'Tough and together': UT Beach Volleyball ready to create legacy

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The University of Texas Beach Volleyball team will make its home debut this weekend - starting Friday - at the Longhorn Invitational.

UT will host Coastal Carolina, Tulane, Stephen F. Austin and Texas A&M - Corpus Christi at the Wright Whitaker Sports Complex.

The matches will be broadcast on KBVO and the Longhorn Network.

'We consider this our first year'

When a new program begins, it goes through a two-year probationary period, head coach Stein Metzger explained.

UT Beach's first season consisted entirely of the indoor Women's Volleyball team.

Now, in its third year, all players are exclusively beach players, and there is no overlap between the beach and indoor teams.

This will be UT Beach's first chance to compete for a coveted spot in the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship tournament in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

'Trailblazers'

Maddison Parmelly, a sixth-year grad student and Texas native, comes to the UT Beach program from Florida Gulf Coast University. She grew up a UT fan.

"We've already built such a wonderful culture," she said. "The thing about being trailblazers is we can decide what we want our culture to be."

When asked by Tory Paranagua, an Austin native and former beach volleyball player at Florida State University, what she wants UT Beach's culture to be known for, Parmelly answered "tough and together."

Another transfer, Katie Hashman, previously played under Coach Metzger at UCLA's powerhouse beach volleyball program. She's an Austin native and comes from a "UT family," she said.

Getting the chance to compete in Gulf Shores and "wear Texas on my shirt... would be the biggest full circle moment for me," she said.

Freshman Noa Sonnerville comes to the UT Beach program all the way from the Netherlands, a country that has consistently produced strong high-level beach volleyball players on the national and professional level.

"I had never been to the U.S. besides coming to Texas," she said. "It's a band of sisters, we're all good friends. They're able to teach me a lot about the volleyball program in the U.S."

UT will open the tournament playing Coastal Carolina at 2 p.m. Friday.