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Beach Volleyball Opens Spring Season in Jacksonville
Beach Volleyball  . 

Beach Volleyball Opens Spring Season in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, FLA. – Year 12 of South Carolina beach volleyball begins on the road Feb. 22-23, as the Gamecocks head down I-95 for the Dolphin Duals, hosted by Jacksonville University. The two-day tournament matches Carolina up against No. 18 North Florida and UNCW on Saturday, then the host Dolphins and USF on Sunday.

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SCOUTING THE WEEKEND FIELD
#18 UNF OSPREYS

  • The Gamecocks and Ospreys are 4-4 in the all-time series (since 2014).
  • The Ospreys won the last meeting, 3-2 (March 9, 2024). The six sets the Gamecocks lost were all decided by the minimum two points.
  • North Florida enters the season ranked 18th in the AVCA coaches’ poll, marking the first time in program history the team was ranked in the preseason poll.
  • Last season, North Florida tied a program-record 25 wins and captured the ASUN Championship and the auto-bid to the NCAA tournament. The Ospreys lost just one game at home all spring.
  • North Florida beach volleyball trio of Presley Murray, Madson Espy and Cameron Humphries earned 2025 Preseason All-ASUN Team honors. Murray and Espy posted consecutive seasons with at least 20 wins with an overall record of 20-14 in 2024. Humphries went 22-8 in her first season, including 19 wins in the fourth position.

UNCW SEAHAWKS

  • The Gamecocks lead the all-time series, 14-0 (since 2016). 
  • In the last meeting, the Gamecocks won 4-1 (April 6, 2024). 
  • This will be the team’s first season led by head coach David Fischer. He has served as an assistant in the indoor volleyball program but has been the de facto head coach for the beach program since its first season in 2016. 
  • The Seahawks were 10-3 against Sun Belt Conference opponents last season and posted a 22-12 overall mark, the second-highest win total in program history.
  • Entering its second season as a member of the Sun Belt Conference, the team has been picked by the league’s coaches preseason poll to finish third.
  • Leading the returning group of contributors are Gabby LaPata and Gracie Sistrunk. LaPata won 26 games as part of the team’s court one pair, Sistrunk also won 26 matches and split time between the third and fourth pairings.

JACKSONVILLE DOLPHINS

  • The Gamecocks lead the all-time series, 8-2 (since 2014). 
  • In the last meeting between the two teams, the Gamecocks won 5-0 (April 19, 2024).
  • The team finished last season 15-21 overall, which set a program record for most wins in a season.
  • Senior Emily Kubicsko is chasing program history entering 2025, she is just five wins away from matching the program record for career wins (61). 
  • Sophomore Claire Mrukowski was selected to the Atlantic Sun All-Freshman team in 2024, after a successful rookie year where she led the team in wins (16). 

USF BULLS

  • The Sunday afternoon dual will be the first meeting between the two teams, USF is a new program that will begin formal competition in 2025-26. 
  • The matchup will be considered an exhibition and will not count towards team or individual records.

CHASING 200
Entering the 12th season as a program, South Carolina is in striking distance from an important milestone this spring. The Gamecocks hold an all-time record of 193-122 since their start in 2014. Head coach Moritz Moritz, the leader of the team since its inception, currently ranks 11th in the NCAA record books for career wins, but because the sport was not recognized as a NCAA sport until 2016, Moritz’s career record stands at 173-103.

TURNOVER IN THE LINEUP
The team lost six players who recorded at least one win in the lineup in 2024 and four from its starting lineup from the 2024 CCSA conference tournament, most notably 20-game winners Skylar Allen and Hannah Mackenhausen, Allison Coens (10 wins at No. 1) and Sophie Bengoechea (12 wins at No. 5). The team does return 20-game winners in Jolie Cranford and Riley Whitesides, CCSA Freshman of the Year Julia Waugh (17-8 record) and three more Gamecocks who cracked the double-digit win mark in 2024 (Morgan Downs; 17 wins, Peyton Yamagata; 16 wins, VB Trost; 13 wins).

There is a sizable gap on the roster when it comes to experience; with the departure of Allen (140 career starts), Mackenhausen (130) and Coens (108), Cranford’s (62) starts leads the 2025 team. Out of the 20 women on the roster this spring, 14 have started in 30 or fewer matches at the collegiate level.

A NEW HOME, A NEW OPPORTUNITY
With the limited collegiate experience returning to the squad in 2025, the Gamecock staff turned to transfers to round out the roster. Joining the team for the 2025 campaign are Jordan Benoit and Juju Quintero from Pepperdine, Reagan Elizondo and Lauren Lawson from Grand Canyon, and Rachel Hartmann from Southeastern Louisiana.

Benoit made 35 starts over three years at Pepperdine, Quintero made 24 starts over two years and the duo teamed up for a number of key wins for the Waves. Elizondo and Lawson were freshmen teammates at GCU in 2024, but neither saw time in the lineup. 

