Allen and Smith Named AVCA National Pair of the Week
It is the first national honor ever earned by members of the beach volleyball program
COLUMBIA, S.C. – For the first time in program history, the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) named a South Carolina beach volleyball pair as the AVCA/CollegeBeachVB.com National Pair of the Week. Katie Smith and Skylar Allen earned the honor after a perfect 4-0 record at the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association’s postseason tournament April 23-24.
“Katie and Skylar were incredible all weekend, they showed that they are one of the best pairs in the country and I think it’s unfortunate that they’ve been so overlooked in the national conversation for much of the season,” head coach Moritz Moritz said. “They are absolutely clicking right now, every match they get better and better. They grinded out a win over Florida State and finished the tournament sweeping TCU, both pairs that made the all-conference team. It was fun to watch, not just as their coach but as a volleyball fan.”
Allen and Smith opened the tournament with a 21-16, 21-17 sweep of Tulane’s number one pairing, then closed the day with a comeback victory against No. 3 Florida State’s top pair of Keara Rutz and Torrey Van Winden. After dropping the first set, Allen and Smith won 21-16, 15-9 in the next two sets to score the team’s lone point in the dual against the eventual conference champions. Rutz and Van Winden entered the postseason tournament standing as the seventh-best pair in the country, based on CollegeBeachVB‘s ranking system, have a season record of 29-6 and were one of five pairs on the CCSA’s All-Conference team.
On day two of the CCSA tournament, Allen and Smith cruised to a 21-12, 21-9 sweep of College of Charleston, then matched up against No. 7 TCU in the quarterfinal round. The Horned Frogs also boast an all-conference pairing in their top spot, Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno Mateeva, who entered the conference tournament as the number six pair in the country by CollegeBeachVB. Despite dropping both previous meetings this season to the TCU duo, Allen and Smith rolled to a 21-19, 21-17 sweep.
The 4-0 weekend moved the Gamecock pair’s season record to 16-6 together, all coming at the top spot in the lineup. Their .727 winning percentage is the highest for a single season by any Gamecock pair playing at No. 1. Highlighting that overall record is the fact that the two ended the spring on a 12-game win streak in the number one position and eight of those 16 total wins came against nationally ranked opponents. Individually, Allen finished her redshirt freshman season with a 22-10 overall record and 20-10 mark playing at number one. No other Gamecock individual in program history had more than 17 wins at number one entering this spring. After a 24-8 season as an individual in 2021, Smith ends her career at South Carolina with 96 career dual wins and 99 career wins overall – both are program records. Of those 96 dual wins, 37 came in the top pairing and 58 in the second pairing.
