Beach Volleyball . February 23, 2018

Gamecock Beach Team Splits Season-Opening Doubleheader

Feb. 23, 2018

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

PAIR RESULTS: Georgia St.

1: Williams/Denney (SC) def. Creamer/Weiner (GSU) 22-24, 21-17, 15-13

2: Dimke/Smith (SC) def. McGinn/Elson (GSU) 21-18, 21-14

3: Mannisto/Schnieder (SC) def. G. Johnson/Hawes (GSU) 21-16, 21-11

4: Perri/Tendrich (SC) def. Novack/Brodbeck (GSU) 21-12, 21-15

5: Harrison/Edelman (SC) def. Held/Gordon (GSU) 21-15, 21-19

Ex: Ezell/Vastine (SC) def. McCall/M. Johnson (GSU) 20-22, 21-18, 13-10

Order of Finish: 4,5,2,3,1

PAIR RESULTS: Florida St.

1: Jerger/Paranagua (FSU) def. Williams/Denney (SC) 21-14, 21-14

2: Schnieder/Smith (SC) def. Vanessa Freire/Brooke Kuhlman (FSU) 24-26, 21-16, 15-10

3: Putt/Goncalves (FSU) def. Perri/Tendrich (SC) 21-14, 21-15

4: Horton/Luke (FSU) def. Mannisto/Vastine (SC) 23-21, 21-11

5: McBain/Torruella (FSU) def. Harrison/Edelman (SC) 21-16, 11-21, 15-12

Order of Finish: 4,5,1,3,2

Looking Ahead

Date	Opponent (H/A/N)	Time
3/3	UNC Wilmington (N)	11:30 a.m. ET
3/3	FAU (N)	1:30 p.m. ET
3/4	Georgia St. (N)	11:30 a.m. ET
3/4	North Florida (A)	3:30 p.m. ET

DELAND, FLA. – The South Carolina beach volleyball team opened its season Friday morning at the Stetson Spring Fling tournament, and split a pair of matches with a win over No. 12 Georgia State and a loss to No. 4 Florida State. The win over the Panthers was the program’s first in the all-time series.

Two new pairs set the tone early against GSU, with the fours pairing of Leah Perri and Macie Tendrich winning 21-12, 21-15, and the fives team of Franky Harrison and Hannah Edelman winning 21-15, 21-19. Another sweep, this one coming from the number two pairing of Lydia Dimke and Katie Smith, clinched the dual after giving the Gamecocks the 3-0 lead.

The team brought home the sweep in dramatic fashion, as Shannon Williams and Ali Denney overcame a loss in the first set to win their match at the number one pairing. The duo, who reunited after going 10-6 together in 2017, were edged out by a score of 24-22 in the first game. They rallied back for 21-17 and 15-13 wins in the second and third sets to secure the 5-0 win.

The Gamecocks faced some adversity between their morning and afternoon matches, after Dimke was ruled out with an injury suffered in the Georgia State dual. For the Florida State match, South Carolina changed up three of its five lineup positions, but still found some positive results.

The highlight of the dual with the Seminoles would come in the twos match. Carly Schnieder and Katie Smith reunited as partners, two years removed from being AAU teammates who won a USA Beach Volleyball and AAU National Championship together. The chemistry was evident, as the duo fought past a 26-24 loss in the first set to the CCSA preseason conference player of the year and won in three sets for Carolina’s lone point in the dual.

NOTABLE

The Gamecocks entered Friday with an 0-6 record all-time versus Georgia State.
The sweep of Georgia State was the program’s second 5-0 win over a ranked opponent in its five-year history.
Lydia Dimke was injured against Georgia State, forcing her to miss the Florida State match. Jess Vastine moved into the lineup to pair at the 4s with Julia Mannisto for her first career start.

UP NEXT

The weekend wraps up on Saturday with two more top-20 opponents lined up. The Gamecocks will face tournament host Stetson at 9:30 a.m. and close the weekend against No. 16 FAU at 1:30. The 15th-ranked Hatters went 0-0 on Friday, beating Eckerd College and losing 3-2 to Georgia State. The Owls lost to Florida State but rallied back to beat Eckerd Friday evening.