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What 2 Watch 4
The 2024 beach volleyball season is set to start with the bang for Big West teams competing across the country.
Highlighting the first week of action is the power-packed field taking to the sand at Queen’s Beach in Waikiki, with all five competitors seeing themselves in the AVCA Collegiate Beach Top 10.
Hawai’i first takes on No. 5 LMU and No. 2 UCLA on Thursday, before matchup up against seventh-ranked Stanford and two-time defending champion and preseason favorite USC on Friday as part of the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic. UH opens the season as one of three ranked Big West squads, checking in at No. 9.
In 10th to start the season is Big West defending champion Long Beach State, who is opening the season closer to home, playing Vanguard and No. 19 Pepperdine on Saturday.
Cal Poly heads to Lake Charles, La., as McNeese State hosts the Cowgirl Beach State to begin its inaugural season. The 20th-ranked Mustangs are set to compete against Tarleton State, Nicholls, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and the host Cowgirls.
In Arizona to open the year, Cal State Bakersfield is set to tangle with Boise State, Arizona, Colorado Mesa and UTEP in the CACTUS Classic in Tucson, Ariz., to serve up the Andy Fulenwider era.
Sacramento State opens the season at the Corban Invitational in Salem, Ore. The Hornets will go up against NAIA sides Bushnell and Corban along with a Saturday match against Portland.
CSUN is set to play two at Great Park in Irvine, Calif., competing against The Master’s and hosts CUI to start the year.
Under the direction of first-year head coach Joe Rich, UC Davis hosts on the first weekend of the season, welcoming Pacific and Utah to the UC Davis Beach Courts, for a pair of matches against each foe.
Poll Position
The season starts with three Big West teams in the preseason edition of the AVCA Collegiate Beach Coaches’ Poll for Feb. 16. Hawai’i clocks in at No. 9 to lead the way with defending Big West champion Long Beach State right behind at 10th. Cal Poly is in 20th to open the 2024 campaign.
2024 Championship Changes
In December, The Big West announced the site, date and format for the upcoming 2024 Big West Beach Volleyball Championship.
The modernization of The Big West Championship will allow for the best possible student-athlete experience for all participants. The adjusted format and schedule ensures every participant has the opportunity to play at their peak performance level with ample rest between matches. The thoughtful approach to seeding and bracket style with the addition of pool play will also see more teams advance to the second day of competition.
Hosted by Long Beach State, the 2024 Championship event is set to take place on the courts at Long Beach City Community College on April 25-26.
The new Championship format sees an updated methodology of seeding which creates an index to seed the field with takes each institution’s winning percentage as well as their opponent winning percentage into account in the formula.
Previously held on Friday and Saturday, the one-day shift ahead on the calendar with a Thursday start allows for The Big West champion and National Collegiate Championship automatic qualifier to be determined under the Friday night lights. This schedule adjustment also affords the NCAA committee ample time to consider all Big West teams for inclusion on the national stage.
The Championship will feature all seven competitors converging on the courts in a revamped format. The first day of the event will see every team in action in modified pool play. After Day 1, the field will be narrowed to six and a single-elimination bracket will commence for Day 2 to crown The Big West champion.
Pool A sees teams seeded 2, 3, 6 and 7 compete against each other on Thursday, April 25. The No. 3 seed will open play against the No. 6 seed, and the No. 2 seed competes against the No. 7 team with the Pool A winners playing each other for first and second in the pool. The other two teams in the pool will then compete against each other to determine the final team who will advance to the second day of competition.
The three teams in Pool B - seeded No. 1, 4 and 5 – will square off in a round robin on Thursday to determine positioning for Friday’s single-elimination bracket. The winners from both pools will earn a bye to the Championship semifinals.
The 2024 National Collegiate Championship is set for May 3-5 in Gulf Shores, Ala., which has been the site of the Championship since its Then in 2025, all eyes will turn to Huntington Beach, Calif., as Long Beach State plays host to the national event in 2026 and ‘27.
2023 Postseason Rewind
On April 22, 2023, eleventh-ranked and second-seeded Long Beach State completed an undefeated bracket run to claim its first Big West Beach Volleyball Championship at Queen’s Beach in Honolulu.
The Beach was out to impress early in the Championship, taking both Friday matches 5-0 to advance to Saturday’s winner’s bracket semifinal against host and No. 1 seed Hawai’i. The Rainbow Wahine had defeated Long Beach State three times in the 2023 campaign, all by a 3-2 score.
The final score was the same in the bout to get to the last match of the event, but this time in favor of the women in Black and Gold.
After going 2-1 in the first day of play, three-time defending champion and fifth-seeded Cal Poly advanced through the elimination bracket with an upset of their own. No stranger to weaving their way into the championship match the hard way, Cal Poly hoisted the trophy in 2018 from the bottom half of the bracket.
The Mustangs started the day by beating third-seeded UC Davis 4-1 to advance to the elimination bracket finals. After the Beach sent Hawai’i down in the winner’s bracket semifinal, Cal Poly posted a dramatic 3-2 comeback victory against UH to avenge a Friday loss to advance to the finale as the lowest-seeded side playing for the trophy.
LBSU was able to cool any early-day momentum the Mustangs built, powering to the 4-1 decision to secure The Big West’s automatic bid to the 2023 National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship May 5-7 in Gulf Shores, Ala.
Both the Beach and the ‘Bows earned entry into the revamped bracket, but fell in their first round matches. Long Beach State pushed California to the brink before succumbing, 3-2, and Hawai’i dropped their weather-delayed first match to LMU, 3-1, to cap the season.
All-American Experience
Last year’s back-to-back Big West Pairs Team of the Year, Brooke Van Sickle and Kaylee Glagau, were all tapped as back-to-back All-Americans in 2023. While Van Sickle has matriculated, the senior Glagau is back in the mix for Hawai’i as part of 16 returners on the roster for the Rainbow Wahine.
Coaches' Corner
In June, UC Davis welcomed Joe Rich as the Aggies’ leader on the sand. The third UC Davis beach volleyball coach in program history took over after a solo-season stint for Gretchen Hand. Rich comes to UC Davis with over 25 years of coaching experience including previously serving as assistant coach at Big West foe Cal Poly for two seasons.
Cal State Bakersfield is also seeing a new face on the sideline in 2024. Roadrunner alumnus Andy Fulenwider was tapped as the fourth head coach of the program in October. Fulenwider has been a coach and private trainer for AVP players since 2018 and worked in the assistant coach capacity at NAIA’s Saint Katherine, along with strong roots in the California beach volleyball club scene.
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