Georgia State sand volleyball announces spring schedule

Release from Georgia State Athletics:

Head coach Beth Van Fleet announced the 2015 spring schedule for the Georgia State sand volleyball team on Monday as the Panthers enter their third season. Georgia State finished last season ranked No. 10 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

The schedule features eight tournaments for the Panthers, two of which Georgia State will host at the courts next to the Sports Arena. The Diggin’ Duals event is set for March 11 with South Carolina, Mercer and New Orleans on the list of competitors. The second tournament is slated for April 3-4 as UL Monroe, UAB, Tulane and College of Charleston come to town for the Southeast Sand Slam.

“We’ve got an incredibly talented team that is determined to improve daily. We’ve been working hard all semester and cannot wait to start competing this spring. Our home events are competitive, exciting and popular with our students.  We absolutely love playing in front of our home crowd and look forward hosting them,” Van Fleet said.

The Panthers will open up the season in Columbia, S.C. at the Carolina Classic on March 7-8. GSU will face South Carolina, Mercer, UL Monroe and Jacksonville. After hosting the Diggin’ Duals tournament, Georgia State visits St. Augustine, Fla.March 14-15 to compete in the North Florida Invitational. Among the opponents that Georgia State may see is Florida International, who finished last season ranked No. 6. Georgia State’s first win over a ranked opponent came against FIU when the Panthers pulled off a 3-2 win at home last season.

The Panthers will square off against the No. 4 Florida State Seminoles on March 21-22 at the South Carolina Tournament in Columbia. The AVCA National Championships are set to begin on May 1 in Gulf Shores, Ala. Van Fleet said the schedule is built to give the Panthers an opportunity to participate at the AVCA National Championships.

“Scheduling is a bit like a puzzle,” Van Fleet said. “The road to Gulf Shores requires that we compete against the top programs in the southeast division and that’s exactly how we’ve created our schedule.”