Cougars Picked Seventh In AVCA Preseason Sand Volleyball Poll
CHARLESTON, SC March 5, 2013 – College of Charleston was picked seventh in the AVCA Preseason Sand Volleyball poll, the organization announced this week.
The Cougars enter the second season of the NCAA emerging sport after being just one of four teams selected for last season’s inaugural AVCA championships. Charleston finished fourth in the team competition and tied for ninth in the individual pairs tournament.
Charleston returns all but one player, Elyse Chubb, from last year’s semifinal squad and will add a talented group of freshmen and transfer Darcy Dorton. In the fall, the Cougars won the Southern Conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA Second Round in indoor volleyball for just the second time in school history.
Defending AVCA champion Pepperdine was picked first in the preseason poll, followed by Long Beach State, USC and Florida State. The Cougars were picked ahead of ninth-place Nebraska and 10th-place Stanford.
“We are certainly excited to be selected among the top 10 schools in the country heading into this second season of sand volleyball,” head coach Jason Kepner said. “We will once again have a challenging schedule and look forward to competing and returning to the AVCA national championships.”
The 2013 season kicks off at home with the CofC Sand Tournament at the Creekside Sand Courts in the Mt. Pleasant, S.C. The tournament will go from Friday, March 22 to Sunday, March 24 and feature Mercer, UAB and Georgia State.
The AVCA National Championships will return to Gulf Shores, Ala., on May 3-5 with a four-squad team tournament and 16-group pairs tournament. The teams are selected by the AVCA organizing committee.
Currently classified as an NCAA emerging sport, sand volleyball added seven new sponsoring schools this season to bring the overall number to 22 schools. The University of South Carolina recently announced it will be playing sand volleyball in 2014. Once the sport reaches 40 schools, it will be eligible to be a part of the NCAA Championships.
2013 AVCA Collegiate Sand Preseason Poll
1. Pepperdine
2. Long Beach State
3. USC
4. Florida State
5. Hawai’i
6. UCLA
7. College of Charleston
8. Florida International
9. Nebraska
10. Stanford
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