The South Carolina volleyball team is bringing back a group of veterans ahead of the 2024 season as it prepares to face new conference foes.
The Gamecocks are returning seven veterans who played in 20 or more matches last season under head coach Tom Mendoza, who is heading into his seventh season with South Carolina.
The most notable players amongst this group of veterans are outside hitter Riley Whitesides and middle blocker Ellie Ruprich, who are both returning for their fifth years. Both have started for the Gamecocks since they arrived on campus as freshmen and took the team to its last appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2021, something Mendoza said the team hopes to return to this year.
South Carolina's returners are accompanied by a recruiting class of two transfers and two freshmen who will provide depth for the Gamecocks.
“It's really nice to have so many players in so many different positions who know what we're in for and know what going through an SEC season is like,” Mendoza said. "I think also we want to get back to the level of success that we've had in previous years. So I think there's a good mix of having that experience but also still being very hungry to go out and achieve success.”
Senior outside hitter Oby Anadi said the team knows its strengths and weaknesses since the majority of its players have spent their college careers together. Coming off a career season, Anadi said she knows her team will continue to help support her talents on the court.
“I feel comfortable knowing that the team that I'm going into this year with, I already understand them. We know how each other works,” Anadi said. “We know exactly what to focus on to make our weaknesses now strengths, and just to keep boosting our current strengths. It's good knowing that the people that I'm about to stand in the line of fire with are the same people that I trust.”
One of the weaknesses South Carolina has committed to improving is communication during play, Anadi said. Hoping to work better as one unit, players on the team are looking to grow the love they have for each other away from the sport, on the court.
“We're great off the court, we know each other, we trust each other, we love each other very well. But I think our communication on the court is something that we're really trying to grow,” Anadi said. “This upcoming season, I think we're gonna be able to see that translated a little bit more, and our success rate will be greater because we'll know exactly how to reach each other in times of need.”
The team hopes to use its communication and past knowledge to navigate and help younger players understand what it takes to play through a competitive conference schedule that only got tougher this season.
With the addition of two new teams to the SEC, South Carolina will host Oklahoma while going on the road to face Texas, the back-to-back defending national champions.
But the Longhorns' daunting resume does not change South Carolina’s attack on the season, junior outside hitter Alayna Johnson said.
“We're gonna go, we're gonna compete, we're gonna have a mindset that we're gonna take down every single person, whether it be the reigning national champs Texas, or like an elementary school team,” Johnson said. “We're going in with the mindset that we're going to prove everybody wrong, and we're just going to go for it.”
The Gamecocks went 5-13 in conference play last season, taking just one win and eight losses on the road. South Carolina struggled away from home against non-conference opponents as well, going 2-10 on the road overall.
Mendoza said, along with being more successful on the road, the Gamecocks' strength of schedule is what it hopes will build a resume strong enough to send it back to the NCAA Tournament.
South Carolina is set to play a competitive non-conference lineup of teams before facing SEC opposition. The Gamecocks will be tested with three early road games against Kansas, Colgate and Duke in Durham, North Carolina, before heading home for a seven-game stretch. The team will also play rivals Clemson in the Tigers' home gym, a series they hold a 7-1 record in dating back to 2015.
Mendoza said he hopes improved competitiveness on the road, combined with a strong team bond, will piece together a successful season that will give the Gamecocks its first NCAA Tournament bid in three years.
“I think our depth is good, and we can win games a lot of different ways. I think we are looking for two or three players to step up and take that next step for us and be those All-SEC caliber players," Mendoza said. "We’re the more competitive team on a given night, and I think we’ve got a chance to beat anybody.”