SCF Volleyball announces Spring 2013 Beach Volleyball schedule

BRADENTON, Fla.- After a successful indoor season of volleyball, SCF Manatees are back at it, this time on the beach. Coach Carmine Garofalo recently announced the spring beach season schedule which includes three tournaments with Suncoast Conference teams and one of the largest collegiate beach tournaments in the country, "Fiesta on Siesta", held on Saturday April, 13th.

"Beach volleyball has always been a big part of our training and preparation during the spring", said Coach Garofalo.  "This year should be even more exciting as our Suncoast Conference, which is a member of the NJCAA got together and organized a series of beach volleyball matches from February to April.  I believe these are the first organized beach competitions at the JUCO level of its kind in the state and possibly the country".

The Manatees started their spring competition on Friday March 1st against Hillsborough Community College.   Competition format will be similar to what the 30 NCAA schools are doing with their Sand Volleyball programs.   The dual match format requires each institution to field 5 teams of two players. These teams are then ranked by the coach 1 - 5 and the equally ranked teams play a 2 out of 3 match. The team that wins the most matches wins the dual match.

The Manatees will play in two other conference events on March 8th in Tampa and on April 5th at St. Petersburg. 

The beach volleyball season will conclude on April 13 with the Fiesta on Siesta Collegiate Beach Tournament on Siesta Key Beach, where Universities and Colleges from all over the Southeast will be participating; schools such as the Florida State University, Jacksonville University, Georgia State University and Tulane University just to name a few.

"Over the years, this has been a very special and successful event for our volleyball program ", commented Coach Garofalo.  "Thanks to the terrific talent and hard work of our players and coaches, SCF has been able to compete and succeed against much bigger and more experienced four year programs in the southeast". 

Succeed they certainly have. In 2010, Aurora Newgard and Emily Strack put Manatees Volleyball on the map when they defeated the University of Miami in the semi-finals and finals to claim the tournament championship.   In 2011, they finished 3rd losing only to the University of Jacksonville.  Last year, the Manatees won the prestigious Fiesta Team Cup, once again showing the depth and strength of their program.

"We look forward to continuing to represent our college and community proudly", Garofalo said.  "We invite all volleyball enthusiasts to join us at our two home events this spring and to cheer on their Manatees to success!"

For more information or to follow SCF Volleyball, visit www.SCFManatees.com.