HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. – Cool weather greeted the opening day of the USA Volleyball Collegiate Beach Championships at Hermosa Beach Pier. Pool play started for the 24-pair women’s field, and the men’s 11-team field.

In the women’s bracket, all six pools are led by teams from the top 11 seeds, including: No. 1 Kelly Claes/Sara Hughes (USC, Pool A); No. 11 Anika Wilson/Deahna Kraft (Pepperdine, Pool B); No. 3 Delaney Knudsen/Madalyn Roh (Pepperdine, Pool C); No. 10 Rachel Nieto/Kobi Pekich (Long Beach State, Pool D); No. 5 Corinne Quiggle/Brittany Howard (Pepperdine, Pool E); and No. 7 McKenna Witt/Madison Witt (Arizona, Pool F).

The men’s pools feature two ties in the three-team abbreviated Pool A. Two teams sitting at 1-0 after the first day: Lucas Yoder/Michael Saeta (USC/UC Irvine); and Louis Richard/Matt Butler (Long Beach State). In Pool B, UCLA’s Jackson Bantle/Hagen Smith are tied for tops, 2-0, with UC Irvine’s Reid Dominguez/Dillon Hoffman. In Pool C, Hawaii’s Brett Rosenmeier/Colton Cowell lead the way at 2-0.

Pool play for the women finishes on Friday at 10:30 a.m. PT. The men’s pool play action will conclude at 12 p.m. PT. Starting at noon the women, followed by the men, will have a play-in matches. The women for two spots into the round of 16 and the men for the fourth quarterfinal spot. The women will play through the round of 16 and quarterfinals on Friday, the men through the quarterfinals.

ABOUT THE EVENT
The top two teams out of each men’s pool will advance, the highest of the third-place finishers (according to point ratio) will advance. A play-in match will be played between the next two third-place finishers based on point ratio for the final single-elimination bracket spot.

In women’s play, there are six pools of four teams. At the conclusion of pool play, the top two of each pool will advance to single elimination. The two highest of the third-place pool finishers, based on their point ratio, will advance; the 3rd-6th ranked of the third-place pool finishers will play play-in matches to earn the final two Rd of 16 spots.

The USA Volleyball Collegiate Beach Championships is the first stop of the Team USA Summer Champions Series, presented by Comcast. The women’s final will air live on NBCSN at 6 p.m. ET on May 13. The men’s final will air taped delayed after the women’s match. The winners of the event will earn a spot on a USAV collegiate beach national team, which competes throughout the U.S. and abroad at FIVB events.

Athletes

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