HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. – The second day of the USA Volleyball Collegiate Beach Championships rolled into a scenic California sunset as teams narrowed down into Saturday’s semifinal field.

Beginning at eight in the morning, the competition stretched through the day as the sun set on the final match of the day, between Georgia State and Saint Mary’s. The women’s Saturday semifinals will feature two teams from Southern California, one from Pepperdine and Georgia State. The men’s semis have athletes from UCLA, Hawaii, a pair from USC/UC Irvine and a pair from Davenport/Cincinnati Christian.

In the round of 16, six women’s teams were pairs that were not at the 2017 NCAA Championship, and in the quarterfinals, half of the teams didn’t compete in this year’s NCAA Champs. The bracket presented an opportunity for schools to compete against unlikely regular season matchups. Saturday’s semifinals features: No. 1 Kelly Claes/Sara Hughes (USC) against No. 5 Corinne Quiggle/Brittany Howard (Pepperdine); No. 4 Terese Cannon/Nicolette Martin (USC) versus No. 17 Delaney Rohan/Chelsea Ross (Georgia State).

For Georgia State’s Rohan/Ross, the duo had a marathon of a day. In the round of 16 they used three sets to take out Louisiana State’s Claire Coppola/Kristen Nuss, 21-23, 21-10, 15-10. The final match of the day was Rohan/Ross against Saint Mary’s Lindsey Knudsen/Payton Rund. The two teams traded the first two sets before GSU edged it out for the final semifinal slot, 21-19, 17-21, 15-13, just before the sun set on Hermosa Beach Pier.

In men’s play, traditional indoor powerhouses proved their worth on the sand with Hawaii’s Brett Rosenmeier/Colton Cowell, UCLA’s Jackson Bantle/Hagen Smith, Lucas Yoder (USC)/Michael Saeta (UC Irvine) earning spots in the semifinals. The third seed in the tournament was of a mixed school pair, Nathan Vander Meer (Davenport)/Logan Webber (Cincinnati Christian), who earned their spot in the semifinals after a 2-1 record in pool play and a three-set victory against Long Beach State’s Louis Richard/Matt Butler in the quarterfinals, 21-13, 14-21, 15-13.

We can’t get enough of beach volleyball – watch #SCS2017 Collegiate Beach Championships May 13, 6pmET on @NBCSN https://t.co/VWkg2ulG7O pic.twitter.com/OQJ42jNWwd

— USA Volleyball (@usavolleyball) May 13, 2017

WATCH THE FINALS
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