Gaston College beach volleyball ready to officially unveil new homecourt in this weekend's Rhinos Invitational

Gaston College will officially unveil its new on-campus beach volleyball facility this weekend with the inaugural Rhinos Invitational.

Gaston College will makes it home debut in a Friday-Saturday event that also includes teams from Sandhills Community College, Richard Bland College and Catawba College.

"After 4 straight weeks on the road, the team and I look forward to playing on our home courts and in front of our home crowd," Rhinos coach Rachel Noreika said. "All three matches should be competitive games and I hope to have a good turnout Friday at 5 p.m. as we play Catawba College for the first time this season."

Gaston College began its beach volleyball program with three matches in April 2022. This season, the Rhinos have already played 13 matches starting with a Feb. 21 opener at St. Andrews.

Noreika offered the following tips to fans who plan to come watch the Rhinos become the college's first team to play on-campus since athletics was restarted at Gaston College for the first time in 50 years in September 2021.

"Fans should bring their own beach chair and be prepared for a fast-paced, fun competition," Noreika said. "We play best of three games, first two to 21 and if a third games is needed, we will play to 15. During the first two games, you'll see the teams switch sides every seven points and every five points in a third game. Each team has only one timeout per game and coaches are only allowed to coach during switches and timeouts."

Noreika has a 13-player roster and has recently established her five playing pairs - No. 1 Cristina Rotola and Naomi Hilliard, No. 2 Emma Downey and Liz Jones, No. 3 Millea Styles and Cameryn Reavis, No. 4 Bianca Bowland and Carli Phillips and No. 5 Leilani Nolasco and Kristy Seifert.

Four of the five pairs have won at least one game with the Bowland-Phillip pair entering Friday with a team-best 4-match winning streak.

Gaston College, Sandhills Community College and Richard Bland are members of Region 10 of the National Junior College Athletic Association and are preparing for the April 7 region championships that will be hosted by Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst.

Here is this weekend's schedule for the Rhinos Invitational:

(Friday)
1 p.m. - Gaston College vs. Sandhills Community College
3 p.m. - Richard Bland College vs. Catawba College
5 p.m. - Gaston College vs. Catawba College

(Saturday)
10 a.m. - Richard Bland vs. Sandhills Community College
Noon - Gaston College vs. Richard Bland
2 p.m. - Sandhills Community College vs Catawba College