Under new management, South Carolina volleyball plots return to ‘national stage’
It’s been more than a decade and a half since South Carolina volleyball made it to the NCAA tournament, and in the 45-year history of the program, the Gamecocks have never had a full-fledged All-American.
This season, new coach Tom Mendoza wants both.
After a disappointing 2017 that saw USC part ways with coach Scott Swanson midseason and finish with a 12-18 record, Mendoza arrived in Columbia from High Point, where he led the Panthers to consecutive NCAA appearances. And right away, his goal is to not miss a year in the postseason.
“If you look at where this program’s been traditionally and over the past decade, we need to get back to the NCAA tournament,” Mendoza said. “And that’s something that if you’re in a Power Five conference, most schools are preparing to do that from an at-large bid. We don’t get a conference tournament, so for us it’s more about trying to build that seasonlong résumé. We can’t wait until SEC play to start playing good volleyball. We have to be ready Week 1.”
The Gamecocks will be challenged to play good volleyball right away, as they open the season hosting a tournament that will culminate in a rivalry match with Clemson. Beyond the Tigers, however, Mendoza said the rest of the field in the Gamecock Invitational will be challenging as well, and he once again tied that back to his NCAA tournament hopes.
“Everyone’s going to look at Clemson as a rivalry match, but ETSU is a really good team that returns most of their group, Corpus Christi is coming off a really good season, as well, and they return a lot, too,” Mendoza said. “So that’s the challenge we’ve had for our group: Don’t just get excited for Clemson. The other matches are going to be as important at the end of the year when we’re looking at trying to build our résumé for the selection committee.”
Individually, the Gamecock Invitational will also mark the start of junior right setter Mikayla Shields’ campaign for an All-American spot. Shields earned SEC All-Freshman team honors in 2016 and became USC’s first All-SEC player since 2013 last season. She also earned an honorable mention for the AVCA All-America team.
Now, Shields is one of three team captains and a preseason All-SEC player, and she said her goals for the upcoming season are focused more on the squad than her own accomplishments.
“It’s important for everybody to set their own goals. I think for this year it would definitely be (to) help my team no matter what and be a good teammate. That’s always a good starting place, and I think that it’s very important for this year coming with a new coach,” Shields said.
For Mendoza though, the success of the team and Shields’ individual accolades should go together.
“She has to continue to improve as a player, and we don’t want her to settle just because she’s been successful,” Mendoza said. “Also, it’s going to take our team being successful, getting to the NCAA tournament, playing some more meaningful matches to help her build her résumé individually as someone that can be successful in the NCAA tournament. All these things go hand in hand. Our players need to keep improving, and as a group, we need to get to more meaningful and more successful volleyball on a national stage.”
Mendoza also wants his younger players to imitate Shields’ consistency, which he said is the key to her success and something especially impressive given her age.
“She’s good every day at practice, and she very rarely has bad practices or bad consecutive reps, and that’s something, when you look at young athletes who are just crossing over into their 20s, that’s a tough concept,” Mendoza said. “So she’s very mature both off the court and when she gets on the court, that mentality to stay aggressive but keep her level of play at a high level.”
Shields isn’t the only upperclassman leader the Gamecocks have — both she and Mendoza said USC has many players besides its captains who can take on responsibility in practice and on the court.
That will be key for South Carolina as it navigates life with a new coaching staff and the incoming freshman class. The team will have just a few weeks of practice under its belt before opening the season.
“Every year you bring in new players, and this year especially, you bring in new coaches as well, and so getting all cylinders firing in every aspect of the game is definitely something that we are working on constantly, and I think every team is, too,” Shields said.
Mendoza has done his part, junior Courtney Koehler said, by going out of his way to engage with players outside of volleyball.
“It’s nice because he’s really interactive with us and really makes sure he gets to know us on and off the court, and I think that’s a great thing as a head coach to know your players off the court as much as on the court, because we are real people, we’re not just volleyball players,” Koehler said.
That balanced, realistic approach of Mendoza extends to his expectations for USC this fall — even as he talks about returning to national relevance and making the NCAA tournament, he knows there will be challenges.
“We’re going to have some tough losses this year, and how we respond to those — the thing we’re trying to preach as a coaching staff and, hopefully, the team is taking this as well, is we want to be a consistent team that’s really tough to play against,” Mendoza said.
IF YOU GO
What: Gamecock Invitational (South Carolina, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, ETSU, Clemson)
When: South Carolina vs. Corpus Christi, 12:30 p.m. Friday; South Carolina vs. ETSU, 7:30 p.m. Friday; South Carolina vs. Clemson, 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: Carolina Volleyball Center
Tickets: $5 for adults, $3 for youth (17 and under)
This story was originally published August 21, 2018 at 12:13 PM.