BeachBows Earn At-Large Bid to NCAA Championship

The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (27-8) will make its sixth appearance in the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala., after gaining an at-large selection on Sunday.

Hawai'i was tabbed a No. 11 seed and will open competition on Friday, May 5 against No. 6 seed Loyola Marymount (28-8) at 4:00 p.m. CT/11:00 a.m. HT on ESPNU. It marks the second straight year the teams face off in the NCAAs. The Lions defeated the BeachBows, 3-0, in last year's opening round.

The tournament field increased by one to 17 teams this year and will now be a single-elimination tournament. An opening round dual for seeds 16 and 17 will be played on Wednesday, May 3. The round of 16 will occur on Friday, May 5, the quarterfinals and semifinals will be on Saturday, May 6 and the championship will be held on Sunday, May 7. UCLA earned the top seed, followed by No. 2 TCU and defending national champions USC at No. 3.

Long Beach State (24-14), which defeated the Rainbow Wahine last weekend in the Big West Championship semifinals, earned an automatic berth as the No. 9 seed and will face No. 8 seed California. The Beach make their first-ever trip to the NCAAs, giving the Big West multiple bids for the second straight year and for the third time overall.

UH has made six of seven NCAA Tournaments, missing out only in 2021. Overall, this will be UH's eighth trip as a team to Gulf Shores. The BeachBows also competed for the national title during the 2014 and '15 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Championships.

The event will be televised live by ESPN networks, with ESPNU providing live coverage of all eight matches on Friday May 5 starting at 4 a.m. HT. Live coverage will continue Saturday, May 6 on ESPN2, while the championship will air on ESPN. Additionally, live streaming coverage of every court starting with Friday's duals will be available on ESPN+.

#HawaiiBVB

Print Friendly Version