SARASOTA, Fla. – New College of Florida placed three pairs on the Sun Conference Beach Volleyball First Team following a historic 2026 season, with Cassidy Casey and Olivia Fenstermaker, Jayden Ponsford and Kayla Gentry, and Camilla Vaerini and Maria Luiza Barreis all earning recognition.
Casey and Fenstermaker headline the selections after being named the Sun Conference Pair of the Year.
The duo went 11-1 overall and a perfect 10-0 in conference play, not dropping a single set against Sun Conference opponents. Their only loss came against NCAA Division I power Nebraska. Casey was also named Sun Conference Player of the Year, while Fenstermaker earned Freshman of the Year honors.
Casey, a senior from Houston, Texas, adds to her resume after earning second-team All-Conference honors in 2025 and being named a 2024 Sun Conference Indoor Volleyball All-Conference selection. Fenstermaker, a freshman from Columbus, Ohio, made an immediate impact in her debut season.
Ponsford and Gentry turned in a strong season for the Mighty Banyans, posting a perfect 7-0 record in Sun Conference play while dropping just two sets all year. Ponsford, a senior from Aurora, Colorado, and Gentry, a senior from Daytona Beach, were key contributors throughout the lineup.
Vaerini and Barreis went unbeaten at 9-0 on the season, highlighted by a win over a pair from NCAA Division I power Nebraska. Vaerini, a sophomore from Bergamot, Italy, and Barreis, a senior from Sao Paulo, Brazil, were dominant all season.
Barreis adds the beach honor to an already decorated career, earning first-team All-Sun Conference recognition in indoor volleyball in 2025 along with Libero of the Year honors.
The trio of first-team selections helped lead New College to a 10-2 overall record and a perfect 10-0 mark in Sun Conference play, securing the program's first Sun Conference Regular Season Championship. The Mighty Banyans enter the Sun Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed and have earned a bid to the NAIA Women's Beach Volleyball National Invitational later this month, marking the first national postseason appearance in NCF Athletics history.
