Beach Volleyball . April 13, 2023

Beach Volleyball Closes Regular Season at Home

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina beach volleyball finishes off its regular season with a home Palmetto Invitational tournament, running on Wheeler Beach this Friday and Saturday. The two-day even brings in Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, Florida Gulf Coast and Jacksonville.

The tournament runs alongside the athletics department’s “Big Gamecock Weekend” around campus. The team’s duals at 11 a.m. against FGCU and 5 p.m. against Coastal Carolina on Friday kick off the weekend, centered around football’s spring scrimmage on Saturday night.

This spring, attendance at home matches at Wheeler Beach is again free and open to the general public. Please continue to follow the athletics department’s clear bag policy. Fan entrance is only permitted on the north side of the facility through the main gate and only participating teams and game-day personnel are permitted on the sand surface. Please note that due to other home events on campus, fans are encouraged to park in the garage at 1300 Heyward St., pictured below.

SCOUTING THE WEEKEND FIELD
FGCU

South Carolina leads the all-time series, 4-2 ( Since 2016). In the last meeting, the Eagles won, 3-2 (April 15, 2022).
FGCU returned both members from its top three pairs from last season, where it set a program record with 29 wins. The Eagles finished the 2022 season ranked 20th nationally.
So far this season, the Eagles have tackled a challenging schedule and have key wins over FIU, FAU and North Florida.

COASTAL CAROLINA

South Carolina leads the all-time series, 11-0 ( Since 2016). In the last meeting, the Gamecocks won, 4-1 (April 16, 2022).
The Chanticleers return three of their four individual wins leaders, each went for 20 or more. Coastal Carolina finished the 2022 season with an 18-16 overall record.
This season has been a historic one for the Chants, starting with their opening weekend where they won their first two duals ever over ranked opponents and earned their first-ever national ranking. Currently, CCU is 20-9 overall and receiving votes in the AVCA’s coaches top-20 poll.

JACKSONVILLE

South Carolina leads the all-time series, 6-2 ( Since 2014). In the last meeting, the Gamecocks won, 5-0 (April 1, 2022).
The Dolphins were the first opponent the Gamecocks ever defeated, as South Carolina opened the all-time series with a 3-2 win on March 8, 2014.
Jacksonville finished the 2022 season with an 10-27 overall record and enter the tournament on a four-game win streak.

COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON

South Carolina leads the all-time series, 15-2 ( Since 2014). In the last meeting, the Gamecocks won, 5-0 (April 15, 2022).
The Cougars will be stocked with returning talent, with six starters with 20 or more wins in 2022 back on the sand this spring. Charleston finished the 2022 season with a 22-13 overall record.

ALLEN CLAIMS *ANOTHER* IMPRESSIVE RECORD
Skylar Allen already owns a place in program history as its first all-american, the first Gamecock to win 20 games in a season at the No. 1 pairing and the third Gamecock to reach 30 career wins at No. 1, but the senior continues to reach unprecedented heights this spring. In her sweep of UAB on March 17, Allen passed Shannon Williams (45 wins from 2016-19) for the career record for wins on the top court and on March 25 she reached 50 career wins on court one after sweeping Arizona State. Of the five women with 20 or more wins at No. 1, Allen’s career win percentage of .616 is the highest. Her 86 career starts on court one are just six away from surpassing Williams’ record for most in program history.

NIFTY 50 FOR GAMECOCK DUO
With a sweep of Southeastern Louisiana on March 5, junior Hannah Mackenhausen moved her to 50 career wins, making her the 11th member of the program to reach the career milestone. On the way to her 50 wins, Mackenhausen carried a .685 win percentage. Senior Skylar Allen joined the 50-win club thanks to a sweep of Stephen F. Austin on March 10, recording a career win percentage of .595 on the way to 50. Allen made it to 50 wins the hard way – she was making her 71st start in the No. 1 position when she recorded her 50th career win.

