COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Professional beach volleyball continues its season with a 1-Star FIVB World Tour tournament in Australia, while the collegiate season preps for its opening weekend.
Exhibition and scrimmage matches are over now that the NCAA 2017 season starts this week. It’s the second season of beach volleyball under the NCAA flagship and already schools are devoting more resources to the sport in the form of beach-only head coaches.
On the international stage, the FIVB Shepparton tournament continues with the main draw only format, but with just 16 teams, per gender, playing. The abbreviated format lends itself to a short tournament, taking place March 4-5. The U.S. has two men’s teams in the main draw, No. 5 Adam Roberts/Mary Lorenz and No. 14 Dave McKienzie/Ed Ratledge. The U.S. also has three teams on the reserve list, but with a low likelihood of making it into the main draw due to points.
| Shepparton 1-Star Roster | ||||||
| Athletes | Entry | |||||
| Adam Roberts | Marty Lorenz | Main Draw | ||||
| Ed Ratledge | Dave McKienzie | Main Draw | ||||
| Andrew Dentler | Raffe Paulis | Reserve | ||||
| Jace Pardon | Brittany Tiegs | Reserve | ||||
| Kerri Schuh | Aurora Davis | Reserve | ||||
NCAA SEASON STARTS
The wait is over for the second season of NCAA Beach Volleyball. Last year’s team champions Southern California will begin 2017 with the top rank in the AVCA Coaches preseason poll. Trailing them on the poll in order of 2016 finishes are Florida State and UCLA, respectively. Rounding out the top five are Pepperdine and Hawaii.
The season officially starts on March 2 with over 75 match-ups being played this weekend.
USA JUNIOR BEACH EVENTS TO OPEN THE MONTH OF MARCH
USA Beach High Performance is hosting a Skills Assessment Camp in Tavares, Florida, March 4-5. The camps take the place of previously formatted tryouts. There are just four zonal camps in 2017.
The Junior Beach Tour has two tournaments this coming weekend: March 4 in Kenner, Louisiana, and March 4-5 in Cedar Park, Texas.