The Chattanooga beach volleyball program had itself a season for the record books over the course of 2024, checking off conference titles, individual accolades and a whole lot of “for the first time in program history” verbiage across the calendar year.
The Mocs finished 19-10 this past spring, going 9-1 in Ohio Valley Conference play to snag a share of the program’s first-ever OVC regular season title. UTC’s momentum wouldn’t stop there, as the Mocs proceeded to go undefeated at the 2024 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament to secure the team’s first tournament crown, as well as secure Chattanooga’s bid into the 2024 NCAA Tournament in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Just five years removed from the team’s inception in 2020, head coach Darin Van Horn has the Mocs making history at every possible turn.
Now entering a more national spotlight, the Mocs have emerged as a budding young program in a sport that continues to grow in popularity across the nation.
With that being said, UTC’s successful year as a team opened a unique door this fall for two of the program’s stars: Neva Clark and McKenna Faychak. In earning a spot in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, the Mocs also secured themselves an automatic bid for a pair of the team’s choosing to compete on the national stage the 2024 AVCA Beach National Championships in Huntsville, Alabama. Once again making history for the Mocs, Clark and Faychak’s numbers were called.
While both Clark and Faychak have each served as major contributors to UTC’s success over the past few seasons, the duo couldn’t have had more different journeys towards earning their spots in the prestigious pairs tournament in Huntsville.
Clark has cemented herself as Chattanooga’s and the Ohio Valley Conference’s greatest player of all-time, entering her senior season as back-to-back OVC Player of the Year while being a three-time All-Conference honoree in her career.
No stranger to high stakes or pressure, Clark knew immediately that she would be one half of the pair heading to Huntsville this fall.
“I think from the moment that we knew we got the bid last year, we knew that we were going to have to work super hard to train our butts off in the offseason,” Clark said. “For me, it really made me work harder through our offseason because I knew that I had this at the end of our offseason to look forward to. I had something to go and show out at.”
Clark’s reputation in the beach volleyball sphere precedes the Woodstock, Georgia, native, with Clark having won just about every possible award and claiming every UTC record she could possibly get her hands on over her past three years with the team. The winningest player in Chattanooga beach volleyball’s young history, Clark became the first player in OVC history to become a two-time Player of the Year as well as a two-time Pair of the Year honoree.
Faychak, on the other hand, wasn’t guaranteed her spot to compete alongside Clark this fall. A multi-time All-Conference player in her own right, Faychak was primarily a member of UTC’s No. 2 pairing this past spring playing alongside Gylian Finch. Having rarely played alongside Clark for the Mocs, Faychak needed to prove herself over the course of the offseason in order to earn her spot at the AVCAs.
“I was just fighting for a spot to go,” Faychak said. “I worked really hard to prove that I was strong enough offensively to play against big blockers and fast defenders, so I was really working on my offense so that I could get there. It just showed that the whole team and us, we could handle the big teams.”
Coming off a 2024 season in which Faychak earned First Team All-OVC and OVC All-Tournament Team honors, the Delray Beach, Florida, native rolled up her sleeves and got to work. Ultimately, the rising junior got the nod from head coach Darin Van Horn. She would be heading to Huntsville with Clark.
While the duo had only ever played in a total of five matches together way back during the 2023 season, Clark and Faychak’s chemistry was undeniable.
“I’ve always said from the moment that Kenny got here that we have a great connection on the court,” Clark said. “It came easy to us and it’s the kind of thing you find in certain people. You have a really good connection with them and it just works out.”
“It’s been a good connection since I got here and since we’ve been playing with each other on and off,” Faychak added. “Just to be able to trust in each other and know that we’re both going to work hard and not give up, that really showed. We just really really trust each other.”
Primed to make history just by showing up at the event, Clark and Faychak entered the 2024 AVCA Beach National Championships hungry to put UTC on the map. Marked as the tournament’s 56th seed out of 64 total pairs, the duo went in ready to make some noise.
The Mocs opened their time in Huntsville against the tournament’s No. 9 seeded pairing out of Cal Poly, a duo that would go on to finish in seventh place that weekend. While the Mocs put up a fight against the Mustangs duo, UTC would ultimately fall in that match, setting Clark and Faychak up with a familiar foe in the second round of Pool Play.
Needing a win to qualify for the tournament’s Champions Bracket, the Mocs found themselves matched up with the No. 24 seed pair from North Florida, pitting Clark and Faychak against a team that had knocked Chattanooga out of the NCAA Tournament back in May.
For Clark and Faychak, this was an opportunity for some revenge.
“I’ve been telling Darin (Van Horn) that I’ve been wanting to play UNF again and again to get my revenge,” Faychak said. “Just being able to perform out there, playing well and being able to show them that this is who we actually are, it was really fun.”
The UTC duo set the tone early against the Ospreys, taking a commanding 21-13 win in the opening set. While the second set proved much tighter, Clark and Faychak rolled up their sleeves and executed their game plan to a T.
Claiming the second frame 21-18, not only had Clark and Faychak enacted their revenge on North Florida in the form of a two-set sweep, but the pair had clinched their spot into the Champions Bracket, something that only the Top 48 teams in the country could have on their resumes.