ROSTER DEPTH PUT TO THE TEST
The Gamecocks have put their roster to the test this spring, with injuries to three day-one starters forcing some unforsee lineup changes. Through 25 duals, South Carolina have used 22 different pairs. The combination of Skylar Allen and Simone Priebe on court one is the only pairing that have played every dual together. Individually, 19 of the 22 Gamecocks on the active roster have at least one start so far and 10 of them have played in multiple flights of the lineup.

CRUNCH TIME NUMBERS
With the sport of beach volleyball as competitive as ever, a point here or there can make all the difference in a team’s postseason aspirations. So far this season, South Carolina is 3-4 in duals that had a 3-2 final score, have a 24-21 record in deuce sets (sets decided by the minimum of two points) and holds a 17-15 record for individual matches that go three sets.

VETERAN STAFF ENTERS YEAR 10
With South Carolina reaching its 10th season of competition, Head coach Moritz Moritz and assistant coach RJ Abella have been together since day one.. Across all of collegiate beach volleyball, the duo is currently tied only with UCLA (Stein Metzger and Jenny Johnson Jordan) in terms of longest tenure together as a staff. Along with NCAA tournament berths in 2017 and 2018, the coaches have also enjoyed six 20-win seasons and a .621 win percentage through the first nine seasons.

SOPHOMORE CORP ASKED TO TAKE NEXT STEP
Year two is an important one for three South Carolina sophomores. Kennedy Westendorff earned a spot in the team’s lineup at the CCSA conference tournament last April, coming in at the fifth flight, started her 2023 season all the way up in the second pairing with Kaeli Crews and has 17 starts this spring.

Lauren Wilcock already made a good first impression, her 24 wins in 2022 matched the program record for a freshman. Despite missing a week of action due to injury, she holds a 12-4 record already this spring – five in the third flight and six in the fourth.

A darkhorse sophomore to keep an eye on this spring is Chase Teal. She earned the start in the fives against No. 2 Florida State in week one, then made the lineup in each of the five duals down at LSU. Teal went 2-0 with Jillian Gleason to start the tournament, then moved up to the number three position with Allison Coens due to injuries and picked up two more wins on day two. Just 12 starts into her career, the versatile defender already has wins in the first, third, fourth and fifth positions and is 8-4 overall.

GAMECOCKS IN THE NATIONAL RANKS
The team earned its first-ever ranking by the AVCA on March 6, 2017, and have not left the polls since. The Gamecocks peaked at No. 8 in the polls in 2018 and check in at No. 16 in the April 11 poll, marking 67 weekly rankings in a row in the coaches poll. As the team has maintained its poll position, so has its scheduling; over the last five completed seasons (2017, ‘18, ‘19, ‘21 and ‘22), South Carolina averages around 15 duals played against ranked opponents per season and have faced 12 ranked teams through its first 25 duals.

TRANSFERS BOLSTER GAMECOCK ROSTER
South Carolina returns six players who started in at least half of the team’s duals from 2022, but did lose a pair of 20-game winners with Jordan Smith and Abby Carroll along with Whitley Ballard (12-11 at No. 1) and Alyssa Keller (13-5). To fill the gaps in the roster, the staff brought in three transfers who figure to push for starting spots from day one. Graduate transfers Simone Priebe (Pepperdine) and Allison Coens (LSU) competed for four and three seasons, respectively, for their previous teams and junior Rebeca Olariu (College of Charleston) made 53 career starts in her first two seasons as a college athlete – 25 of those starts coming at the number one position for the Cougars.

Priebe totaled 66 career wins and a total winning percentage of .712 at Pepperdine, topped off by career year in 2022 with a 26-7 record in the number two pairing and a spot on the All-WCC first team and Top Flight honors from the AVCA. Coens won a personal-best 23 matches as a freshman at LSU in 2019, including 15 against ranked opponents, and comes to South Carolina with a career record of 32-13. Olariu held her own as a freshman in 2021, winning 12 matches in the top pairing for Charleston and won 14 matches in 2022 while moving all around the lineup.

