University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Beach Volleyball Announces Fall Exhibition Schedule
10/12/2022 3:30:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss beach volleyball head coach Shawn Taylor announces today the finalized fall slate for the Golden Eagles. In light of new NCAA legislation, the Black & Gold are ready for a full fall slate of four events.
"Initially, beach volleyball was only permitted to play four days of competition in the fall," said Taylor. "The verbiage was changed to give the sport four events, so whether it's a one day or multi day event, it counts the same.
In addition to allowing for more play in the fall, the AVCA will also host the first ever fall pairs championship. Initially, a pairs championship was held in conjunction with the team beach championship, but when the NCAA began recognizing a national champion, the pairs division was dropped.
Both of these changes are positive steps for beach volleyball, which has the shortest season of all NCAA sports. The pairs championship will allow all programs, including NCAA DII schools to compete, which puts more emphasis on the fall and allows the sport to gain a little brighter spotlight. Unfortunately, we didn't receive a bid this year, so we won't be able to compete in the pairs division.
However, not receiving a bid has allowed us to add another goal to work toward. We want to represent Southern Miss in the fall and the spring moving forward. Allowing more opportunities to compete will hopefully give coaches a little more flexibility to spread competitions out more and reduce fatigue and injuries in players. It will also give us a better chance to evaluate both individual players and where the team is at to help with our training."
Fall Schedule
Oct. 29-30 – Rally VB Exhibition // John Hunt Park // Huntsville, Ala.
The Golden Eagles' second contest of the fall has the team return to the Yellowhammer State for a two-day event hosted by Rally VB.
Nov. 5-6 – Tulane Exhibition // White Sands Beach Volleyball Complex // Elmwood, La.
Southern Miss travels down I59 to Elmwood for a two-day excursion against Tulane.
Nov. 19-20 – Southern Miss Exhibition // Beach Volleyball Complex // Hattiesburg, Miss.
The Fall finale for the Black & Gold includes home festivities in the Hub City. Other teams making the trip to Hattiesburg are Tulane, Southeastern and Spring Hill. Match times will be announced at a later date.
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