Beach Volleyball is Set to Head to the 2024 AVCA Small College Beach Championship

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College beach volleyball team is headed to the AVCA Small College Beach Championships this weekend presented by the United States Marine Corps and the Florida Region of USA Volleyball for the sixth year in a row.
 
2024 AVCA Small College Beach Championships
Dates – April 12-14, 2024
Times – Game 1 vs 2-seed Concordia Irvine | April 12, 9:05 a.m. & Game 2 vs 7-seed Tusculum | April 12, 3:35 p.m. & Game 3 vs 15-seed Catawba | April 13, 9:05 a.m.
Location – Hickory Point Beach, Tavares, Fla.
Championship Info – Free for spectators; Press Release: https://www.avca.org/event/avca-small-college-beach-volleyball-championships/
Real-time Results -  https://volleyballlife.com/tournament/14256?tab=information
 
The Mocs enter the championship stage as a 10th seed and part of Pool B. The invited teams have been divided into four pools based on seasonal results, Florida Southern being part of the second pool featuring Concordia University-Irvine, Tusculum University, and Catawba College. As one of four pools with four teams, FSC will play each of the other three teams in their assigned group before entering Challenge Round matches based on the results of the pool play.
 
As the Challenge Round matches are completed on Saturday afternoon, the winners of the rounds will advance to the Gold Bracket on Championship Sunday. Teams that lost in the Challenge Rounds will compete in the Silver Bracket and all remaining teams in the final Challenge Round matches will take part in the Bronze and Copper bracket play. The Division II Champion will be the winner of the Gold bracket.
 
"This year we are going to be ranked a little higher than last year, which is awesome to see the growth right away," said Moccasin head coach Makena Wilson '20. "There is a lot of potential to do well in this tournament and finish in the top two brackets. The girls have worked so hard this whole season and always found ways to get better each week. We are excited to go into this weekend competing against top-level teams."
 
10th - Seed Florida Southern Moccasins
The Moccasins will take part in the postseason for another year to capitalize on the historic season for FSC beach volleyball. Mocs enter with a 20-8 overall record in the 2024 season with a tough schedule, many of whom FSC will see this weekend in the postseason championship. Highlights from this year included starting the season 13-0 for the first time in program history including remaining undefeated at the Briggs Beach Bash competition in Mount Berry, Ga. The Mocs went 4-0 overall over the four matches, with wins over Truett-McConnell, Catawba, and Berry College. Florida Southern hosted three events at the Judy and Joe P. Ruthven Beach Volleyball Courts this season to go 6-0 at home with wins over Warner and Lake Sumter Community College in the season opener, and Barry, Palm Beach State College, before honoring the three seniors with a 2-0 win against Stevenson and Palm Beach State again on March 16.
 
Florida Southern has kept a similar lineup all season with just a few minor changes to set them up for success. The only pair to remain the same all season long was the pair of Ashli McKenny and Emma Winford with a 20-8 overall at the top court. The two have led the Mocs all season long going on a 12-game winning streak earlier in the season. Right behind McKenny and Winford's impressive record were two other pairs that ended the regular season with an 18-10 overall record as the No. 4 pair of Christina Ramazio and freshman Sydney Melcher and the No.5 pair of Jackie Schner and Hailey Carefoot finished the season 18-2 streak also owning a nine a game winning streak. 
 
Of late, the #3 court pairing of Hayley St. Martin and Mary Olivia Muti finished with an overall record of 14-10, being 8-8 at the third court and 6-2 at the fourth court. Sarah Crocker and Reagan Carlton saw a majority of the time at the #2 position where the two finished 15-10 overall. Carlton also competed with St. Martin at the number court going 2-1 while Crocker and Muti also went 2-1 at the third court. Crocker and McKenny took the Tampa #3 court to three sets in a close loss this season, with Tampa entering the postseason as the No. 1 seed for the AVCA Championship.
 
Projected Lineup

1. Emma Winford / Ashli McKenny
2. Sarah Crocker / Reagan Carlton
3. Hayley St. Martin / Mary Olivia Muti
4. Christina Ramazio / Sydney Melcher
5. Hailey Carefoot / Jackie Schner

 
Head Coach Makena Wilson '20
Wilson is in her second year as the Florida Southern College beach volleyball head coach. A 2020 graduate of Florida Southern, Wilson spent two seasons as a member of both the indoor and beach volleyball programs at Florida Southern before moving into the coaching field as a student assistant for the Mocs beach volleyball program for the 2019-20 school year. While as a player, Wilson was a member of the beach team that competed in the inaugural AVCA Small College Beach Championships in 2018, as well as the 2019 season.
 
Before returning to Lakeland, Wilson was the graduate assistant coach at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kan. where she spent the past two seasons with both the indoor and beach programs. She helped the Braves indoor program to two Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) regular season and conference championships and two NAIA National Tournament appearances. Wilson was named the 2022 Tri-State Conference Coach of the Year in Beach and coached the pair of the year, two first-team pairs, one second-team pair, and one third-team pair.
 
FSC in the AVCA Beach Championships
The Mocs have participated in each of the five previous small college championship tournaments. In 2022, Curry Ward and Hayley St. Martin earned an AVCA Top Flight award as part of the #5 court with an amazing 22-1 record during the season. As the NCAA does not sponsor a national championship for Beach Volleyball among Division II, the AVCA is the premier postseason championship for the Mocs with the program starting in 2018 under head coach Hyrum Keime. The best finish for the Mocs at the national stage is sixth, during the 2019 season when they went 3-4 overall over the tournament. Last season, Florida Southern competed in the Bronze Playoff B, with a win over McKendree and a loss to Erskine during that final championship round.