Beach Volleyball Set for Sun Belt Conference Championship in Foley
4/23/2025 2:08:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss beach volleyball eyes the Sun Belt Conference crown as the six-seed Golden Eagles head open Sun Belt Conference Championship play on Thursday against three-seed UNCW. The tournament opens its first year in at the Foley Sports Tourism Complex in Foley, Ala., with three days of action standing between the field and an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
All matches at the event will be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available at VolleyballLife.com.
The Golden Eagles, who wrapped up the regular season with a 12-23 overall record, earned the sixth overall seed amongst conference competition with a 3-5 overall Sun Belt record. Due to league rules, only one match against each opponent was counted, moving Southern Miss' countable record for seeding purposed to 2-4.
Southern Miss opens play at 1:30 p.m. against the third overall seed UNCW Seahawks. UNCW posted an 18-7 overall record in the regular season and rolled to an 11-3 ledger against Sun Belt opponents. In seed-specific matches, the Seahawks compiled a 3-3 record with wins over College of Charleston, Mercer and ULM and losses to Coastal Carolina, Georgia State and Southern Miss.
Seahawks head coach David Fischer is in his first full season leading the program after previously serving as the interim head coach for the 2020 season. Fischer has been in Wilmington for 10 total seasons, serving nine as the top assistant before assuming the reigns in 2025.
UNCW has won three of the nine Sun Belt Conference Pair of the Week awards with Gracie Sistrunk and Lyvia Trimp bringing home two nods while Gabby LaPata and Sarah Thompson taking home one. Sistrunk and Trimp were also named as the league's Pair of the Year while Annika Thompson took home Newcomer of the Year laurels.
Sistrunk/Trimp and LaPata/S. Thompson also earned spots on the All-Sun Belt Conference First Team as selected by the Sun Belt Conference coaches. LaPata and Sarah Thompson anchor the team's top flight and hold a 16-9 ledger and are ranked as the 28th-best top pair in the country by TruVolley entering the week. Sistrunk and Trimp, who sport a 24-1 record at the second pairing, are ranked as the 12th-best second flight pairing in the nation.
As a team, the Seahawks are 33rd in the TruVolley week nine ratings while Southern Miss notches in at 45.
Up Next
A win against UNCW puts Southern Miss in the catbird seat and sets up a 4:30 p.m. winner's bracket match against the winner of two-seed Georgia State and seven-seed College of Charleston. The winner of that match goes on to face the winner of the other side of the bracket on Friday at 3 p.m.
A loss to UNCW also sees Southern Miss take on either Georgia State or College of Charleston in the contender's bracket. That match is slated for 10 a.m. on Friday. The entire tournament is double elimination amongst the seven-team field. The field consists of the following teams:
1) (RV) Coastal Carolina
2) #18 Georgia State
3) UNCW
4) Mercer
5) ULM
6) Southern Miss
7) College of Charleston
Of Note
Southern Miss in the Postseason
The Golden Eagles are 5-11 all-time in postseason tournament play dating back to 2019. Of Southern Miss' 16 postseason games, seven were under the CCSA banner (2019, 2021), two under the Conference USA (2022) banner and seven under the Sun Belt banner (2023-present).
Southern Miss in the Sun Belt Tournament
Southern Miss holds a 3-4 overall record in the Sun Belt Conference Championships. The program's best performance in the event came in its first season in the league, 2023, which saw Southern Miss advance out of the loser's bracket to the semifinals.
Head Coach Shawn Taylor
In his fifth season leading the program, Taylor owns a 71-125 overall record at Southern Miss. Before taking over in Hattiesburg, he posted a 52-35 record in three seasons at Spring Hill where he advanced to the AVCA Small College National Championships in 2018 and 2019.
Taylor holds a 5-8 record with the Golden Eagles in conference postseason play since taking over in the 2020 season.
Breaking Down the Pairings
Official lineups will be set tomorrow morning in Foley but here is a look at the probable Golden Eagle pairings:
Flight One – No. 1 Zuzanna Michalska & No. 3 Madison Cassidy
Michalska and Cassidy have anchored the top flight all season and hold a 15-18 overall record. The two sport wins over Sun Belt foes Georgia State, College of Charleston, Mercer, ULM and UNCW with a 5-3 ledger against league opponents.
Cassidy is the team's current active leader in career individual wins. She owns 46 career victories in 107 career matches, ranking fifth and sixth, respectively.
Flight Two – No. 4 Laurel Dennis & No. 15 Sadie McAda
Dennis and McAda lead the Golden Eagles with a 21-14 overall record after playing all 35 matches this year at the second pair. Their next pair win will cement them in program history as they are currently tied for the most wins (21) in season history. They tied former leaders Abbey Wilson and Kylie Grandy against North Florida on April 18.
