Beach Volleyball to Join Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in 2025-26

CONFERENCE OFFICE RELEASE

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIF. – The South Carolina beach volleyball program will join the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) for the 2025-26 school year, the conference announced on Thursday. The Gamecocks were independent for the 2014 and 2015 seasons, then moved to the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) from 2016 through the current 2025 season.

“We are accustomed to competing in one of the toughest leagues in the country on an annual basis. This move will create the strongest conference in the country, top to bottom, and exponentially raises the level of competitiveness,” said head coach Moritz Moritz, who has led the program since its inception in 2014.

South Carolina is one of four teams moving to the MPSF for 2025-26, joining with current CCSA members Florida State, LSU and Texas. Grand Canyon, a 2024 member of the CCSA, has already joined the MPSF for the 2025 season.

The MPSF will feature the sport’s most accomplished programs. Included in the seven current members are Southern California and UCLA; the two programs account for all eight NCAA titles since the sport was first sponsored in 2016. Including the four CCSA programs, the spring 2026 MPSF membership accounted for six of the top seven teams ranked in the final American Volleyball Coaches Association’s (AVCA) top 20 poll last May.

“We are all striving to reach the highest level, and this conference will pit top-five, top-10 and top-20-caliber teams against each other at every corner,” Moritz added. “It’s an opportunity to step up and respond. The level of collegiate beach volleyball is already so high and I believe this will continue to push it higher.”

The Gamecocks finished 2024 with a 20-12 overall record, their seventh 20-win season since beginning the program in 2014, and made the championship match of the CCSA conference tournament. The team begins the 2025 campaign on Feb. 22 with a two-day tournament hosted by Jacksonville University. Click for the full 2025 schedule here.

For continued updates on the team, follow GamecockBeachVB on Twitter and Instagram.

*- CCSA member joining MPSF in 2025-26

MORE ON THE MOUNTAIN PACIFIC SPORTS FEDERATION: The MPSF enters the 2025 calendar year with 118 total national championships, with its 112 NCAA titles leading the nation amongst Non-Power Four Conferences. The MPSF won four NCAA titles in each of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years. MPSF Beach Volleyball information, including specific championship details, is located on the conference website’s championship central page at mpsports.org. Follow the MPSF on social media @MPSFSports.

“We are excited to welcome Florida State, LSU, South Carolina, and Texas to the MPSF for Beach Volleyball,” said MPSF Executive Director Foti Mellis. “Adding these strong and successful teams enhances the competitiveness of our conference. They will undoubtedly elevate the intensely competitive nature alongside the MPSF’s existing high-caliber teams. With USC having won six of the eight NCAA Beach Volleyball Championships and UCLA securing the other two titles, the MPSF was already a formidable and demanding place to play. Including our newest members, seven of the eleven teams competed in the NCAA Championships in 2024. The 2026 MPSF Championship tournament will be one for the ages!”

The MPSF’s inaugural beach volleyball season in 2025 features California, Grand Canyon, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and Washington. The first edition of the MPSF Beach Volleyball Championship will be held at Spiker Beach in Huntington Beach, Calif., April 23-25.