Volleyball Closes Exhibition Season at Home Saturday

April 17, 2018

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina volleyball team closes out its spring exhibition season on Saturday, April 21, hosting a round-robin tournament with regional rivals. The tournament begins at 10 a.m. and will run until approximately 3 p.m. The event, held in the team’s Carolina Volleyball Center gym, is open to the public with no admission fee.

“The team has been working hard all spring,” first-year head coach Tom Mendoza said. “We are more focused on process and growth right now, and Saturday will be another opportunity to improve in areas that will be important for our success in the fall. It’s our last chance to get better before the summer break, and we will look to transition our progress from practice into live competition.”

Each match will be two sets to 25 points. The Gamecocks will play Wofford at 11 a.m., Appalachian State at 1 p.m. and wrap up the day with a match against rival Clemson at 3 p.m.

The team brings back 90 percent of its total kills from 2017, highlighted by rising junior Mikayla Shields and rising sophomore Mikayla Robinson. The two combined for almost half of the team’s offense, with Shields earning honorable mention All-American honors and Robinson making the All-SEC Freshman Team. Mendoza became the 13th head coach in Gamecock volleyball’s 45-year history on Jan. 3, 2017, after two seasons as head coach at High Point University.