About Beach Volleyball
On April 20, 2009, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) approved beach volleyball as an emerging sport for women, creating both participation and scholarship opportunities for collegiate beach volleyball athletes. The collegiate sport of beach volleyball is played on an outside court of sand that is slightly smaller (8x8 meters) than the size of the surface court used for indoor volleyball (30x30 feet). The net height for women is the same for sand and indoor volleyball (7'4 1/8").
During the first season of competition in 2011-12, 15 Division I schools sponsored beach volleyball programs. That number doubled by the 2012-13 academic year with the addition of 14 additional schools from Division I and one school from Division II. Beach volleyball is one of the fastest growing NCAA sports and is currently sponsored by 69 institutions.
Beach volleyball is played in the spring season and NCAA rules require a minimum of eight contests, at least three of which must be dual competitions. There is a limit of 16 dates of competition per season. The format for dual competitions is similar to college doubles tennis. A dual competition consists of five doubles teams competing in a flighted dual or tournament competition. The winner of a dual is the school whose doubles teams win at least three of the five flighted matches. In tournament competition, individual team winners can be named in each flight and the team champion is the one scoring the most points in all five brackets combined.
The American Volleyball Coaches Associations (AVCA) has sponsored a national championship in the sport since its inception in the inaugural 2011-12 season.
