A Dynasty on the Sand
A Dynasty on the Sand
he hot, dry sand behind the Georgia State University Sports Arena is really an oasis in the heart of downtown Atlanta. The Sandy Panthers, the beach volleyball team, consider the Beach Complex — with its three courts and colorful seaside mural emblazoned with the letters ATL — a sanctuary in the sand.
It’s home to the 11th-ranked team in the nation (as of March 28), and a program that has emerged as a powerhouse in the sport. The Sandy Panthers finished fifth in the 2022 national tournament and started the 2023 season at No. 8 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll.
Head Coach Beth Van Fleet (B.B.A. ’99, M.S. ’19) is in her 10th season, and she has six 20-win seasons. She was a star indoor volleyball player for Georgia State and a professional beach volleyball player before taking the helm of the program in just its second year of existence. On March 25, she earned her 200th career victory with a 5-0 win over Arizona State.
“We’re a really good team, and we’re going to be competitive on the national level, but there’s more to this program than that. We’re setting our players up to go on for greatness and to continue to be great later in life.” — GSU Head Coach Beth Van Fleet
“We’re a really good team, and we’re going to be competitive on the national level, but there’s more to this program than that. We’re setting our players up to go on for greatness and to continue to be great later in life.”
— GSU Head Coach Beth Van Fleet
Her teams aren’t like most of the elite national programs — not in the least. Georgia State isn’t on a coast. It’s not in a beach volleyball stronghold like California, Florida or Texas. The only other mid-major in the top 10, Loyola Marymount, is on a campus in Los Angeles, a hotbed for the game.
Georgia State might not have the resources of Power 5 schools such as No. 1 TCU (which it defeated in the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship Tournament last year) or No. 16 South Carolina (a team it just beat in March while going undefeated at a tournament in Columbia, S.C.), but that hasn’t stopped Van Fleet and the Sandy Panthers from being ranked in 58-straight AVCA polls.
“I think we do a great job of making the most of our place here,” Van Fleet says. “We don’t look around at the things we don’t have and worry about it.”
Top: Head Coach Beth Van Fleet (B.B.A. ’09, MBA ’19) (left) and Assistant Coach Tiffany Creamer (M.S. ’18) discuss defenses during a recent practice. Second: Graduate student Yasmin Kuck goes up for a serve while junior Lila Bordis awaits the return. Third: First-year Cassie Thayse sets the ball. Bottom: Coach Van Fleet talks with the team during a break. Photos by Meg Buscema
Top left: Head Coach Beth Van Fleet (B.B.A. ’09, MBA ’19) (left) and Assistant Coach Tiffany Creamer (M.S. ’18) discuss defenses during a recent practice. Top right: Graduate student Yasmin Kuck goes up for a serve while junior Lila Bordis awaits the return. Bottom left: First-year Cassie Thayse sets the ball. Bottom right: Coach Van Fleet talks with the team during a break. Photos by Meg Buscema
The players insist success starts with Van Fleet’s style of player development.
Kelly Dorn, a fifth-year player for the Sandy Panthers, says that the team is constantly adapting.
“The way we played my first year isn’t how we’re playing this year,” she says. “We’re seeing what other teams are doing. We’re seeing what we can do better. We’re trying weird options and new defenses. This team just grows stronger every year.”
Assistant Coach Tiffany Creamer (M.S. ’18), who played for Van Fleet at Georgia State, still plays on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Tour and brings the latest trends from the pros to the Sandy Panthers. Van Fleet and Creamer tag team on just about every facet of the program, and their chemistry lifts players who might have been passed over by Power 5 schools.
Twins Angel and Bella Ferary, for example, were rejected as a package by every Division I school that recruited them except Georgia State. The juniors are now the Sandy Panthers’ No. 1 flight — that’s beach volleyball parlance for the top duo.
“A lot of schools didn’t want us together because we’re short,” Angel says. The Ferary sisters are 5-foot-4. “They were like, ‘We’ll take one of you, but not both.’”
What else turns the wheels?
Defense is fundamental for Van Fleet. She says her team has four or five core defenses, but they can expand to 14 or 15 different calls, depending on the players’ comfort level — something that always comes first.
At a recent afternoon practice, Van Fleet devoted the last 45 minutes to allowing players to work on whatever they wanted.
To work around players’ schedules, Van Fleet and Creamer will hold two, three or even four practices a day, splitting up the 16-player roster. A small roster is another hallmark of Van Fleet’s program.
“Beth goes out of her way to help every single person,” Creamer says. “She helps our players move into their apartments and all kinds of little extra things. I think that’s such a huge piece of our success.
“It’s so easy to buy into the program when you know your coaching staff cares about you. When I was a player, I would do anything for her because I knew she would do anything for me.”
Top: Junior Bella Ferary (right) goes for the dig while her twin sister Angel looks on. Bottom: Grad student Kelly Dorn congratulates redshirt junior Elise Saga after a point. Photos courtesy of Georgia State Athletics
Left: Junior Bella Ferary (right) goes for the dig while her twin sister Angel looks on. Right: Grad student Kelly Dorn congratulates redshirt junior Elise Saga after a point. Photos courtesy of Georgia State Athletics
Van Fleet’s identity as a players’ coach extends to the sand, particularly with the Ferary twins.
“We’re short, so we run a totally different game. We’re not traditional,” Angel says. “So, coach tells us to use our strengths, which is being fast and being able to move the set around quickly. She encourages us to play our game instead of saying, ‘No, you have to play the way everyone else plays.’”
The Ferarys are also an example of Van Fleet’s recruiting structure.
“One of the things that we try to identify is how hungry somebody is to accomplish their goals,” Van Fleet says. “The twins, for example, came in and said, ‘We want to win a national championship.’ So, I said, ‘Let’s go then!’”
While an NCAA championship would be swell, the ultimate for many college athletes, Van Fleet says she doesn’t want her players so devoted to a title that they make it the defining moment in their lives.
“We’re a really good team, and we’re going to be competitive on the national level, but there’s more to this program than that,” she says. “We’re setting our players up to go on for greatness and to continue to be great later in life.”
Top Photo by Meg Buscema