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Long Beach State University Athletics
Big West Conference Adds Sand Volleyball To Sports Lineup
6/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Beach Volleyball
Courtesy: Mike Villamor, Big West Conference
IRVINE, CA - The Big West today announced the addition of sand volleyball as the conference's 17th-sponsored sport, which will begin its first year of competition in 2015-16.
Four Big West institutions currently field sand volleyball teams: Cal Poly, CSUN, Long Beach State and Hawai'i. In addition, CSU Bakersfield and Sacramento State have accepted an invitation to join the Conference as associate members in sand volleyball, giving the league the minimum six teams required for postseason NCAA automatic qualification.
The Big West inaugural sand volleyball season will debut in the spring of 2016. A six-team, double-elimination conference tournament also will take place at a date and site to be determined. Initially, there will be no regular season round-robin conference competition.
"The Big West Conference is eager to begin this new venture in the sport of sand volleyball," said Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell. "The growing popularity of sand volleyball is evident and we look forward to watching these six institutions compete for NCAA Championships. The Big West also welcomes Bakersfield and Sacramento State to the fold as they help raise the overall profile of this newly formed conference sport."
Big West institutions already have displayed proven success in sand volleyball, which made its debut in 2012 as an NCAA emerging sport and had its postseason competitions conducted through the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Long Beach State won the 2013 AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball national championship, and finished as a national runner-up in 2012 and 2015. Hawai'i also has competed in the eight-team national bracket in each of the last two seasons.
"I believe the Big West has taken a positive step in ensuring our place, as a conference, in the national championship picture. This ensures the conference champion an automatic bid in the NCAA Championship," said Long Beach State head coach Brian Gimmillaro. "Long Beach State has played in three of the four national championship matches. We will do everything we can to continue and enhance this success for our school and conference."
"The Big West has an incredible volleyball history, and it's very exciting to be affiliated with one of the first sand volleyball leagues formed nationally," said Sacramento State Athletics Director Bill Macriss. "We look forward to playing against so many great institutions on the West Coast and competing for the league's eventual NCAA automatic berth."
