Beach Volleyball
Damian Elder
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- elderdd@cofc.edu
- Phone:
- (843) 953-6469
Damian Elder was named the head coach of the College of Charleston beach volleyball program prior to the 2023 season following four season as an assistant with the Cougars' indoor program.
2026 (Overall Record: 8-22, CAA: 2-3)
2025 (Overall Record: 6-21, Sun Belt: 0-14)
2024 (Overall Record: 11-19, Sun Belt: 0-2)
2023 (Overall Record: 21-12, Sun Belt: 6-4)
2022 (Overall Record: 14-16, CAA: 9-7)
2026 (Overall Record: 8-22, CAA: 2-3)
- Charleston defeated Mercer for the first time since April 2023, with a 4-1 win. (Mar. 27)
- The Cougs swept courts 2, 3, 4, and 5 to secure the win over Wingate for the second straight season (Apr. 1).
- Picked up two wins over Mercer and ULM at the Sun Belt Midseason Tournament.
- Fiona North and Grace Toscano secured a huge win against nationally ranked South Carolina Gamecocks on court 5 (Mar. 13).
- Opened the season with a pair of sweeps over Wingate and Erskine, both going 5-0.
- Charleston did not drop a single set, going 22-0 in the sand on Feb 21st.
- Recorded five 5-0 sweeps this season.
- Cassie Thayse and Elizabeth Curry swept both of their duals at the 3s during the Sun Belt Tournament
- Coached Maria Zweig, who holds the all-time overall wins record (69-41).
- Sandy Cougs picked up their first win of the season over Chattanooga (Mar. 2).
- Charleston swept Erskine in both matches 5-0, dropping only one set (Mar. 9).
- Picked up three big wins at the Sun Belt Midseason Tournament (Mar. 22-23).
- Alex Psotka and Kora Hansen secured the second consecutive season with a Sun Belt Championship win.
- Charleston had a deep run in the Sun Belt Championships, going 2-2.
- Recorded a 20-plus-win season – the third in program history and second in as many seasons.
- Coached Kyra Thompson and Gabi Bailey, who set the new single-season program record for most wins at the first court, posting a 20-8 record.
- Thompson and Bailey finished their careers with 45 wins, the most by a duo in program history.
- The Cougars recorded a season-best nine-win streak after defeating rival Coastal Carolina (4-1) and Erskine (5-0) at the Coastal Carolina Invitational (Apr. 7-8).
- Recorded five 5-0 sweeps this season.
- Tynley Smeltzer, Gabi Bailey, and Kyra Thompson all hold single-season records in overall wins and dual match wins at 25 each from this season.
- Ranked second in the CAA in both hitting percentage (.215) and blocks (2.34).
- Graduate student middle blocker Claire Campbell was named to the All-CAA Second Team.
- Charleston set a single-match program-record with 17 service aces in the season opener against Fresno State (Aug. 26).
- Sophomore Anna Smith tied the individual five-set, single-match record with six against Fresno State.
- Senior Emma Falk delivered the second-most blocks in a three-set match with 10 against Northeastern (Oct. 15).
- Falk also tied for the third-most blocks in a three-set match with nine at Charleston Southern (Sept. 16).
- Campbell ranked third in the CAA in hitting percentage (.358), which was good for sixth on the program’s single-season hitting percentage rankings in the rally-scoring era.
- Falk (1.20) and Campbell (0.93) ranked second and ninth, respectively, in the league in blocks per set.
- Falk’s average of 1.20 blocks per set ranked ninth on the program’s single-season list during the rally-scoring era.
- Falk concludes her career at CofC ranked third all-time in blocks per set (1.26).
- Sophomore Tynley Smeltzer ranked sixth in the CAA in digs per set (3.90).
- Charleston led the CAA in digs per set (15.11).
- Junior outside hitter Lexi Wierzbicki was selected to the All-CAA First Team.
- Freshman setter Jasmin Goei earned a spot on the CAA All-Rookie Team.
- The Cougars recorded the program’s fifth-highest single-season service aces total during the rally-scoring era with 195.
- Program’s second-highest single-season service aces per set average (1.74) during the rally-scoring era.
- The Cougars set a four-set, single-match record with 13 aces at Northeastern (Nov. 6).
- CofC also established a five-set, single-match mark with 12 aces against UNCW (Nov. 13).
- Sophomore Sammy Campion twice tied the individual five-set, single-match record with six aces against Howard (Sept. 3) and UNCW (Nov. 13).
- Junior Cat Schmid set a four-set, single-match record with seven aces at Northeastern (Nov. 6).
- Senior Molly Russell compiled the 10th-best single-season hitting percentage during the rally scoring era (.340), which was also good for fifth in the CAA.
- Freshmen Emma Appleman, Anna Smith and Tynley Smeltzer each earned CAA Rookie of the Week honors.
- Appleman and Goei ranked seventh and eighth, respectively, in assists per set.
- Campion ranked second in the league in both aces (0.50) and digs per set (4.25).
- Wierzbicki ranked sixth in the CAA in kills per set (3.03).
- Team ranked third nationally in blocks per set (3.14) and 10th in opponent hitting percentage (0.127).
- Helped mentor CAA Libero of the Year and All-CAA First Team selection Logan Manusky as well as All-CAA Second Team honoree Hazel Brown.
- Sophomore middle blocker Emma Falk led the CAA, ranked third nationally and set a CofC single-season record with an average of 1.65 blocks per set.
- Manusky led the CAA and ranked 26th nationally averaging 5.33 digs per set.
- Team ranked second in the CAA in digs per set (15.49)
- Logan Manusky earned All-CAA Second Team recognition after leading the league with 4.85 digs per set.
- Senior Lauren Freed became the 10th player in program history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her career.
- Spent six seasons as the head coach of the indoor and beach volleyball programs at Mercer University.
- Accumulated the fourth-most wins in the indoor program’s history.
- Guided the Bears to their first winning season in nine years in 2016.
- Mentored a trio of All-SoCon performers including two SoCon All-Freshman selections.
- Instrumental in establishing Mercer’s beach volleyball program in 2012.
- Led the Bears to 30 wins on the sand including back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2015 and 2016.
- Mentored three All-Atlantic Sun First Team pairs and five ASUN All-Freshman selections.
- Spent five seasons as the head coach of the South Carolina beach volleyball program and associate head coach with the Gamecocks’ indoor program.
- Helped guide the indoor team to 71 wins including a 21-9 campaign in 2008.
- Played an integral role in establishing South Carolina’s first competitive sand volleyball team, which he led to the SEC Beach Championship title in 2009.
- Spent the 2004 season as a volunteer assistant at Stanford helping the Cardinal to the national championship title that fall.
- Elder is a 2002 graduate of Fresno State University.
Friday, July 17
Wednesday, June 17
Monday, June 15
Wednesday, June 10
