TAMPA - The University of South Florida volleyball team will compete in the second annual Fiesta on Siesta Key on April 17, head coach Claire Lessinger announced Tuesday.
"We are excited to participate in the Fiesta on Siesta sand tournament again," said Lessinger. "It is a magnificent event and tremendous opportunity for our players. With sand volleyball landing on the emerging sports list this tournament gives coaches and players the opportunity to experiment with the game. Our players have really enjoyed the cross training experience and have seen positive results in their indoor game as well."
Nearly 20 schools in the BIG EAST, Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, Atlantic Sun and other leagues already have committed to compete in the event. The Fiesta on Siesta Key, just eight miles offshore of Sarasota, Fla., was one of the driving forces in the push to add sand volleyball to the NCAA's list of Emerging Sports for Women, beginning with the 2011 season.
Last year, two USF pairings - Marcela Gurgel and Jarka Havlickova and Cynthia Danthon and Mariana Thon - ran through pool play going undefeated to advance to the gold division. Allie Boaz and Mollie Echols just missed qualifying for gold division play, finishing 17th overall to compete for silver. The remaining "Green & Gold" pairings - Kelsey Palmer and Allie O'Connor, Alli Arbogast and Brittany Castelamare and Caitlyn Breen and Rachel Matos - competed for the bronze.
Gurgel and Havlickova proved to be the best on the beach, going undefeated in gold division competition to remain unbeaten and claim the Fiesta on Siesta title, defeating teams from Miami, Jacksonville, Notre Dame and FAU along the way.
By claiming two of three medals on the day, the Bulls also captured the Collegiate Beach Cup - an overall team award based on a point system for how the team as a whole performs.
Schools that have verbally committed to play at the upcoming event include: Alabama, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, Georgia, Jacksonville, Miami, Mississippi State, North Florida, Notre Dame, Nova Southeast University, University of Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Stetson, UCF, Warner Southern and Webber International.
"The Fiesta on Siesta Key is clear evidence of the growth and popularity of the sport," American Volleyball Coaches Association Executive Director Kathy DeBoer said. "It provides good, competitive opportunities for student-athletes in another part of the country."
Sand volleyball was originally introduced to the collegiate scene by CBS College Sports with the Collegiate Nationals, an event founded by the Network in the spring of 2006. That event is now in its fifth season. The coaches of the Southeastern and Sunshine State Conferences followed with their sand tournaments in the spring of 2008. The popularity of those events, along with others that sprang up around the country, helped lead the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics to recommend in the summer of 2008 that sand volleyball be added to the NCAA's list of Emerging Sports for Women.
At the 2010 NCAA Convention in Atlanta, an override attempt was defeated and the date of the proposal for sand volleyball becomes effective in August 2011.
