ATLANTA— The No. 14-ranked Georgia State beach volleyball team was slotted as the No. 14 overall seed for the 2023 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship, as announced by the association on Sunday morning. Head coach
Beth Van Fleet and the Sandy Panthers will enter competition at the national tournament in Gulf Shores, Ala. on Friday, May 5 facing No. 3 seed USC at 4 p.m. ET.
Georgia State will be making its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance, after advancing to the Final Six at the 2022 Championship.
GSU prepares to open play in Gulf Shores having secured the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Championship title in the league's inaugural season of beach volleyball. The Sandys have faced 21 nationally ranked teams over the course of the 2023 season, and near national tournament play following a dominant outing at the Sun Belt tournament in Huntsville, Ala. that saw the team post four consecutive shutouts facing SBC foes to claim the conference crown.
No. 14-seeded GSU gears up for battle with the defending national champions in No. 3-seeded USC after seeing competition against the Trojans earlier in the month of April. The Sandy Panthers fought to a 4-1 decision and saw defeat facing USC despite a strong team effort led by Sun Belt Conference Pair of the Year
Angel Ferary and
Bella Ferary at the top flight.
The All-Sun Belt First-Team pair downed the No. 3-ranked Trojans' top pair Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple, marking the first and only loss the first-flight pair for USC has seen to date in 2023. The Ferary sisters would go on to defeat the top pair for No. 2 UCLA later in the evening.
First-round tournament duals will be
broadcast live on ESPNU, with ESPN2 set to cover quarterfinal, semifinal and championship matchups. Visit
NCAA.com for more information on the 2023 National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship.
Follow Georgia State beach volleyball on social media (@GSUBeachVb) for continued updates as the Sandy Panthers prepare for the 2023 NCAA Championship in Gulf Shores.