Hartmann has had one of the most unique paths to Carolina, starting as an indoor and beach athlete at William Carey, a NAIA school, for three years. She transferred to Southeastern Louisiana to play indoor and beach again in 2023-24. With the Lions, she was named Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year and first team all-conference, helping the indoor team win the conference tournament title and make the 2023 NCAA tournament. On the beach with SLU, she went 20-5 in the No. 1 position, setting the program’s single-season record for most wins. Ironically, one of her wins came against South Carolina’s pairing of Riley Whitesides and Hannah Mackenhausen, on March 16, 2024.

GAMECOCKS IN THE NATIONAL RANKS
The Gamecocks enter the season receiving votes in the AVCA coaches top-20 poll. South Carolina’s last time in the poll was in the 20th position on April 16 of 2024. Dating back to 2017, South Carolina has played 10 or more matches against ranked opponents each season. Of the team’s 29 duals on the schedule in 2025, 12 are against teams ranked in the preseason poll and six more against teams receiving votes in the poll.

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. In 2024, South Carolina fell on the wrong side of tight duals; of the team’s 16 losses, seven came in a 3-2 score. Over the 36 total duals played, the Gamecocks had 49 matches go to third sets and the team ended up winning 21 of those matches. The 49 three-set matches are the second-most in a single season in program history, the .429 win percentage in those matches is the lowest in a full season since 2016.

EXTENDED SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM
The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced its annual Team Academic Award recipients over the summer, and South Carolina stands as one of only three beach programs in the country to own a streak of 10 seasons in a row making the list, joining Georgia State and Stanford. 

Carolina is also part of the Honor Roll, given to teams in the top 20 percent for team GPA in each division. Individually, 17 student-athletes made either the SEC’s Spring or First-Year Honor Rolls and four Gamecocks made the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association’s All-Academic team.

2024 SEASON NOTABLES

  • The Gamecocks finished the spring 20-16 overall, including an 12-4 mark at Wheeler Beach.  The program has 20 or more wins in seven of the last eight completed seasons, and the 12 home wins are the second-most in a season in program history.
  • The team recorded three wins over ranked opponents, extending a streak of eight seasons in a row with at least three ranked wins.
  • South Carolina made the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association’s conference tournament championship for the first time in the nine seasons as members. The Gamecocks defeated No. 17 Grand Canyon and No. 10 LSU on the way to the title match. The victory over LSU was the ninth win over a top-10-ranked team in program history. Seniors Skylar Allen, Riley Whitesides, Sophie Bengoechea and sophomore VB Trost made the conference’s all-tournament team for their efforts over the four duals. 
  • South Carolina took home a number of individual honors as well as multiple members on the all-conference teams, as voted on by the conference’s coaches and sports information directors. Headlining the honors were Allen and freshman Julia Waugh. A graduate student in her first year of a doctoral program in coaching education, Allen earned the honor of CCSA Scholar-Athlete of the Year. First-year standout Waugh was the unanimous choice for CCSA Freshman of the Year; both her and Allen are the first Gamecocks to win either award since the team joined the conference in 2016.
  • The Gamecocks also added eight more honorees to the conference’s three teams – all-conference, all-freshman and all-academic. Allen and Allison Coens were one of five pairs selected to the All-Conference list, Waugh made the all-freshman team as a unanimous selection, and four Gamecocks – Allen, Coens, Jolie Cranford and Hannah Mackenhausen – made the all-academic team. Waugh marks the third year in a row a Gamecock made the five-woman all-freshman team, and it is also the third year in a row with South Carolina leading the conference with four all-academic honorees. Allen is a three-time all-academic team member, Coens and Mackenhausen also made the 2023 team, and for Cranford it is her first time making the list.
  • Allen graduated ranked fourth in program history for career wins (86), fourth in ranked wins (24), eighth in conference wins (19) and third in matches played (140). 72 of her 86 wins came on court one, 27 more than any other Gamecock in program history. Mackenhausen left the program ranked fifth in career wins (84), fifth in ranked wins (21) and sixth in matches played (131). Also in the record book, she ranks third in career wins on court two (26), fourth in wins on court three (32) and eighth in wins on court four (17).
  • Cranford followed up her all-freshman campaign in 2023 to be a mainstay in the lineup as a sophomore, leading the team in wins with a 23-12 overall record. Also led the team in wins over ranked opponents, with six, highlighted by a three-set win on court three over #17 GCU in the conference tournament (4/26).

ALL-TIME RECORDS

  • South Carolina holds a 193-122 (.614) 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 46-40 (.541).
  • In matches at Wheeler Beach, Carolina is 89-30 (.748), including a 19-9 record against CCSA conference opponents.
  • Moritz Moritz is in his 12th season as head coach of the Gamecocks, spanning the entire young history of the program. He earned his 175th career win vs. Coastal Carolina on March 2, 2024.
  • South Carolina has two postseason tournament appearances, making the NCAA eight-team field in 2017 and 2018.
  • The Gamecocks have two all-americans in program history: Katie Smith (2021) and Skylar Allen (2021 and 2023).

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