Coastal Georgia Athletics
Val Every, Director of Sports Information and Marketing
BRUNSWICK – The College of Coastal Georgia Women’s Head Volleyball Coach Israel Delgado announces the 2020 Fall volleyball schedule for his inaugural season.
Due to new restrictions on NAIA fall sports seasons from the National Administrative Council, the 2020 Volleyball season will look different than former seasons.
The season will be comprised of 16 conference matches and two nonconference matches. The Mariners will start pre-season training on August 15 and begin play on Sept. 5. Of their first five matches, four will be on the road.
“This season will be short but intense. Our first mission is to get better in the preseason. This is key for us, we have only 18 days so we need to work hard every day and be ready for Sept. 5 and I know we can do it,” said Coach Israel Delgado.
The Mariners Volleyball season will begin around two weeks later than usual and immediately start in Sun Conference play. The 2020 season will open against St. Thomas University on the road on Saturday, Sept. 5 – the first day of any NAIA volleyball competition. The Mariners will continue a road stint with a match at Warner University in Lake Wales, Florida on the following Wednesday.
Coastal Georgia will play their home opener against TSC Regular Season Champion Keiser University on Saturday, Sept. 12. This will be the first event hosted on the newly redone Howard Coffin Gym floor.
The team will hit the road for matches against Ave Maria (Sept. 19) and Southeastern (Sept 23) before returning home to face rival Florida Memorial. Last season, the Mariners fell in five sets to the Lions in the TSC Tournament Final. This matchup is sure to be competitive.
The Mariners will round out September with a home match against Webber International (Sept. 30) before launching into the second month of their season.
In October, Coastal Georgia will play in five home matches including one non-conference matchup: St. Thomas (Oct. 10), Warner (Oct. 14), Brewton Parker (Oct. 21), Ave Maria (Oct. 24) and Southeastern (Oct. 28). The Mariners will also compete in three away matches against Johnson & Wales (Oct. 3), Keiser (Oct. 17) and Florida Memorial (Oct. 31).
In early November the Mariners will face Webber International (Nov. 4) on the road, before finishing their last two regular-season games with home-court advantage. The Mariners will face non-conference opponent Florida College of Friday, Nov. 6 and face Johnson & Wales the next day. The final conference match on Saturday, Nov. 7 is Senior Day.
The Sun Conference Tournament will be played over three days. The quarterfinals will be played on Nov. 10 at the site of the third and fourth-ranked teams (the first and second-ranked teams receive a bye to the semifinal round and final site). The first ranked team after regular season play will host both the semifinals and finals which will take place on Nov. 13-14.
Despite the oddities of the 2020 Volleyball schedule, new Head Coach Israel Delgado looks forward to his first season with the Mariners.
“Our team goals are to get back to the top, win the conference like in 2018 season and qualify for the national championship tournament,” Delgado said. :I know we will have a really good and strong team but also we have talented teams in our conference, all teams can beat you any night. That’s why we need to be focused as a team and I know our players will commit to our goals.”
“This year we have a great mix of players: 10 returning players all with good experience, five of them seniors, eight talented freshmen with great experience and hungry to start and two transfers from very good junior college programs. I think our team can be at the top of the conference if we stay healthy and taking care of the little details,” finished Delgado.
The Mariner’s first home game will be on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 2 p.m. – The Mariner Volleyball Invitational, Alumni Match and Blue-White scrimmage that usually takes place at the beginning of the Volleyball season have been canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.