Augusta, Ga - Former SCF court volleyball player Giulia Rodrigues (2020-22) will be the next Manatee to make a national tournament appearance for their respective sport as she helped lead Augusta University punch their ticket to the NCAA DII National Tournament for the seventh time in program history.
Rodrigues, a libero/defensive specialist and native of Fort Lauderdale, began her collegiate career at SCF during the COVID-19 Pandemic. There she had a combined 438 digs, 63 assists and 23 aces in two seasons with the Manatees. Following two seasons on the beach volleyball team, where she helped the Manatees to win the inaugural AVCA Two-Year College Tournament, Rodrigues would then transfer to the University of North Carolina-Asheville where in her lone season she played in 26 matches and finished with 383 digs, 72 assists and 12 aces before transferring to Augusta with two years of eligibility remaining.
"It feels pretty surreal," said Rogrigues. "I feel very blessed to even get the opportunity to be still playing, let alone be going to my first national tournament."
Currently, Rodrigues has 389 digs (3.85 digs/set), 28 aces and 83 assists this season, which included a season-high 28 digs against Lewis.
The Jaguars (20-7), who earned a spot as an at-large bid, will compete in the Southeast Regional as the #4 seed and will face #5 seed Lenoir-Rhyne University (25-7) in the first round of the tournament. If they win, they will face the winner between #1 seed Wingate University and #8 seed Converse University.
"I'm looking forward to having very competitive practices before the match," said Rodrigues on facing Lenoir-Rhyne. "They (Lenoir-Rhyne) are a pretty good team, but I know that Augusta volleyball will come ready to fight and compete. We have been working way too hard to not be coming in confident."
We wish Giulia and Augusta University the best in the NCAA DII National Volleyball Tournament.
