COLLEGIATE SAND VOLLEYBALL
Digging in for the long haul
Sand volleyball cleared as an NCAA championship sport for the 2016 season
RAINBOW RUN
Katie Spieler helped the University of Hawaii get off to a quick start in 2015, including a 2-0 record at the USA Volleyball Beach Collegiate Challenge and a No. 1 ranking by the AVCA.
but the nation’s top college teams have been in full competition mode without the long-an- ticipated designation.
T NEW TEAM
Ashley Smith is part of a new program at TCU riding the buzz of sand volleyball.
30 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
usavolleyball.org/mag
Highly ranked teams like Pepperdine University (a winner of two of the three AVCA Sand National Championships) and University of Hawaii (top-ranked after three weeks of competition in 2015) competed in the USA Volleyball Beach Collegiate Chal- lenge in mid-March at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. Sand volleyball will be the 90th full-
fl edged NCAA championship sport beginning in the spring of 2016.
April Ross, who is one of the favorites
he news came a few months ago that sand volleyball would be an offi cial NCAA championship sport in 2016,
with Kerri Walsh Jennings for Olympic gold in beach volleyball in the 2016 Olympics, was excited to hear the news that the NCAA designated the sport for championship play. “Beach volleyball as an NCAA sport is the pipeline link we’ve been missing,” Ross said. “I think this is going to help the sport become much more mainstream and create awareness about how awesome our sport is to watch and play at all levels. It’s so exciting for the future of our sport!” USA Volleyball has been holding col- legiate beach volleyball tournaments like the one in Chula Vista (which also included teams from Cal State Bakersfi eld, Grand Canyon University and TCU) since 2006. It has also provided support to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)
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