What you need to know:

* Georgia State's beach volleyball team will compete in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association beginning in spring 2016.

* GSU is a founding member of the conference that will include UAB, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida State, LSU, South Carolina and Tulane.

* The first conference championship will be held just north of Georgia State at LakePoint Sports Complex in Emerson, Ga.

MACON, Ga. – Georgia State's beach volleyball team will be one of eight founding members of the newly rebranded Coastal Collegiate Sports Association when the season starts this spring, the school announced on Tuesday.

The Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association, a Division I conference member of the NCAA, announced its decision today to rebrand as the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA). The move corresponds with the addition of beach volleyball as a conference sport. The CCSA also announced a new Executive Director in Mike Hagen.

“We are excited to be a charter member of the CCSA and to be a part of the growth of beach volleyball,” Director of Athletics Charlie Cobb said. “We are committed as a university and athletics department to provide opportunities for our student-athletes to compete at a championship level and this move correlates with those efforts.”

CCSA Beach Volleyball will begin play in spring 2016 with eight founding members: UAB, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida State, Georgia State, LSU, South Carolina and Tulane. The first CCSA Beach Volleyball Championship will be held at LakePoint Sports Complex in Emerson, Ga., on the Rally Volleyball Courts on April 22-24.

“The expansion of the CCSA to include beach volleyball is a milestone for our sport as well as an indication of how quickly it will grow under the NCAA umbrella,” head coach Beth Van Fleet said. “We are honored to be an inaugural member, along with seven other talented and respected programs.”

Georgia State found success quickly in the beach volleyball world, making its first appearance at the AVCA National Championship in just its third season of competition. The Panthers went 18-3 in 2015 and were ranked in the top 10 for most of the season. GSU returns 14 players and welcomes three newcomers as the Panthers gear up for 2016.

Hagen, who currently serves as the Associate Commissioner for Institutional Services at the Atlantic Sun Conference, succeeds current CCSA President Ted Gumbart (Atlantic Sun Commissioner), who served in the dual role of Executive Director and President the past eight years. Hagen's appointment was made by the CCSA Board of Governors which includes the commissioners of each of the association's founding four conferences (Gumbart, Atlantic Sun Conference; Kyle Kallander, Big South Conference; Dennis Thomas, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference; John Iamarino, Southern Conference) and the CCSA Senior Woman Administrator (Kathy Peterson, Associate Athletics Director, Florida Gulf Coast University).

“The addition of Beach Volleyball to the CCSA demonstrates the creative thinking of these institutions to add championship opportunities for their student-athletes,” CCSA Executive Director Mike Hagen said. ”The CCSA will be a leader in the sport, and we look forward to competing for national championships in Beach Volleyball in addition to Swimming and Diving.”

Beach Volleyball became the 90th championship sponsored by the NCAA this past summer after being officially recognized as an NCAA sport for 2011-12. The first NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship will be conducted this May 5-7 in Gulf Shores, Alabama and will be hosted by CCSA member UAB. The creation of CCSA Beach Volleyball provides student-athletes the opportunity to compete for conference honors and championships. The NCAA does not currently offer automatic qualification (AQ) into the beach volleyball championship for conference winners (a two-year championship history is required), but the CCSA will be in position to qualify for an AQ should they be offered in 2018.

Beach Volleyball, or Sand Volleyball as it was called at the time, was declared an emerging NCAA sport for Division II in 2010 and Division I in 2011. Its rapid growth allowed beach volleyball to reach the 40-program threshold to be considered for championship status last year. Sponsorship levels passed 60 NCAA varsity programs for 2015-16 as beach volleyball remains one the country's fastest growing sports.

The CCSA formed in 2007 as a partnership among swimming and diving programs in the Atlantic Sun Conference, Big South Conference, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Southern Conference to provide championship opportunities for the men's and women's swimming and diving student-athletes. Conference growth in swimming and diving now shows 15 institutions with competitors from eight separate Division I multisport conferences. With the addition of beach volleyball, the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association now has 22 member institutions with participants from 11 different NCAA Division I multisport conferences.