FSU's Paranagua & Freire Voted CCSA Beach Preseason Players of Year

FSU's Paranagua & Freire Voted CCSA Beach Preseason Players of Year

CCSA Beach Volleyball Preseason All-Conference List

LakePoint, Ga. - The 2017 CCSA Beach Volleyball season is right around the corner, and the league's head coaches voted Florida State's Victoria Paranagua and Vanessa Freire as the league's preseason Players of the Year, the league office announced on Thursday. They were joined by eight other student-athletes on the Preseason All-Conference squad.

Paranagua was tied for the team lead in wins last season for the national runner-up Seminole squad. She posted a 29-3 record on the season, earning 28 of those 29 victories playing on the No. 2 court. She was named CCSA Pair of the Week on one occasion and ended last season as a First Team All-Conference selection. Her teammate Freire also enjoyed a great 2016 campaign winning 29 games for the Seminoles. Both were tied for the team lead in victories. Freire recorded 26 of her 29 victories at the No. 3 court, and was selected to the CCSA All-Tournament team after the Seminoles won the inaugural league title. Freire also shined in the postseason, going 3-2 at the NCAA Tournament to help Florida State finish as the national runner-up.

The pair was joined by one other teammate in Sierra Sanchez on the Preseason All-Conference team. Sanchez went 27-5 as a junior last season, with 24 of her victories coming paired with Freire at the No. 3 court. She was a CCSA Pair of the Week selection on one occasion and enjoyed the same 3-2 record at the inaugural NCAA Tournament. The Seminoles featured the most selections to this seasons Preseason team with three.

A pair of Florida Atlantic players were recognized by the coaches as Gabrielle Dischler and Megan Rice earned Preseason All-Conference honors. Dischler recorded a team-high 18 wins last season for the Owls at the No. 1 court. Her play helped the Owls advance to the quarterfinal round of the CCSA Championship last season. She was recognized by the AVCA as an honorable mention All-America last year, the first such honor in program history. Rice joins the Owls as a graduate student this year and brings experience to the team. She placed in the top-10 in all 11 beach events she entered last season on the NVL. 

Georgia State, the CCSA Championship runner-up last season, had one player honored on Thursday and Delaney Rohan was selected to the Preseason All-Conference squad. Rohan posted an impressive 29-6 record at the No. 3 and No. 4 courts for the Panthers last season. 

Rounding out the Preseason All-Conference squad were two selections each from LSU and Tulane. The Tigers were represented by Katie Lindelow and Mandy Orellana. Lindelow posted 16 victories, all of them coming on the No. 1 court for LSU, while Orellana posted a total of 16 victories playing on multiple courts for LSU in 2016. Tulane's Tea Juric and Madeline Mertz were honored after outstanding seasons last year. Juric picked up 26 victories, all at the No. 1 court. 23 of those victories came in straight sets. Mertz posted 20 of her 26 victories at the No. 2 court, including nine victories against top-25 opponents.

The 2017 season begins in the opening week of March, as the CCSA features 10 teams this year with College of Charleston and UNCW joining this year.