Beach Volleyball Readies for CCSA Conference Tournament
April 19, 2018
CCSA CHAMPIONSHIP
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina’s beach volleyball team will begin postseason play on Friday, with day one of the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association’s con-ference tournament. The ninth-ranked Gamecocks will play four pool-play duals, at 9 a.m. and noon Friday, and 9 a.m. and noon and Saturday.
The Gamecocks enter the conference tournament as the number two seed, its highest po-sition since joining the CCSA in 2016. The Gamecocks will play UAB, No. 19 Tulane, Col-lege of Charleston and No. 10 FIU in two days of pool play Friday and Saturday. On Sun-day, the top two teams from each pool will make it to a semifinal round. The final two rounds will air on Eleven Sports USA, with the final on Sunday scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Now in its third season as a member of the CCSA, South Carolina owns an all-time record of 4-4 in pool play. Last season, as the four seed, the Gamecocks defeated FIU and UNCW but lost to Florida State and Tulane in pool play and did not advance to the final bracket. In 2016, the team made it to the semifinal round before losing to eventual champion Florida State.
GAMECOCKS COLLECT POSTSEASON HONORS
Three members of the program were honored by the conference office this week. On Wednesday, junior Shannon Williams and sophomore Carly Schnieder were named to the CCSA’s All-Academic team. Williams carries a 3.79 GPA as a Risk Management and Insurance major, and Schnieder is a Pharmaceutical Studies major with a 3.65 GPA. This marks back-to-back seasons with multiple Gamecocks earning academic honors, as Julia Man-nisto and Katie Zimmerman made the conference’s list last spring.
On Thursday, it was announced that head coach Moritz Moritz is the conference’s Coach of the Year. The Gamecocks went 9-3 in the CCSA this season, earning them the number two seed in the conference tournament. Of those nine conference wins, all came over ranked opponents. South Carolina’s 20-6 overall record marks the third-straight year with 20 or more wins, with 10 wins coming over against nationally ranked opponents. Moritz has served as head coach for each of the program’s five seasons to date, and has a career record of 82-52 (.612).
SCOUTING UAB
The Blazers enter the tournament at 8-11 under first-year head coach Kyra Iannone, with their signature win this season coming at the expense of the Gamecocks on March 25 by a score of 3-2. Kenley Adams and Devon May have been outstanding in the top pairing, bringing a 10-7 record at the 1s with them this weekend. Sallianne Napolitano is the team’s third member of the double-digit-win club, at 11-7 overall and 10-5 in the 5s. UAB is still ironing out its other pairs, however, with five different combinations in the 2s, and six in the 3s, and seven in the 4s and 5s.
SCOUTING TULANE
Tulane is 21-12 overall and winners of nine of its last 11 duals dating back to the start of April. That success has earned them the No. 19 spot in the latest AVCA poll. Leading the team is the pairing of Maddy Mertz and Kaylie McHugh, who are 26-6 at number one so far this season. The rest of the lineup has been in flux by comparison, with six different pairs in the twos, seven in the threes, six in the fours and nine in the fives. The Gamecocks are looking for some redemption on Friday, after Tulane scored a 3-2 upset in pool play at last year’s conference tournament that nearly ended South Caro-lina’s season.
SCOUTING COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON
College of Charleston has built off the momentum of making the NCAA tournament during the indoor season, and carried it into the spring. The Cougars already have a new program record for wins, with 15, and have upsets over FIU, FAU and Tulane on their resume. Charleston has settled into a fairly consistent lineup that is highlighted by strong pairs in the three and four positions. Riana Brennan and Kennedy Madison are currently 15-8 at the three, and Allison Beckman and Lauren Freed are 16-6 in the fours to lead the team in wins.
SCOUTING COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON
The Panthers are 20-8 entering the weekend, the second-straight season with 20+ wins. The number three seeding is also a new best for the pro-gram. Top pairing Margherita Bianchin and Federica Frasca have proven to be the best in the country this season, with a strong record that includes wins at number one over top programs like UCLA, Pepperdine and Hawai’i.
PALMETTO INVITE NOTABLES
- South Carolina now has three-straight 20-win seasons. The team’s 11 home wins are the second-most in a single season, behind only 2016’s total of 14.
- With wins over No. 19 Tulane and No. 20 College of Charleston over the weekend, the Gamecocks now have 10 wins over nationally ranked op-ponents to far this season.
