JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Thursday morning marked the addition of the 19th varsity intercollegiate sport for Carson-Newman University as Director of Athletics Allen Morgan announced the addition of sand volleyball.
"What an exciting day it is in the life of Carson-Newman athletics," Morgan said. "It gives more ladies a chance to participate in an NCAA sporting event. We are pleased to broaden our diversity on the campus. Our women's athletic program is very strong with outstanding coaches and we want to continue to give these young ladies additional opportunities."
On top of being the indoor coach, Dan Ahiers will coach both squads. The rosters will overlap with several players playing indoor and sand while each sport will have exclusively sand or indoor athletes.
"I think this just broadens the horizon of Carson-Newman," Ahiers said. "Carson-Newman has a great history in athletics, in academics and they are also at the forefront right now in athletics and academics. Being only the second Division II school in the country to have sand volleyball enables us to compete against all of the best schools in Division I."
According to a release posted by the NCAA in Saturday, sand volleyball is the fastest growing sport in the NCAA as 50 schools began sponsoring the sport in January 2015. At the 2015 NCAA Convention, Division II and Division III voted to approve will be a NCAA championship beginning in the spring of 2016.
Teams consist of five pairs of players with the winner with the winning team needing to win three out of five matches against its opponent. This seasons team will consist of the same student-athletes as the indoor group. The pairs have not been set at this point.
Each match will be a best out of three sets played to 21 in the first two sets with the deciding third set played to 15. Rally scoring will be used with teams needing to win by two points. Teams switch sides every seven points in the first two sets and every five points in the final set.
The season will begin with the Gamecock Invitational at the University of South Carolina March 20 to 22 where the Eagles will take on Tulane, South Carolina, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Arizona State, Florida State and Georgia State.
One week later, Carson-Newman will venture to the College of Charleston Sand Tournament from March 27 to 29 to challenge the College of Charleston, Stetson, Jacksonville and Tulane.
The Eagles travel to Florida on April 4 and 5 for the Surf & Turf on South Beach hosted by Florida International University.
April 6 marks a de facto national title for Division II schools as the Eagles take on Eckerd College at 4 p.m.
The next day, Florida State and Louisiana Monroe are on the docket in Tallahassee.
To close out the season, Carson-Newman will host a dual meet at the K2 Volleyball Complex in Knoxville against the University of Tennessee.
"The opportunity to play Tennessee and beat Tennessee is incredible," Ahiers said. "I think it will bring back more of a rivalry between Tennessee and Carson-Newman."
As of November 11, 2014, the American Volleyball Coaches Association listed Carson-Newman and Eckerd College as the only two officially approved Division II sand volleyball programs. Cal State-San Marcos and Spring Hill College are provisional members of Division II.
"Indoor volleyball is a lot of pounding on the knees and ankles," Ahiers said. "In sand, you are playing on a real soft surface and you are not only playing the game of volleyball, but you are strength training, conditioning and getting the several extra months of practice that the NCAA allows us to have to practice during the sand season will help make us better in the indoor season."
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