USC has not made the NCAA Tournament in volleyball since 2002. But that hasn't stopped new head coach Tom Mendoza from setting that as a goal for his team.
Mendoza came to USC after two years at High Point where he made the NCAA Tournament both years.
"Right now, we talked to the team about a path to the NCAA Tournament," Mendoza said.
"We talked about it in a wider scope to start the year. But we're not going to press on that week to week. That's something we talked about that at the beginning of the year. What is our path to the NCAA Tournament and getting an at-large bid. Now that we're starting to get into it, it's about one match at a time and trying to be consistent and giving ourselves a chance to beat anybody and not shooting ourselves in the foot and handing away what could have been wins."
USC junior Claire Edwards, a former News19 Player of the Week from River Bluff High School says earning the first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002 would be monumental for the program.
"It has been a while since we made the NCAA Tournament," Edwards said.
"But for this team, I think it would just mean the world to us, the coaches, the alumni. to have something to fall back on and prove to everyone that 'Hey. we're South Carolina. We came here to do a job and that's what we're doing'."
USC opens the 2018 campaign Friday, August 24 with the Gamecock Invitational. Carolina plays Texas A&M at Corpus Christi at 12:30 and ETSU at 7:30 p.m.