The 2025 South Florida women’s volleyball team is now part of the unofficial history of the annual Diet Coke Classic tournament hosted by the University of Minnesota after the several decades this reporter has covered it.
The USF Bulls led the four-team field with nine Blacks on their roster. In recent memory, this is the most Black players we’ve seen playing volleyball at The Pav or at The Barn on a non-HBCU team.
Minnesota, with three Black players, is the only other team with at least one Black player on the roster.
“I haven’t been on very many [diverse teams],” said USF 5’11” senior outside hitter Arianna Beckham. “I would definitely say it’s one of the reasons why” she transferred from Mississippi State to South Florida, she pointed out.
“I started at another school [two seasons at West Virginia],” added teammate Samiha Foster, a 5’9” junior libero. “When I transferred here…Tampa is a very diverse, predominately Black area. That’s one thing we really like. It has been just a big part of trying to reach out to [other Black players], trying to reach out to people that we know.”
Freshmen Samiyah Abdur-Rahim and Breanna McMillian, sophs Miya Thomas and Iyanna Garvin, juniors Laila Ivey and Tatiana Johnson, and grad student Imani Hartfield are the other Bulls Sistahs with Beckham and Foster.
“After talking with Jolene [Shepardson, head coach],” continued Foster, “I loved her culture. When I transferred I wanted to find the right culture that has the right goals, treats the girls the right way. Everybody is on the same page.
“The girls are working hard,” she stressed. “One of our core values is love. We truly love each other every single day, day in, day out. We always say that our favorite thing to do is laugh. We laugh all the time, all day long.”
“I love my team,” reaffirmed Beckham. “It does make a difference,”
Dylan Foster, a Twin Cities native now living in the D.C. area, is Samiha’s father. “Credit to Jolene,” he told the MSR during last Saturday’s intermission in the South Florida-South Dakota State match.
“She went out and she recruited the best players, and some of them happen to be Black. Now we have a much better, a much different dynamic. That wasn’t the case last year.”
It is 2025, and yet we still are talking about how important diversity is for volleyball, and that too many PWIs clubs, such as Dayton and SDSU, still lack it.
“I think the sport is changing,” said Dylan. “If you watch volleyball, a lot of the top players, in fact, are Black players.”
“I think seeing more representations for young [Black] girls, it really inspires them to [play volleyball],” added Samiha, offering a personal example. “My cousin came to see me play for the first time. She started [playing] volleyball, and now she is at UCSB, now in her freshman year.
“She says I’m one of the people that inspired her to play,” said Foster proudly.
Additionally, both USF and U of M have Black female assistant coaches: Makayl Washington (Bulls) and Crissy Jones Schoonderwoerd (Gophers).
“Coach Mak was actually one of the reasons why I came to USF,” said Beckham of Washington. “She’s such a loving, caring person.
“To be able to see someone of my color like [her] excel in the sport also gives me a reason to excel in the sport as well,” she added.
Both players also were happy to play in front of locally based family and friends at The Pav. Foster’s dad said at least 35 family members were there, and Beckham’s family, including her mother, who lives in Alexandria.
“This is the first time they got to see me play here,” said Beckham. “My family aren’t able to come see me that often, so having the support means everything.”
USF is picked to finish second in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) in the preseason coaches poll. Both Foster and Beckham said they like their chances.
“We’re not at our peak yet, and I don’t think it’s time yet to be at our peak,” said Foster.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.