SARASOTA – The Florida volleyball team competes Saturday in the second annual Southeastern Conference Coaches Beach Volleyball Championships as part of the Fiesta on Siesta Key. The event begins at 9:30 a.m.
“This is the second year we have participated in the SEC Coaches Beach Volleyball Championships,” said Florida head coach Mary Wise, who was last year’s host in Gainesville. “The game is different but there are so many ways that indoor players can get better by playing outdoors.
“With two players covering an entire court and playing on sand, you can’t just rely on your athletic talents and your quickness, you have to read the other hitter and you have to have much more court vision,” Wise continued. “It’s a different game and it’s actually a harder game to play. We’ve been practicing on the sand courts at Southwest Rec once a week, and if you ask the players, they love being outside.”
Each of the 11 schools fielding volleyball teams in the SEC (Vanderbilt does not) and a handful of schools from several other conferences are competing in the Collegiate Beach Volleyball Challenge.
Beach volleyball, a popular sport in the Olympics, was introduced to the college scene by CBS College Sports Network with the Collegiate Nationals in 2006. The SEC and Sunshine State Conferences followed with beach tournaments in the spring of last year.
With other college beach events springing up around the country, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics recommended last summer that Sand Volleyball be added as a sport. Division I and II representatives will vote on the proposal later this spring.
The Gators contingent will have 10 players, led by the No. 1 team of SEC All-Freshman team selection Kristy Jaeckel and American Volleyball Coaches Association honorable mention All-American Elyse Cusack. They were paired together at last year’s championships.
Freshman setter/right side Kelly Murphy and freshman outside hitter Colleen Ward make up the No. 2 team. Both made the SEC All-Freshmen team and Murphy was the AVCA National Freshmen of the Year.
Florida’s No. 3 team features sophomore middle/right side Lauren Bledsoe and sophomore defensive specialist Erin Fleming. The No. 4 team is freshman setter Cindy Bathelt and freshman middle blocker Betsy Smith. The No. 5 team features Cassandra Anderson, the team’s leading blocker, and defensive specialist Elissa Hausmann.