Their record this season pushes their career record to 37-34, shattering the previous career wins record of 29. Their 71 career matches played together are also most in school history, passing the previous best of 57 matches almost a month ago.
Flight Three – No. 12 Jaden White & No. 20 Carmen Sanchez Delgado
Relatively new on the lineup sheet, the freshman/redshirt senior pairing of White and Delgado have played seven of Southern Miss' last eight matches at the third flight where they have worked out a 1-6 record. They also own a 2-2 record at the fourth flight, but have not played there since March 14.
Delgado is 5-17 (2-12 at the threes and 3-5 at the fours) as an individual this season while White sports 6-19 (1-6 at the threes, 5-13 at the fours) record.
Flight Four – No. 2 Giovanna Gurgel Bahia & No. 13 Kitija Martini Adamsone
Bahia and Adamsone have played just three matches together this year with all three coming in the last three matches. As individuals, the hold a combined 14-23 record with Bahia holds an 11-19 record and Adamsone sitting at 3-14.
Both first year players in Hattiesburg, Bahia has played matches at the fourth (0-3) and fifth (11-16) pairs. Adamsone has played all 17 of her games at the fourth pair this year.
Flight Five – No. 5 Jessica Fairly & No. 22 Dylan Russell
Any number of pairings could suit up at the fives but Fairly and Russel were the last duo at last week's Lone Star Invitational in Austin, Texas. As a pairing, they have played one dual to completion and had one stopped halfway through.
Fairly is 9-12 on the year across the third (0-1), fourth (3-1) and fifth (6-10) pairs with Russell also playing across the threes (5-15), fours (4-5) and fives (2-2) for an 11-22 record on the year.
Sun Belt Conference Championship Schedule
Thursday, April 24
Match 1 – (4) Mercer vs. (5) ULM
Match 2 – (2) Georgia State vs. (7) College of Charleston
Match 3 – (3) UNCW vs. (6) Southern Miss
Match 4 – (1) Coastal Carolina vs. Match 1 winner
Match 5 – Match 2 winner vs. Match 3 winner
Friday, April 25
Match 6 – Match 2 loser vs. Match 3 loser
Match 7 – Match 1 loser vs. Match 5 loser
Match 8 – Match 4 loser vs. Match 6 winner
Match 9 – Match 4 winner vs. Match 5 winner
Match 10 – Match 7 winner vs. Match 8 winner
Saturday, April 26
Match 11 – Match 9 loser vs. Match 10 winner
Championship Match – Match 9 winner vs. Match 11 winner
All matches at the event will be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available at VolleyballLife.com.
The Golden Eagles, who wrapped up the regular season with a 12-23 overall record, earned the sixth overall seed amongst conference competition with a 3-5 overall Sun Belt record. Due to league rules, only one match against each opponent was counted, moving Southern Miss' countable record for seeding purposed to 2-4.
Southern Miss opens play at 1:30 p.m. against the third overall seed UNCW Seahawks. UNCW posted an 18-7 overall record in the regular season and rolled to an 11-3 ledger against Sun Belt opponents. In seed-specific matches, the Seahawks compiled a 3-3 record with wins over College of Charleston, Mercer and ULM and losses to Coastal Carolina, Georgia State and Southern Miss.
Seahawks head coach David Fischer is in his first full season leading the program after previously serving as the interim head coach for the 2020 season. Fischer has been in Wilmington for 10 total seasons, serving nine as the top assistant before assuming the reigns in 2025.
UNCW has won three of the nine Sun Belt Conference Pair of the Week awards with Gracie Sistrunk and Lyvia Trimp bringing home two nods while Gabby LaPata and Sarah Thompson taking home one. Sistrunk and Trimp were also named as the league's Pair of the Year while Annika Thompson took home Newcomer of the Year laurels.
Sistrunk/Trimp and LaPata/S. Thompson also earned spots on the All-Sun Belt Conference First Team as selected by the Sun Belt Conference coaches. LaPata and Sarah Thompson anchor the team's top flight and hold a 16-9 ledger and are ranked as the 28th-best top pair in the country by TruVolley entering the week. Sistrunk and Trimp, who sport a 24-1 record at the second pairing, are ranked as the 12th-best second flight pairing in the nation.
As a team, the Seahawks are 33rd in the TruVolley week nine ratings while Southern Miss notches in at 45.
Up Next
A win against UNCW puts Southern Miss in the catbird seat and sets up a 4:30 p.m. winner's bracket match against the winner of two-seed Georgia State and seven-seed College of Charleston. The winner of that match goes on to face the winner of the other side of the bracket on Friday at 3 p.m.
