CONWAY, S.C. – Coastal Carolina head beach volleyball coach Steve Loeswick has announced the addition of four student-athletes in Emma Gonzalez (Greensboro, N.C./Wesleyan Christian Academy), Ellie Hanford (New Bern, N.C./New Bern HS), Kaley McLaughlin (Apex, N.C./Apex Friendship HS), and Sarah Riedell (Greensboro, N.C./Northwest Guilford HS) who will join the program as freshmen beginning in the 2020 fall semester.

"I am very excited for the addition of these four, high character, gifted student-athletes," stated Loeswick. "I have no doubt they will help us continue our journey upward and strengthen our program's goals of leading a Champions Life, in the classroom, on the court, and in our community!"

Gonzalez was a four-year letterwinner in indoor volleyball at Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point, N.C. for head coach Scott Castevens. The two-year team captain played at both right side and outside hitter positions for the Trojans. She was a two-time team MVP, winning the award in both 2018 and 2019, and was an all-conference selection as a sophomore in 2017.

Introduced to beach volleyball by Castevens, Gonzalez, who recorded a career-high 24 kills in a match against Wake Christian her senior year, has been playing beach volleyball since 2017 with the Beach South Volleyball Club team.

Athletics runs in her family, as her grandfather, Gary Cole, played basketball at Murray State (1966-67) and Carson-Newman (1967-70). Gonzalez also played basketball, lettering for two seasons and helping lead her team to a state championship title in 2017-18.

In the classroom, Gonzalez is a member of the National Honor Society, the National Spanish Honor Society, and the Beta Club.

Hanford was a multi-sport student-athlete at New Bern High School that lettered for four seasons in beach volleyball. The three-time team captain helped lead her team to back-to-back conference championship titles in 2016 and 2017 and a North Carolina High School Sand Volleyball Association (NCHSSVA) Beach Club state championship title in 2019.

Along wither her partner, Zoe Crow, she was named among the NCHSAA Best Pairs for 2019. She is a member of the Southern Sand Volleyball Beach Club team.

She was also a four-year letterwinner in lacrosse and indoor volleyball. She was a member of three lacrosse conference championship teams (2017, 2018, and 2019), earned all-conference and all-area accolades three times (2017, 2018, and 2019). In indoor volleyball, she was named the 2017 player of the year her sophomore season and was a three-time all-conference and all-area selection (2017, 2018, and 2019). She was also named all-region twice (2018 and 2019). Her older brother, Cal, played football at Wingate University from 2015-20.

Off the courts and fields, Hanford serves as her school's senior class president. She is on track to be the class valedictorian and is a member of both the National Honor Society and the National Technical Honor Society.

McLaughlin lettered in both beach and indoor volleyball at Apex Friendship High School, playing three seasons of each for the Patriots. Before concluding her indoor career to concentrate on beach volleyball, she was awarded the "Best Digger" Award in Capitol Hill for indoor volleyball at U15 and lined up at libero, defensive specialist, and outside hitter for the Patriots' high school team.

A member of the Southern Sand Volleyball (SSV) Beach Club, including taking part in the SSV Leadership Program, McLaughlin was ranked in the top-25 in the country by AVP America Juniors in the 18 Divisions in 2018-19 and won the Carolina Region Championship in 2018.

McLaughlin was an honor roll student and graduated high school summa cum laude.

Riedell was a four-year letterwinner in volleyball at Northwest Guilford High School for head coach Nancy Everett. She was a key part in helping lead her team to four-straight conference championship titles, a conference championship streak that started back in 1999, and guided her team to the state final four in 2019.

She was a two-time all-conference selection, earning the honor in 2018 as a junior in which she led the conference in service aces and was second in both blocks and kills, and again in 2019 as a senior in which she was also named to the AVCA All-Region team. Riedell was also named to the Under-Armour All-American watch list her senior season.

A member of the Beach South Volleyball Club team, Riedell started playing beach volleyball in 2017. Both of her brothers, Will and Jack, are playing hockey collegiately.

Outside of volleyball, Riedell has taken part in service learning where she has worked with local programs in teaching and playing sports with children with special needs.

The Sandy Chants were off to a great start in 2020 with 10-2 overall record before competition was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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