The Ramsey Student Center isn’t just for pick-up games of basketball and working out, it also hosts a couple of varsity sports for the University. One of those is the women’s volleyball team, which performs its matches absolutely free to all on courts next to the swimming and diving teams’ natatorium.

Things are looking up for the Georgia Volley Dogs since their abysmal season just three years ago. In that season Georgia went 6-25, its worst record in history, which prompted a coaching change.

Enter Joel McCartney.

McCartney turned the Volley Dogs into a different team and led them to a monumental turnaround with a winning record of 17-13 in his first season as head coach.

With all of its success in 2007, Georgia had high hopes of making the NCAA tournament in 2008, but fell just short with a 17-14 record.

But not without some highs along the way.

In 2008, for the first time since 1990, Georgia defeated rival Florida, breaking a 45-match losing streak against the hated Gators.

That same season, the Volley Dogs finished with double-digit victories in the Southeastern Conference for the first time in half a decade years, hoisting a 10-10 mark in conference play.

But the most positive thing that Georgia has to look at is they were still a young team last season. This season, the Volley Dogs don’t feature a single player on the roster that is a senior, but many of the players saw quality minutes last year.

Setter Kathleen Gates, middle hitter Ann Dylla and libero Carla Tietz lead a rising sophomore class that will surely be the backbone of the team.

Juniors Valentina Gonzalez and Erika Clark will provide the leadership the team needs, and incoming freshmen will look to step in and fill the void of one of the best players in, not only Georgia history, but Southeastern Conference history – Maria Taylor.