friday at 10:30 a.m. and close the day with a 1:30 match against No. 9 UNC Wilmington. On Saturday, Carolina faces No. 1 seed Florida State at 9:30 and No. 8 Tulane at 1:30. This season, the Gamecocks were a combined 6-2 against the teams in their upcoming pool, sweeping the season series with UNCW, FIU and Tulane but losing twice to the top-seeded Seminoles.

In 2016, the program’s first season in the CCSA, South Carolina made the semifinal round before losing to the eventual conference champion, Florida State. The Gamecocks are aiming to improve on an overall record of 21-7, already the most successful in the program’s four-year history.