What you need to know:
*Nationally ranked Georgia State beach volleyball opens up the 2020 season with four duals beginning Friday morning in Jacksonville, Florida.
*Two freshmen join this year's veteran squad ATLANTA- The Panthers will be back in the sand this weekend kicking off the 2020 season Friday in Jacksonville, Fla., at the UNF Invitational. GSU enters the season ranked No. 17 in the AVCA Coaches Poll and No. 16 in the Dig Magazine Poll.

The season opener will be the clash of the Panthers as Georgia State plays No.10/11  FIU at 9:00 a.m. Friday morning. GSU will face the host UNF at noon. On Saturday the Panthers meet Mercer before wrapping up the weekend with a battle against No.18 FAU.

The Sandy Panthers are led by a quartet of seniors, who each were 20-dual winners in the 2019 season, Olivia Stasecivh (20), Maddie Gordon (22), Georgia Johnson (21), and Kate Novack (25). Ten other players return from last season, which ended in a run to the CCSA semifinals.

The Panthers welcome freshmen Jessica Maxson and Elise Saga to the experienced team. Meagan McCall will return to action this season after being sidelined by injury last year. Also graduate transfer Cara Guthrie will look to make an immediate impact in competition this season after not competing last season. 

"Opening weekend is generally filled with equal amounts of excitement and learning opportunities," said head coach Beth Van Fleet. "We can feel the grit, passion, and commitment in our daily training sessions which leads us to believe that we are ready for the battles ahead." 

Georgia State also welcomes new assistant coach, Wayne Holly. He comes to Atlanta after six seasons as the head coach at Tulane University in New Orleans. There he accumulated a 109-77 record. His 109 career wins ranks 7th most among active D-1 head coaches and 9th all-time in NCAA history. During his time at Tulane, Holly led the beach volleyball team to three straight seasons with more than 20 wins. 

All Georgia State beach volleyball events are streamed live on Periscope via our Twitter page. Live stats for all four duals this weekend will be available via the link on our schedule page. 

Weekend Schedule:
Friday-
GSU vs. FIU- 9:00 a.m.
GSU vs. UNF- 12:00 p.m.
 
Saturday-
GSU vs. Mercer- 9:00 p.m.
GSU vs. FAU- 12:00 p.m.
 
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