Bulldogs Volleyball ready to serve up 2025

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast starts a new era of volleyball Saturday when the Bulldogs travel to Bay Minette, Ala.

Coach Shayna Walsh's Bulldogs will play host Coastal Alabama-South at 1 p.m. followed by an exhibition against the United State Sports University. Coastal-South makes a quick return trip Monday with the first match at Perk since 1976 scheduled for 6 p.m.

"We're excited, and we're looking good," she said. "We're tall, we're athletic, we're fast. We're working on lineups right now getting ready to roll, but they're pumped, I'm pumped, and we're ready to get started."

Gulf Coast will play the inaugural season in Dantzler Arena. Season passes and single-game tickets are available at http://mgcccbulldogs.com/tickets, and all home matches will be streamed at https://mgcccbulldogs.com/watch.

The Bulldogs have been on campus since July 31, putting in a slew of practice sessions gearing up for the season. There will be 12 home matches on the schedule, and the first MACCC showdown comes Sept. 1 when archrival Pearl River visits.

Walsh had a year to put together her first 16-player squad, and they're all freshmen. She considered recruiting transfers but decided to build her program from the ground up. 

"I want to just start with a clean slate and just a lot of depth in this freshman roster," she said. "I want all the options. I can make many different lineups, and they'll do what I want them to do."

Walsh wants to run a high-tempo offense, and the Bulldogs will look to get things started with middle blocker Malorie Gaughf (Fr., Gulfport/Harrison Central). When they push things outside, Mariah Hammond (Fr., Slidell La./Northshore) will be on one side, with Reese Sorrells (Fr., Picayune/Picayune) at opposite hitter. Two of those are 6-footers, and one is 5-foot-11, which will be a big block defensively. Alexa Shinabery (Fr., Marion Ark./Marion) was brought in as a defensive specialist/libero, but she's going to be used as a hitter, too.

The Bulldogs have setters Sydney Tague (Fr., Olive Branch/DeSoto Central), Maddie Soucie (Fr., Madison/Germantown) and Lila Turner (Fr., Kiln/Hancock) to quarterback the offense, and Walsh wants them to be aggressive offensively.

Baylee Burchyett (Fr., Southaven/Lewisburg), Cambell Herrington (Fr., Brandon/Brandon) and Chloe Pippin (Fr., Saraland Ala./Saraland) provide strong defense on the back row.

Gulf Coast had volleyball in the early days of the college, hosting the 1929 state championship. It went away until 1969, when Hall of Famer Sue Ross helped bring back women's sports to the institution and the state. The Bulldogs won a state championship in 1969, and another when Hall of Famer Doris "Blackie" Smith coached the 1975 team. That was the next-to-last season of volleyball here, and now it's back.

"Our overall goal for the year is to be successful and win, but also it's to create the culture that I want to create starting this very first volleyball season at Gulf Coast," Walsh said. "We're creating the team aspect, the accountability, the respect, all the things that I'm trying to do, and they're doing a great job."

For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.