- The Gamecocks celebrated four seniors prior to the dual with Tulane on Friday: Leah Perri, Julia Mannisto, Hannah Sorensen and Macie Tendrich. The four seniors went undefeated through the entire final weekend.
- The College of Charleston dual was also the 124th career start for Tendrich and Mannisto. That pushes them past former teammate Jade Vitt for the most matches played in program history.
- Ali Denney and Shannon Williams‘ 14 wins as the top pair for the Gamecocks match the program record for most wins by a pair at number one. Eight of those 14 wins have come in three sets, as the pair came from behind to defeat College of Charleston in the weekend finale.
- Leah Perri/Macie Tendrich and Carly Schnieder/Julia Mannisto end the regular season tied for the team lead for wins by a pair, with 19 apiece. That ties them for sixth-most in a single season in program history.
SCHNIEDER RECOGNIZED BY NCSA
Sophomore Carly Schnieder earned beach volleyball’s inaugural All-American Strength and Conditioning Athlete of the Year award on April 5. The National Strength and Conditioning Association recognizes student-athletes at the Division I, II and III levels as well as high school across 22 sports. Beach volleyball was added for 2018, and Schnieder is the lone beach volleyball representative. The award recognizes athletic accomplishments that reflect the time dedicated to strength training and conditioning, and also factors in academic strength and community service. Nominees are put up for consideration by their team’s strength and conditioning coaches.
GAMECOCKS IN THE NATIONAL RANKS
The team earned its first-ever ranking by the AVCA on March 6 of last season. The Gamecocks are currently ranked 9th in the latest national poll. Eleven Gamecock opponents are currently ranked in the top 20, including numbers one, two and three, six of the top 10, and four other opponents re-ceiving votes.
FUN TO 15
South Carolina has shown a flair for the dramatics this season, as 34 of the team’s 130 individual matches across 26 duals have gone to three sets. The Gamecocks have come out on top in 24 of those 34. Highlighting the team’s success are Ali Denney and Shannon Williams, who currently have an 8-2 record this season in three-set matches.
BATTLE-TESTED SOPHOMORE CLASS KEY to 2018 SUCCESS
The 2017 freshman class might very well go down as one of the best in school history, as four first-year student-athletes made the starting lineup and all four – Ali Denney, Franky Harrison, Carly Schnieder and Katie Smith won over 20 dual matches as individuals. Now as sophomores, Denney, Smith and Schnieder are in the lineup as part of the first, second and third pairs, respectively. Schnieder is tied for the team lead with 21 wins, with Smith close behind at 20 and Denney racking up 14 wins at the number one pairing this season.
GRAD CHANCE U
South Carolina welcomed its first grad transfer in 2015, when Jade Hayes came to Columbia from UCF. Last season, former indoor All-Americans Katie Zimmerman (Wichita State) and Adrianna Culbert (Colorado State) were vital pieces to the team’s NCAA Tournament run. The three left South Carolina with a combined record of 90-45 in dual matches while competing on the team’s top pairs. This season, a new group of indoor stand-outs will have a chance to leave their mark on the program. Leah Perri (Clemson) trained with the team in the fall after a career with the Tigers saw her make All-ACC teams twice. Cadie Bates (Duke) is coming off a career year with the Blue Devils this fall, and played in 83 career matches indoors. Lydia Dimke (Creighton) was a 2016 AVCA All-American for the Blue Jays, and led the team to the Elite Eight of the 2016 NCAA tournament and the No. 9 overall seed in the tournament this past season. Despite the setback of losing Dimke for all but five of the team’s regular-season duals, South Carolina’s grad transfers are currently 37-13 (Bates 17-5, Dimke, 3-2, Perri 19-7).
GAMECOCKS TACKLING A TOUGH SCHEDULE in 2018
South Carolina has stepped its strength of schedule so far this spring. The team has faced five of the seven other teams who made the 2017 national tournament field, and 15 of its 26 matches have come against top-20-ranked teams. The Gamecocks are 10-5 in those matchups, highlighted by their first wins ever against Georgia State, Stetson and LSU.
ALL-TIME RECORDS
- South Carolina holds a 82-52 all-time program record, dating back to 2014.
- The Gamecocks joined the CCSA for volleyball in 2016, and have an all-time conference record of 25-13.
- In home matches at Wheeler Beach, Carolina is 42-15 (.737).
- Moritz Moritz is entering his fifth season as head coach of the Gamecocks, spanning the young history of the program. He earned his 75th career win against FGCU on March 24, 2018.
