Panthers return to the sand

By Oscar Baldizon/Staff Writer

 There is a team right here on FIU’s campus that has legitimate national championship hopes; but you might not have heard of them yet because they just started playing last year.

The sand volleyball program is led by Head Coach Rita Buck-Crockett, who doubles as the indoor coach, and she knows this team has the talent to perform exceptionally at Nationals again this year.

“Playing wise, everybody on the team has stepped up a notch. Our team is definitely better than we ended last year and we have a lot more depth which is great,” Buck-Crockett said.

If that is the case, the rest of the country needs to start paying attention to what’s happening down here at the sand courts of FIU. The Panthers competed in their first ever AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball Nationals Championships last year and placed two pairs teams in the top five. A better finish to their rookie season than longtime sand volleyball powerhouse, the University of Southern California.

It’s pretty impressive when a team has two pairs selected to the championship field. When both of those pairs to come away from pool play undefeated, then reach the Elite Eight and Final Four that’s a great achievement. FIU had a phenomenal first season and set the bar for what you can expect years to come.

Then juniors, Jessica Mendoza and Maryna Samoday finished in third place nationally, with now graduated Kate Stepanova and senior Ksenia Sukahreva concluding their season with an impressive fifth place finish as well. Which means there will be three seasoned senior Panthers with championship bracket experience to help guide this team, which also boasts plenty of young talent, throughout this season.

While those two pairs had fantastic performances, the Panthers were unable to qualify to Nationals as a whole team, and it’s no secret that’s the goal for this season as it is for every team at this time of year. Coach Buck-Crockett had an amazing first offseason bringing in an impressive first recruiting class to help make that push nationally.

The team began training Jan. 13 for the upcoming campaign and it’s clear that this group is much deeper than just those three seniors who burst onto the collegiate sand volleyball scene during FIU’s inaugural campaign.

“It’s going to be pretty interesting this season, we’ve got a lot of good players, including freshmen Maja Rosko, Marina Boulanger, Aren Cupp, and Savannah Davis,” said Buck-Crockett when asked who to also keep an eye on this season.

This year’s team will be captained by Camila Rosado, a senior from Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico with plenty of experience.

“The way we get along on and off the court is what’s going to help us the most this year. From top to bottom we had amazing chemistry our first year is only going to get better,” Rosado said.

All of these athletes will be putting their talents on display for the first time this year during the Navy & Gold Game which be played Feb. 28 here on campus from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m..

-oscar.baldizon@fiusm.com

About the Author

Oscar Baldizon
: Radio Host for Panther Sports Talk Live. Majoring in Broadcast Media, Class of 2016. Enjoy long walks on the beach and dishing out savvy sports knowledge.

1 Comment on "Panthers return to the sand"

  1. Hope you all have a good year . go Aren .

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