University of Tennessee at Chattanooga vice chancellor and athletic director Mark Wharton announced Thursday the school will add women’s beach volleyball as its 16th NCAA Division I intercollegiate sport.
UTC will face a limited schedule next spring and compete in a full season in the spring of 2021. The university will announce its conference alignment for the new sport in the near future.
“We are excited about the addition of beach volleyball to our intercollegiate athletics lineup,” Wharton said in a department release. “It is one of the rising competitive programs in the NCAA, and bringing it to Chattanooga is exciting for our university and community.”
Current indoor assistant coach Darin Van Horn has been selected to lead the new program. Van Horn is entering his fifth season at UTC and upon arrival in 2015 helped lead the Mocs to their first Southern Conference regular-season title in two decades and a 26-6 overall record.
Van Horn came to UTC from the University of Virginia, where he served as a volunteer assistant for one season. He had served in several roles with the men’s and women’s varsity and club volleyball teams during his undergraduate years at Penn State.
The initial roster will consist of the indoor volleyball players who still have eligibility next spring. Home matches will be played at the new UTC Sports Complex next to Engel Stadium.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.