WHITESIDES HITS THE BEACH
Fans of South Carolina volleyball will recognize a familiar face in the sand this spring, as junior Riley Whitesides joined the roster in January. Whitesides proved to be a versatile athlete on the hardwood, totaling 775 kills and 497 digs through her first three seasons indoors. Most recently, she ranked second on the team in kills, averaging 2.65 per set, and became only the second member of the program over the last 20 seasons with a serve reception percentage north of .960 with 700 or more total receptions.

The last Gamecock to compete as both an indoor and beach volleyball player was Jess Vastine (2017-21), who finished with a career record of 52-41. Whitesides made the travel team for each of the first two roadtrips; at LSU she went 3-0 on the exhibition court before earning her first career start in the weekend finale vs. Southeastern Louisiana. Teaming with Hailey Cabeceiras, Whitesides earned her first win with a 21-7, 21-14 sweep on court five.

PRESEASON NOTABLES

The preseason CCSA all-conference team was announced on Wednesday, Feb. 22, with a pair of Gamecocks making the squad. Simone Priebe and Kaeli Crews represented the 10-member team, with freshman Jolie Cranford also on the conference’s Watch List.
This spring, the Gamecocks will face eight of the 16 teams from the 2022 NCAA tournament field.
The team spent three weekends competing in pairs tournaments during the fall semester, starting at home on Oct. 8 with an all-day pairs tournament on Wheeler Beach. The Gamecocks hosted UNCW, College of Charleston and Coastal Carolina and finished the day with a 28-4 record in matches. The next competition was the Collegiate Beach Bash Oct. 28-29, with a field of over 75 pairs and 10 teams. The larger field didn’t slow down the team’s success, South Carolina finished the two-day tournament with a 39-15 record – the win total and win percentage led all teams in attendance.
The team split up for the final weekend of the fall, as the AVCA hosted the first-ever Collegiate Pairs National Championship Nov. 4-6, also in Huntsville. The Gamecocks received two bids for the tournament, sending Skylar Allen and Simone Priebe in one pair and Kaeli Crews and Hannah Mackenhausen in the other. Allen and Priebe finished 11th overall in the field of 64 pairs, Crews and Mackenhausen placed 50th.

2022 SEASON NOTABLES

The Gamecocks finished the 2022 season with a 20-12 overall record and finished 5th in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association. It was the team’s sixth 20-win season in program history. Counting only completed seasons, the six have come all in a row, starting back in 2016. During this run, the program’s record stands at 125-73 (.628).
Head coach Moritz Moritz earned his 150th career win vs. College of Charleston on April 9, 2022.
Carolina finished the season ranked #19 in the final AVCA Collegiate Rankings. The squad reached as high as 14th in the middle of March and never fell out of the Top 20.
Marquee Carolina victories came against No. 11 Florida Atlantic, No. 15 Pepperdine, No. 20 Florida Gulf Coast and No. 20 Tulane.
Carolina was led by freshman Lauren Wilcock, sophomore Hannah Mackenhausen, junior Kaeli Crews and senior Jordan Smith. All four posted 20+ wins during the season and had winning records against ranked opponents.
Wilcock’s team-high 24 wins as an individual put her just three behind Macie Tendrich’s single-season program record of 27 victories.
Wilcock made the CCSA’s five-woman All-Freshman team, making her just the third Gamecock in program history to make the list. On the CCSA’s All-Academic team, four more individuals were honored: Skylar Allen, Whitley Ballard, Kaeli Crews and Jordan Smith. It’s the most individuals ever to make the cut for South Carolina.
Jordan Smith won her 50th career match on April 15, defeating Coastal Carolina. She is the ninth Gamecock in program history to reach 50 wins and passed Macie Tendrich’s record for fastest road to 50 wins. Tendrich previously reached it in 68 games, Smith needed only 65.

ALL-TIME RECORDS

South Carolina holds a 169-104 (.620) 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 46-36 (.561).
In matches at Wheeler Beach, Carolina is 73-26 (.739).
Moritz Moritz is in his tenth season as head coach of the Gamecocks, spanning the entire young history of the program. He earned his 100th career win vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville on April 6, 2019.