“Honestly, we just made a really good game plan playing against them and just stuck to it,” Clark mentioned. “We had a lot of energy and it was a really sweet win to be able to get for sure.”
Moving into the Champions Bracket, the Mocs earned yet another tough draw with UTC being pitted against a duo from Power 4 foe, Washington. In another valiant effort, the Mocs fell to the Huskies, moving Clark and Faychak into the tournament’s consolation bracket.
A loss the following day against Tulane moved the pair into a matchup with yet another Power 4 opponent, No. 30 seeded Skylar Martin and Aubrey O’Gorman from LSU. A storied beach volleyball program, LSU had just come off the back of reaching the NCAA Final Four at the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Undaunted by the opponents on the opposite side of the net, the Mocs looked to play spoiler to another Top 30 pair on the weekend.
“Once we knew we were going to be playing LSU, we had been able to watch them play beforehand which allowed us to make that game plan, believe we could do it and then execute that game plan,” Clark said. “I knew that we could put up a fight no matter who we played.”
Clark and Faychak opened the match on their heels, dropping the first set 21-18 to the Tigers. The Mocs kept their composure, however, regrouping in the second to take a 21-18 set win themselves. Now level at 1-1, the match was heading into a deciding third and final set.
The third set against the Tigers proved to be a back-and-forth affair, with neither team giving an inch. That was until a late burst by Chattanooga all but sealed the result. With a score of 15-13 in the third frame, the Mocs had knocked off the No. 30 seed, bringing a Power 4 win back to the Scenic City with them.
“It was just a surreal feeling,” Faychak said when reflecting on the win. “It was a hard-fought game, everybody stayed in it, and it was just so much fun to play. I can’t even remember half of it, it was like you just went on autopilot.
“It was so much fun, we both performed, we both played well, and it really showed that this is our top level and we can do it against anyone.”
The Mocs would end up coming away with a share of 43rd place at the 2024 AVCA Beach National Championships. Not only was this the highest finish of the three Ohio Valley Conference pairings that were invited to the tournament, but Clark and Faychak’s two wins on the weekend were the most by an OVC pair in attendance as well.
“It means the world to me,” Clark reflected. “I’ve said from the beginning that I want to come here and I want to build this program up from nothing and make it into what I know it can be. Darin and Juliana (Van Horn) are amazing. They put their heart and soul into this program, so just to go out there and show everyone what we already knew that we had just makes it even sweeter.”
“It just shows that anything is possible,” Faychak added. “No matter where you go to school or how you get recruited… each school has its chance to build their program and to be the best they can be. I think that anyone who comes here buys into it, and it just helps build up what a solid program should be and hopefully brings us to the next level.”
With a historic weekend to remember now in Clark and Faychak’s rearview mirrors, the duo and the rest of the Chattanooga beach volleyball team turns the page on 2024 and looks ahead to a new year and season in 2025. And what might be on Clark and Faychak’s mind heading into the 2025 campaign, you might ask?
“Another championship,” Faychak quipped.
“That’s definitely the goal,” Clark added. “We want to win the conference regular season outright. We don’t want to share the conference title; we want to win it outright.
“After that, we want to win the conference tournament and go to California. We have the team to do it, we have the skill, everyone’s buying in, everyone knows we can do it, and I’m just really excited for every game this season.”
The Mocs also have the unique opportunity to host this year’s Ohio Valley Conference Tournament for the first time in program history, with the tournament set to run April 24-26, 2025, at the UTC Sports Complex. For Clark and Faychak, it provides a dreamlike scenario for UTC to potentially bring home the gold on their home court.
“Being able to do that for my senior year is something I’ve been talking to Darin about all three years that I’ve been here; just trying to inch our way into being able to host it.,” Clark said. “To not only win again but to do it on our home turf in front of all our friends and all our family really would just mean the world to me.
“There’s nothing sweeter than that. I couldn’t picture anything better in my dreams than that.”
“I think it would be a dream to hold up that trophy on our home court with everyone we know there and to be able to show the city of Chattanooga that this is what we’re really about,” Faychak continued. “To show that we’re here and we’re here for a long time, that would be amazing.”
Not only have players like Neva Clark and McKenna Faychak left their impact on the Chattanooga beach volleyball program, but they’ve left their mark on the next generation of a growing sport.
“To be able to go back and take what I’ve learned and impact younger kids has always meant the world to me,” Clark mentioned. “It means so much to me that the community gets to see us and then if I can even inspire one girl that wants to play beach volleyball, that would be enough for me.”
“I think helping to grow the sport here in Tennessee is huge,” Faychak said. “It’s slowly growing and I think showing people that we’re here, we’re young and we can do it helps grow the sport in Tennessee.”
And as a year full of firsts comes to a close, a year of new goals presents itself. Having already accomplished so much for their program, their university and for their city, players like Clark and Faychak bring in a new mindset for 2025: we’ve done it once, so why not do it again?
“I just want to say that I hope I see you all at the beach volleyball court this spring,” Clark concluded, addressing Mocs fans ahead of the 2025 season. “We’re going to have an awesome team this year that’s going to be fun to see and it’ll be a super fun environment to come out to at the UTC Sports Complex. We hope to see you there!”