Two years ago, when Pri Piantadosi-Lima was hired in 2023 to start the University of South Florida’s beach volleyball team from scratch, she described it as a “party of one.”
Now the “one” has a roster. And a schedule. And milestones to reach.
“It's definitely looking back and being hired,” Piantadosi-Lima said. “I used to joke. I would go recruit and like, 'Oh, my God. How's your program?' I was like, 'party of one.' You know, as the only one — no assistant, no nothing — and now having a complete staff and have a complete roster, it's surreal.”
On Friday in New Orleans, history begins.
The Beach Bulls open Friday and Saturday at the Green Wave Invitational in New Orleans, where they’ll face New Orleans, LSU, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Tulane. After a year of practices and exhibition matches, the games will finally count.
NCAA beach volleyball
- History: Introduced to the Olympics as a demonstration sport in 1992 and officially added as a sport in 1996. It became an NCAA-sanctioned sport in 2016. There are 70 schools fielding teams.
- Games: 10 players per team split into five pairs. Dual matches are five best-of-three sets, with each pair worth one point. Team with most points wins.
- Courts: 16 by 8 meters (about 52½ by 26 feet) , with net height of 7 feet, 4⅛ inches. Sand is at least 18 inches deep and flat (washed, screened and clean.
- Elements: Wind can push the ball, sun can “blind” players and sand can lower jumps and slow down players. To accommodate, players can wear sunglasses, hats and sand socks Teams switch sides every seven points to account for uneven sun exposure.
- Coaches: Maximum of two plus one volunteer. Must remain seated except for timeouts and between sets. They can talk to players only during game breaks.
- NCAAs: It’s a single-elimination bracket played each May at Gulf Shores, Alabama. Eight conference winners earn automatic bids, plus eight at-large selected by a committee.
“They just cannot wait. They cannot wait,” she said. “The energy of practices are awesome. If I'll be honest, I was like, ‘This is the team I dreamt to have in our inaugural year.’ ”
A former professional beach player for Brazil on the South American Tour, Piantadosi-Lima has lived in the Tampa Bay area for 15 years. She founded the successful Optimum Beach volleyball club in St. Petersburg in 2013 and helped launch Eckerd College's program in 2015.
“As somebody who loves the sport and loves coaching young female athletes, it's just seeing them living their dream. I can't wait to just see them, like, struggle to overcome, because winning, nobody has an easy path to winning,” she said.
The roster includes graduate transfer Josephine Sek from Toronto, who was part of TCU's national championship team last season.
Other transfers include Zoey Mitchell, a redshirt sophomore from Southern California; Julia Panko, a senior from Poland who previously played at FIU; Addison Bounds, a graduate from Cal Poly; and Abigail Lagemann, a junior from South Carolina.
Nine freshmen — including six from Florida high schools — round out the team.
"Good or bad, I just want to get my hands on the ball and have it count. I'm ready to play. I'm ready to start the record. I'm ready to make history. I'm ready to go,” said Sasha Pasloski, a sophomore from Calgary and one of six returners from last season.
“We've definitely had daydreams about coming back in, like, 50 years or something, and there being pictures of the original six on the wall or something like that. You know what I mean? Because I think that this program can go incredible places, and it's not only going to set records this year, but lastingly in the NCAA beach volleyball scene.”
USF will compete in Conference USA because there are not enough beach volleyball programs in the American Athletic Conference. Conference USA features 10 teams competing for an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The national tournament includes 10 automatic bids and 10 at-large selections.
“We do want to win conference,” the coach said. “We feel strongly that we can put ourselves in that position. Winning conference, you get to go to nationals. But how do we get there? We have a bunch of milestones. No. 1 is get a ‘W,’ you know. And then let's say if we lose, it’s not lose two in a row, you know. That's a milestone.
“So we're really aware of what can happen in the season, and we put milestones for all those things, whether we're doing well or maybe we have a hiccup. Everybody is going to have a role, and everybody needs to hit the milestones," the coach continued.
Piantadosi-Lima said the inaugural squad can upset some ranked teams — “and getting ourselves ranked."
“I truly think that our goals are very attainable. I think we can win conference this year. We all got to show up, I tell them. … So, our job is to show up. Every moment that we have a chance is to show up," Piantadosi-Lima said. "I think we can be really good. We will turn heads, but I want to get the W's on paper, right?”
USF beach volleyball schedule
- Friday-Saturday - Green Wave Invitational, New Orleans
- Feb. 27-28 - at Florida State
- March 6-7 - at University of Tampa
- March 13-14 - at Coastal Carolina
- March 27-28: Stampede Beach Opener, Clearwater Beach
- April 3: at Georgia State
- April 10-11: at Boise State
- April 17-18: Gulf Front Invitational, Clearwater Beach
- April 23-25: Conference USA tournament, Youngsville, Louisiana
- May 1-3: NCAA Championship, Gulf Shores, Alabama
USF announced plans Wednesday to construct a six-court beach volleyball facility within the current Athletics District on the Tampa campus. The complex will feature six lighted courts, a large digital scoreboard and a state-of-the-art sound system.
But for this season, home matches will be on Clearwater Beach. The school will provide shuttle buses for students. The coach said it will be a great setting to add some sun and fun to an afternoon of digs, blocks and aces.
"A real beach in front of Frenchy’s. We're going to have a live DJ. We're going to have giveaways. We're going to bring something that they don't usually do at a beach volleyball tournament," she said. "I want to bring the on-campus community to our games. I don't want just the beach volleyball fans.”
After opening in New Orleans, USF travels to Florida State on Feb. 27-28 before returning for its Bay area debut March 6-7 at the University of Tampa. Then it’s the Stampede Beach Opener on Clearwater Beach, March 27-28.
But first comes Friday in the Big Easy. Pasloski, one of the team's first recruits, is ready to make history — to be remembered as one of the "OGs in however many years."
“It’s going to feel surreal,” she said. “I hope there’s a moment where I can just look around and be like, ‘Wow. We are the first.’ But we’re so ready and so hungry that I think it’s just going to feel like second nature when we get out there.”
