Hurricanes Volleyball Heads to Siesta Key Tournament
April 15, 2010
Coral Gables, Fla. – Under the direction of head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch, the University of Miami volleyball team is ready to travel to the Second Annual Fiesta on Siesta Key, set for Sat., Apr. 17, in Siesta Key, Fla. Miami will begin play in the Collegiate Beach Volleyball Challenge at 10 a.m.
The Hurricanes will be participating in the Collegiate Beach Volleyball Challenge again this year – the third consecutive year UM has taken part in the event, while the other tournament being held simultaneously in Siesta Key is the SEC Coaches Beach Volleyball Championship. Last year’s event was one of the largest collegiate volleyball tournaments ever held.
Beach volleyball is vastly becoming a widely-revered sport around the country. A lot of collegiate teams are beginning to participate in beach-sanctioned events throughout the spring practice/schedule period, especially teams in Florida.
In this year’s field, Miami will have four two-person teams playing. The `Canes will field the team of sophomore Lane Carico and junior Lici McGee, which could prove to be a powerful force with Carico’s hitting and McGee’s blocking ability. Also playing for UM will be the pair of junior Katie Gallagher and sophomore Ali Becker.
The third UM team will consist of junior Ariell Cooke and freshman Nrithya Sundararaman, while the fourth and final squad will be the freshmen tandem of Jenna Berkley and Lizzie Hale.
In a press release last month from the tournament committee, co-director David Carstenson released a statement about the amount of teams seeking entry into this year’s field.
“One month out and the demand for entry into our event has been fantastic,” said David Carstenson. “We still have the capacity to add schools into the tournament this year. As the players and coaches who were here last spring found out, Siesta Key is a beautiful, expansive beach.”
The rules for this weekend are as follows: Teams are first put in pool play, followed by a re-seeding process pairing teams into three different divisions. The two top teams venture into the Gold Division, followed by the Silver Division and then Bronze Division. Teams are first seeded by record and then by total points allowed.
In last year’s Collegiate Beach Volleyball Classic, Miami had positive results for the second-straight year. The Hurricanes used the team of Lane Carico and Cassie Loessberg to move into the playoff divisions, earning the top seed in the Gold Division. However, the UM duo was upset in the opening round of the playoffs against Notre Dame’s Kristen Dealy and Serinity Phillips, 21-14.
In the Silver Division playoffs, the UIM duo of Maria Andersson and Lici McGee defeated FSU’s Mira Djuric and Courtney Zuber, 21-18, in a thrilling opening match. They would be the only Hurricanes’ duo to advance to the second round of competition. In the second round of the Silver Division, McGee and Andersson matched up against the Jacksonville Dolphins. In the end, McGee and Andersson suffered a tough 29-27 setback to JU’s team of Lehman and Kane.
Others participating in this year’s event include in-state schools Florida Gulf Coast, USF, Florida UCF, Stetson, Jacksonville, Florida State, Webber, Florida Atlantic, FIU and Southeastern – as well as a host of others outside the Sunshine State.
For information regarding the Collegiate Beach Volleyball Challenge, please visit their official website at /ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=28700&ATCLID=205534841.
