2023-24 REVIEW: Gaston College beach volleyball finishes 2nd in league, advances to NJCAA nationals again

After building a startup program for two years, Gaston College's beach volleyball program began showing the fruits of that labor this season.

The Rhinos went 5-3 in Region 10 for a second-place regular season finish and took third-place in the Region 10 tournament they hosted at the school's on-campus facility to advance to the National Junior College Athletic Association championships at Huntsville, Ala.

"When you compare it to last year, we were just so much more competitive with all of the four-year schools we played," Gaston College coach Rachel Noreika said. "So that's really encouraging. Moving forward, you have to make a decision to travel more and play junior college teams or do you stay local and maybe not have as good of a record?
"I thought our season went really well. You it can be tough in our situation and our location and having to play so many four-year schools."

That's why the 10-24 overall record is far better than it seems.

It's because Gaston College went 8-9 against junior colleges, including 2-4 in the NJCAA nationals, and 2-15 against four-year schools.

Noreika relied on a roster with seven returnees and six newcomers.

Freshman Valentina Rodriguez was the winningest player with 16 overall victories. She was followed by sophomore Cristina Rotola (15), freshman Maddie Dearing (12), sophomore Naomi Hilliard (11), freshman Milica Gavric (10) and sophomore Bianca Bowland (10).

And the pairings of Rodriguez-Rotola (15 wins) and Dearing-Bowland (11) had the most wins.

"We got better as the year wore on," Noreika said. "And we were playing with the pairings going into the final weeks because some chemistry was up and down all year long.
"Cristina and Val got better for sure. Moving them to the 2s was a confidence-builder and it turned out for their benefit. And Naomi and Maddie did well at the 2s and the 1s, especially when you consider how undersized they were. But they were great competitors."

Noreika resigned as Rhinos' head coach before the season but stayed on to coach a program she had built from scratch.

"I'm really proud of what we were able to do with the program," said Noreika, a former Liberty University indoor volleyball player who is co-owner of the Charlotte Beach Volleyball Club.