A loss to UNCW also sees Southern Miss take on either Georgia State or College of Charleston in the contender's bracket. That match is slated for 10 a.m. on Friday. The entire tournament is double elimination amongst the seven-team field. The field consists of the following teams:
1) (RV) Coastal Carolina
2) #18 Georgia State
3) UNCW
4) Mercer
5) ULM
6) Southern Miss
7) College of Charleston
Of Note
Southern Miss in the Postseason
The Golden Eagles are 5-11 all-time in postseason tournament play dating back to 2019. Of Southern Miss' 16 postseason games, seven were under the CCSA banner (2019, 2021), two under the Conference USA (2022) banner and seven under the Sun Belt banner (2023-present).
Southern Miss in the Sun Belt Tournament
Southern Miss holds a 3-4 overall record in the Sun Belt Conference Championships. The program's best performance in the event came in its first season in the league, 2023, which saw Southern Miss advance out of the loser's bracket to the semifinals.
Head Coach Shawn Taylor
In his fifth season leading the program, Taylor owns a 71-125 overall record at Southern Miss. Before taking over in Hattiesburg, he posted a 52-35 record in three seasons at Spring Hill where he advanced to the AVCA Small College National Championships in 2018 and 2019.
Taylor holds a 5-8 record with the Golden Eagles in conference postseason play since taking over in the 2020 season.
Breaking Down the Pairings
Official lineups will be set tomorrow morning in Foley but here is a look at the probable Golden Eagle pairings:
Flight One – No. 1 Zuzanna Michalska & No. 3 Madison Cassidy
Michalska and Cassidy have anchored the top flight all season and hold a 15-18 overall record. The two sport wins over Sun Belt foes Georgia State, College of Charleston, Mercer, ULM and UNCW with a 5-3 ledger against league opponents.
Cassidy is the team's current active leader in career individual wins. She owns 46 career victories in 107 career matches, ranking fifth and sixth, respectively.
Flight Two – No. 4 Laurel Dennis & No. 15 Sadie McAda
Dennis and McAda lead the Golden Eagles with a 21-14 overall record after playing all 35 matches this year at the second pair. Their next pair win will cement them in program history as they are currently tied for the most wins (21) in season history. They tied former leaders Abbey Wilson and Kylie Grandy against North Florida on April 18.
Their record this season pushes their career record to 37-34, shattering the previous career wins record of 29. Their 71 career matches played together are also most in school history, passing the previous best of 57 matches almost a month ago.
Flight Three – No. 12 Jaden White & No. 20 Carmen Sanchez Delgado
Relatively new on the lineup sheet, the freshman/redshirt senior pairing of White and Delgado have played seven of Southern Miss' last eight matches at the third flight where they have worked out a 1-6 record. They also own a 2-2 record at the fourth flight, but have not played there since March 14.
Delgado is 5-17 (2-12 at the threes and 3-5 at the fours) as an individual this season while White sports 6-19 (1-6 at the threes, 5-13 at the fours) record.
Flight Four – No. 2 Giovanna Gurgel Bahia & No. 13 Kitija Martini Adamsone
Bahia and Adamsone have played just three matches together this year with all three coming in the last three matches. As individuals, the hold a combined 14-23 record with Bahia holds an 11-19 record and Adamsone sitting at 3-14.
Both first year players in Hattiesburg, Bahia has played matches at the fourth (0-3) and fifth (11-16) pairs. Adamsone has played all 17 of her games at the fourth pair this year.
Flight Five – No. 5 Jessica Fairly & No. 22 Dylan Russell
Any number of pairings could suit up at the fives but Fairly and Russel were the last duo at last week's Lone Star Invitational in Austin, Texas. As a pairing, they have played one dual to completion and had one stopped halfway through.
Fairly is 9-12 on the year across the third (0-1), fourth (3-1) and fifth (6-10) pairs with Russell also playing across the threes (5-15), fours (4-5) and fives (2-2) for an 11-22 record on the year.
Sun Belt Conference Championship Schedule
Thursday, April 24
Match 1 – (4) Mercer vs. (5) ULM
Match 2 – (2) Georgia State vs. (7) College of Charleston
Match 3 – (3) UNCW vs. (6) Southern Miss
Match 4 – (1) Coastal Carolina vs. Match 1 winner
Match 5 – Match 2 winner vs. Match 3 winner
Friday, April 25
Match 6 – Match 2 loser vs. Match 3 loser
Match 7 – Match 1 loser vs. Match 5 loser
Match 8 – Match 4 loser vs. Match 6 winner
Match 9 – Match 4 winner vs. Match 5 winner
Match 10 – Match 7 winner vs. Match 8 winner
Saturday, April 26
Match 11 – Match 9 loser vs. Match 10 winner
Championship Match – Match 9 winner vs. Match 11 winner
– #SMTTT –
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