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Beach Volleyball Faces Deep Field at FGCU
Beach Volleyball  . 

Beach Volleyball Faces Deep Field at FGCU

FORT MYERS, FLA. – South Carolina beach volleyball brings a four-game win streak into its biggest weekend of the young season, facing three ranked opponents at the FGCU Inaugural Tournament March 7-8, hosted by the FGCU Eagles. The Gamecocks (4-1) have a rematch with No. 19 North Florida (8-0) to open the weekend, followed by a dual with the host Eagles (3-3) at 2 p.m. on Friday. On day two, Carolina faces No. 14 FIU (6-2) at 8 a.m. and No. 20 Stetson (6-2) at noon.

In their last time on the sand, the Gamecocks won both duals in a home doubleheader on Saturday, March 1, sweeping Austin Peay 5-0 and ending the day with a 3-2 win over UAB.

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SCOUTING THE WEEKEND FIELD
NORTH FLORIDA

  • UNF hold 5-4 in the all-time series (since 2014).
  • The Ospreys won the last meeting, 3-2, back on the opening day of the season (Feb. 22). Six of the 11 sets played between the two teams were decided by the minimum two points
  • North Florida entered the season ranked 18th in the AVCA coaches’ poll, marking the first time in program history the team was ranked in the preseason poll. The team is 19th in the latest poll, holding an 8-0 record.
  • 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.

FGCU

  • South Carolina leads the series, 6-2 (since 2016).
  • The Gamecocks won the most recent meeting, 4-1, on April 14, 2024.
  • Two of the last three meetings have been decided by a 3-2 score. This is South Carolina’s first trip to Fort Myers; of the eight total meetings, three have come in Columbia and five have been on neutral sand.
  • Last weekend, the Eagles went 1-1 in Tampa, losing to the host Spartans before sweeping Eckerd, 5-0, to move to 3-3 for the season.
  • Senior Kaitlyn Luebbers was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Preseason Player of the Year in February. Luebbers posted a 27-10 record in 2024.

FIU

  • FIU leads the series, 7-6 (since 2014).
  • The Panthers won the last meeting, 3-2, on April 13, 2024
  • The team brings a six-game win streak into the weekend, headlined by ranked wins over No. 14 Washington and No. 12 FAU.
  • Maria Fernanda Vinatea Sánchez and Ella Gray have locked down the top spot in the lineup, currently with a 5-1 record together so far this spring.

STETSON

  • Stetson leads the series, 10-4 (since 2016).
  • The Gamecocks won the last meeting, 3-2, on April 13, 2024. Each of the last four meetings have come down to a 3-2 final score, with each team winning twice.
  • The Hatters split four games out in Arizona last weekend, losing to GCU and Arizona State before rallying back for wins over Arizona and Oregon. Stetson holds an overall record of 6-2 through two weeks.
  • A pair of transfers anchor the top of the team’s lineup. Katie Camp (North Florida) and Maria Ozaeta (New Orleans) are coming off a three-set win over Arizona on court one to key a 3-2 victory last weekend.

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 197-123 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 178-104.

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 65 starts leads the 2025 team. Out of the 20 women on the roster this spring, 12 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.

ALL-TIME RECORDS

  • South Carolina holds a 197-123 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 91-30 (.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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