Volleyball Finalizes Staff and Roster for Fall

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina volleyball head coach Tom Mendoza announced two changes for his coaching staff and finalized the roster ahead of the start of year seven of his tenure. The Gamecocks add five newcomers to the team and a new member of the staff this fall.

Mendoza promoted Ethan Pheister to Associate Head Coach and hired Jimmy Kim as the team’s Technical Coordinator. Pheister is also preparing for his seventh season at South Carolina, serving predominantly as the team’s defensive coordinator. In his time with the Gamecocks, he has developed the team’s middle blockers into one of the best positional groups in the Southeastern Conference. In the modern scoring era (since 2001), he has trained four of the 11 student-athletes who have totaled 250 or more blocks, highlighted by Mikayla Robinson (2017-21) and Ellie Ruprich (2020-Present). The duo rank third and fifth, respectively, for total blocks in the program’s 50-year history. As a team, the Gamecocks have consistently ended the season in the top three of the SEC and top 50 nationally for average blocks per set during Pheister’s tenure.

“This is a title that is well deserved and probably overdue,” Mendoza said. “Ethan has been here for some of the best seasons in program history and is a driving force across many aspects of our program. He’s one of the top coaches in the country because of his dedication to helping our student-athletes develop and I’ve felt fortunate to keep him on staff for the last six seasons and hopefully many more successful years moving forward.

“Along with Brittany Farrell, Madelyn Cole and Jimmy Kim,” he continued, “I think we have one of the best coaching staffs in the SEC and we are fired up to get started with our group this fall.”

Kim comes to South Carolina from UC Irvine. He began working with the UCI women’s volleyball program in 2022 as its technical coordinator, and added the same duties with the Anteater’s men’s program the following year. This summer, Kim also added Technical Coordinator duties for USA Volleyball, working with the national team during its run in the Volleyball Nations League.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Jimmy to the staff,” Mendoza said. “His work will be such an asset to our team and the players as we work to achieve our potential. Jimmy’s work on the men’s collegiate game and with USA Volleyball is going to bring great insight as we look for any way to improve or differentiate ourselves in a tightly competitive SEC. So many of our games the last few years were decided by one or two points and Jimmy is the type of person who works his tail off to find anything he can to help our team and players improve.”

The Gamecocks add five new student-athletes to the roster for the fall season, set to begin on Aug. 30 with a three-day tournament hosted by Duke. Each of the five have a different background to bring to a squad featuring 11 returning letterwinners:

• Jolie Cranford (Junior | Outside Hitter | Highlands Ranch, Colo.)
  • Joins the indoor team after two standout seasons with Gamecock beach volleyball. She will continue to play beach in the spring.
  • Enters her junior season as the beach program’s winningest player on the active roster, holding a career mark of 41-21. Her .661 win percentage through two seasons currently ranks seventh in program history for Gamecocks with at least 50 career starts.
  • During her high school career in Colorado, she was a two-time all-state and four-time all-league selection in volleyball.
  • She trained at the club level with Colorado Juniors for indoor and The Lab for beach.

• Maggie Elliott (Freshman | Outside Hitter | Mount Pleasant, S.C.)
  • Is the third crossover athlete on the roster, joining Riley Whitesides and Jolie Cranford on the beach volleyball team.
  • Earned four letters at Lucy Garrett Beckham high school, playing for her mother, Adria, who played collegiate volleyball at Florida State.
  • Her father also has a strong athletic background, competing in beach volleyball on the AVP Pro Tour for 16 years and also working as a collegiate beach coach.
  • Led her high school team in kills for all four years of high school, surpassing 1,000 in her career. She helped the Bengals win their region, with a top finish of third overall in the state.

• Victoria Harris (Freshman | Defensive Specialist | Columbia, S.C.)
  • Will be a freshman this fall, but enrolled early with the Gamecocks and spent the spring semester training and rehabbing a high school injury.
  • Totaled over 1,300 digs and over 1,400 service receptions at Cardinal Newman high school, leading the team to two South Carolina state championships.
  • The defensive standout was a two-time all-state and all-region team member, earned Under Armour NEXT MVP and also collected 2021 SCISA Player of the Year honors. 

• Sarah Jordan (Junior | Setter | Leesburg, Va. | Towson)
  • Transferred to the Gamecocks after two seasons at Towson, playing in 56 total matches as the team’s setter.
  • Finished her time as a Tiger with over 1500 assists and 400 digs, also adding 45 service aces behind the line.
  • Led the Tigers in assists with 973 and averaged 9.18 assists per set as a sophomore in 2023, also recording career highs in digs (246) and kills (88).
  • Already has some experience playing in the Carolina Volleyball Center, as Towson opened the 2023 season at South Carolina and split a two-game series with the Gamecocks.

• Anna Wilson (Sophomore | Middle | Burlington, Ontario, Canada | High Point)
  • Transferred after two seasons at High Point; after redshirting as a true freshman, she played in 15 matches in 2023.
  • Her top performance with the Panthers came in the Big South conference tournament title match, where she hit .412 with seven kills against Winthrop on Nov. 19, 2023.
  • While in high school, she won a provincial championship with her club team and helped her high school team win a silver medal at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations.

The team hosts its annual Garnet and Black Scrimmage on Saturday, Aug. 17 and will also play a preseason scrimmage at home on Aug. 24, facing Coastal Carolina. The regular season home opener will be Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. against Temple.

Tickets are on sale now for the fall season, fans can call the ticket office at 800-472-3267 or go ONLINE for more information.