New-look Florida State opening season at home for first time in program history

Florida State beach volleyball season is here.

And for the first time in program history, the Seminoles are beginning their season at home this weekend.

FSU will play five matches this weekend on its home courts as it opens its 2019 campaign in the Home2 Suites Hilton-Tallahassee State Capitol Invitational.

The Seminoles begin their season Saturday morning at 8:15 a.m. against No. 18 Tulane and will play a total of five matches over the course of Saturday and Sunday.

"It's so exciting. I think our team is really excited to play in front of their fans. This year, in general, we have more opportunities to play at home, which is something the fans have been asking for," FSU head coach Brooke Niles said.

"We're excited to get started. It's going to be really tough and we're a young, athletic team so I think it's going to be a test right off the bat."

This will be the first of three home tournaments FSU will host this season, matching the total from the last two seasons combined.

"I think it's very beneficial for us to start at home because we're very familiar with our courts and our surroundings," senior Macy Jerger said.

"We've been practicing there for so long and I think it's just going to be really beneficial for us to start somewhere strong and familiar."

It will be in many ways a new-look FSU team this year. The Seminoles lost five of their eight players with the most wins off last year's team which came up one match short of winning the program's first NCAA Championship.

The departures are highlighted by the senior pairs of Katie Horton/Hailey Luke and Tory Paranagua/Vanessa Freire. These two teams combined to go 35-5 on the No. 1 and No. 2 lines last season for the Seminoles.

Still, there's enough buzz remaining around this year's FSU team that the Seminoles are ranked No. 3 in the preseason AVCA Coaches Poll behind only UCLA and USC.

"We have a lot of unknown, but I see how hard these girls train, I see their mindset and the athleticism overall is off the charts from any players that I've ever coached from professional to college level," Niles said.

"I'm just excited to see what they can do. We might have a few hard losses here and there, but I think this team is just ready for a challenge."

While FSU suffered marked attrition off last year's roster, the Seminoles bring back Jerger and redshirt junior Sara Putt, both of whom had 32 wins last season.

FSU also bolstered its depth with graduate transfer Payton Rund. Rund arrives at FSU after spending three years at Saint Mary's College.

While there, Rund won 64 matches and was a First Team All-West Coast Conference honoree in each of the last two seasons.

"I'd heard awesome things about (Niles) and I just know how successful the program has been in the past and I just wanted to focus on beach volleyball and actually learning this year," Rund said of why she chose to finish her career at FSU.

"I've obviously never experienced a tournament here before and I've heard awesome things about it. I'm so stoked."

The Home2 Suites Hilton-Tallahassee State Capitol Invitational is set to hold one of the most talented fields ever seen in a home FSU tournament.

The Seminoles' slate of five games includes three matches against Top-10 teams in No. 6 Cal Poly (Saturday, 1:30 p.m.), No. 7 LSU (Saturday, 5 p.m.) and No 9 South Carolina (Sunday, 3:15 p.m.).

It marks just the second time in program history that a team from California -- responsible for all three NCAA Champions in the sport -- has traveled to Tallahassee for a tournament.

FSU closes out its weekend Sunday at 5 p.m. against Tampa.

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"I'm a firm believer in we have to play the best to beat the best. Every year I think we've had one of the toughest schedules," Niles said.

"Now we're actually able to attract teams to Tallahassee which is really nice so we can play them here without the travel aspect. We need to play the best all the time to be able to compete at the end."

No. 3 Florida State beach volleyball in the State Capital Invitational

Saturday

vs. Tulane, 8:15 a.m.; vs. Cal Poly, 1:30 p.m.; vs. LSU, 5 p.m.

Sunday

vs. South Carolina, 3:15 p.m.; vs. Tampa, 5 p.m.

All matches at FSU Beach Volleyball Courts