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| PC by SCF Beach Volleyball Instagram |
Bradenton, Fla - The SCF beach volleyball team are looking to continue to pick up where they left off from their dominant performance last season with another championship in their sight for the 2023 season. The Manatees will open the season at home as they welcome Lake Sumter State and St. John's River State to UMR Sports Complex for a doubleheader Saturday, February 4 at 10 am (vs Lake Sumter State) and 2 pm (vs St. John's River State).
This will not only be the season and home opener for the Manatees, but it will also be their conference openers too.
Admission is free for the public.
Last Time Out:
The Manatees are coming off of finishing last season 13-7 overall with a 7-1 in conference. They became the inaugural Region 8 Regular Season Champions before winning the AVCA Two-Year College Championship in Tavares and the JUCO Pairs Championship in Palatka.
The team is lead by head coach Lynn Burnett, who enters her fourth season as head coach for the beach team.
Burnett is joined by second-year assistant coach Dr. Bree Scarborough. Scarborough, a former indoor volleyball player for American University and the University of South Florida, entered the beach volleyball scene as pairing up with current FIVB/AVP player Kim Hildreth in 2015 before pairing with SCF grad Aurora Davis for the next three years where they won a gold medal in the FIVB as well as traveling to compete in the US, Europe and Asia.
New Bloods:
With a new season comes changes for the Manatees as several players have graduated and transferred. They will be without Ana Broadhead (Vanguard NAIA), Anna Chechelyntska (Stetson), Giulia Rodrigues (UNC Asheville for indoor), Kayla David (St. Leo, NCAA DII) and Carolina Moffatt (Erskine College, NCAA DII).
Burnett was able to have some of the indoor volleyball players join the newcomers and returners.
Kayla Gentry:
A native of Port Orange, Florida, Gentry joins the team after graduating from Atlantic High School in Port Orange. After four years of playing indoor volleyball for the Sharks, Gentry played and focused on beach volleyball and played at DME Academy in Daytona where she competed in several tournaments that include the DME Pink Blast Tour (2020, 2021) while being a scholar-athlete with the team.
Amanda Pizzol:
Pizzol, a native of São Paulo, Brazil, joins the Manatee after transferring from McCook Community College in Nebraska. She will have two years of eligibility remaining with the beach team. As a member of the Indians, Pizzol played as a libero and pin hitter where she produced 172 digs, eight aces and 33 assists while leading them to a 20-18 record in NJCAA Region 9.
Prior to McCook CC, Pizzol played in several beach tournaments, which includes the 2018 Sindi Clube Championship U21 state games in São Paulo (third place finish) and the 2017 TV Tribuna Volleyball Cup.
Remi Hebert:
Hebert, a native of New Orleans, remains at SCF after spending her first two years with the softball team. She returns to one of her original sports she played in back in high school.
With the softball team, Hebert played as a pitcher and outfielder where she finished her career with the Manatees 9-6 overall with a 3.54 ERA, 47 walks and 66 strikeouts while also batting .222 with 34 hits, two home runs, 15 RBI, 22 runs and 19 walks. Additionally, she was named an honorable mention on the All-Suncoast Conference Team.
Prior to SCF, Hebert was a two-sport athlete at John Curtis Christian High School in River Ridge, Louisiana where she played both volleyball and softball.
In softball, she played all four years of helped lead the Patriots to two straight playoff appearances in the LHSAA 5A State Tournament, which included winning the Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Softball State Tournament in 2018. As a volleyball player, Herbert played three years at the varsity level as an outsider hitter/setter where she had 438 kills, 720 digs and 130 aces in her three season with the Patriots and even lead them to two straight quarterfinals appearances in the LHSAA Division Four State Tournament.
Makenzie Sherrouse:
Sherrouse, an outside hitter from Highland City, Florida, joined the Manatees during the spring semester after transferring from Bethany College (NAIA) in Lindsborg, Kansas with up to two years of eligibility remaining. As a member of the Swedes, Sherrouse played in two matches with one kill while the team went 11-18 overall with a 5-7 record in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC).
Prior to Bethany, Sherrouse played for George Jenkins High School in Lakeland, Florida. As a member of the Eagles, she played two years of varsity and finished her career there with 72 kills, 236 digs, 18 aces and six blocks while helping the team to two straight playoff appearances in the FHSAA 6A State Tournament.
Additionally with the newcomers for beach, Burnett was able to add five of the indoor players to the team: Isabella 'Bella' Rebimbas, Amee Beedle, Caelan Cook, Bailey Perry and Kloe Pinto.
As far as the returners, Burnett brings back five returners from last season that were a part of the national champion team: Shelby McGee, Essence Bundrage, Danielle Conover, Kaylee Forman and Yeva Serdiuk.
Scouting Lake Sumter State:
The Lakehawks are lead by second-year head coach Neal Stanley and are coming off finishing last season 5-11 overall with a 1-6 record in conference. While they did finish in last place, they still managed to secure a spot in the AVCA Two-Year College Championship where they finished as the runner-up in the tournament behind SCF. Additionally, they had their number one pair named as inaugural NJCAA All-Americans with Broadhead and Serdiuk.
Sophomore Alyssa Guarino returns to the team. Guarino is one of three returners on the team who was named as NJCAA All-American after partnering with former teammate Erin Ellis. She is joined by fellow sophomores Leslie Catlett and Kaylin McCann.
Overall, the Manatees are 10-0 against the Lakehawks.
Scouting St. John's River State:
The Vikings are lead by head coach Matt Cohen and are coming off of finishing last season 6-12 overall with a 1-4 record in conference. While they finished third in standings, the Viking were able to secure a spot in the AVCA Tournament as the #2 seed where they finished in fourth place after falling to Lake Sumter in the semifinals and Spartanburg Methodist in the third place match.
Sophomores Julia Lindsey and Kirby Mason are two of the returners that will come back to the Vikings. The duo went 4-0 at the AVCA Tournament.
Overall, the Manatees are 2-0 against the Vikings.
How to Keep Up:
Fans can keep up with the Manatees are all forms of social media
Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/SCFvolleyball/ (SCF Volleyball)
Twitter - https://twitter.com/SCFVolleyball (@SCFVolleyball)
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/scfbeachvolleyball/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D (@SCFBeachVolleyball)
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