Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Pac Profile: UCLA beach volleyball's Kamila Tan

Pac Profile: UCLA beach volleyball's Kamila Tan: Kamila Tan talks about her journey to becoming a Bruin and what it's like to be coached by two Olympians.

Arizona Sand Volleyball Announces 2016 Schedule

Courtesy: Arizona Athletics

Arizona Sand Volleyball Announces 2016 Schedule

By: Arizona Athletics
Release: January 25, 2016

TUCSON, Ariz. – Head coach Steve Walker and the Arizona sand volleyball program has announced its inaugural 2016 schedule. This will be the first-ever year Arizona Sand Volleyball is recognized as an NCAA Championship sport. The Wildcats will host four events at the Sand Volleyball Courts at Jimenez Field.

The first chance for fans to see the 2016 Cats will be on Saturday, Feb. 27 for the Red-Blue Exhibition.

"With this being the first season the sport of beach volleyball will be contested as an NCAA Championship sport, we wanted to give ourselves every opportunity to be selected to the championships by playing a highly competitive schedule vs. many of the best teams in the country", said Head coach Steve Walker.

Arizona will officially open the 2016 season by competing against Colorado Mesa on March 3, to then go on and host the Arizona Invitational on March 4-5.

The Wildcats will have TCU, Cal Poly, Cal and LMU in for the two-day event. UA will open the season against Colorado Mesa on Thursday, March 3 at 4 p.m. In the Arizona Invitational the following day, the Cats will face TCU at 2 p.m., LMU at 11 a.m. and Cal on Saturday at 6 p.m., before closing the tournament.

UA will then head to the coast to compete against Concordia University in Irvine, Calif. on Friday, March 11 at 11 a.m. The following day Sand Cats will take on UCLA in Los Angeles, Calif. on Saturday, March 12 at 10 a.m.

Arizona will then host the Wildcat Spring Challenge on March 25-26. The Cats will host New Mexico, Arizona State, CSUN and CSU-Bakersfield in the event. UA will play three times on the weekend, as it will face CSU-Bakersfield at 2 p.m. and New Mexico at 3:30 p.m. on Friday and CSUN on Saturday at noon.

"We are once again very happy to announce we have multiple home events at BearDown Beach, spread out through the course of the season. We love playing in front of what we truly believe is the best fan base in the conference, at the best facility in the country and trust me, teams are always motivated to knock us off on our own sand", said Walker.

The following weekend, the Wildcats will travel to Long Beach, Calif. for a single-day matchup with reigning AVCA national team champions Long Beach State.

Arizona remains on the road as they head to Malibu, Calif. the weekend of April 1-3 to compete against CSU Bakersfield, LMU, and host Pepperdine. They continue on the road to New Orleans, La. to participate in the Tulane Invitational against, Spring Hill College, Georgia State and LSU the weekend of April 8–9.

Cats will then travel back home to challenge its rivals to the north for a home match on Thursday, April 14 at 3 p.m.

The Wildcats will close the regular season with another rival match at Arizona State on Wednesday, April 20.

On April 28 - May 1, UA will participate in the Pac-12 Tournament, with the tournament champion being crowned on the last day of tournament.

Arizona will then have the opportunity to head to Gulf Shores, Ala. for the second time to compete in the NCAA Tournament on Friday, May 6 – Sunday, May 8.

For continued coverage of Arizona Wildcat sand volleyball, visit ArizonaWildcats.com. Follow the Cats! Fans can keep up with the latest in Arizona athletics by following us on Twitter (@arizonasandvb), Instagram (arizonasandvolleyball).

Monday, January 25, 2016

Texas A&M University-Kingsville head beach volleyball coach Tanya Allen announced her first signing class

Beach Volleyball | 1/21/2016 11:04:00 AM | Kelvin Queliz, Director of Sports Information (361-593-2870)

Allen Announces First Beach Volleyball Class

KINGSVILLE, Texas (Beach Volleyball) – Texas A&M University-Kingsville head beach volleyball coach Tanya Allen announced her first signing class as sisters Kadi and Marci Shipman and Maelee Sowa inked a national letter of intent to play for the upstart program, set to begin 2016-17.

Kadi and Marci Shipman played beach volleyball for Georgetown High School under head coach Bobby Jones. Kadi intends to major in pre-med and Marci plans on earning a degree in business and marketing.

The daughters of Gary and Laura Shipman, twin sisters Kadi and Marci Shipman have two other siblings; Jordi and Alan.

A three-sport athlete for Sealy High School, Sowa averaged 3.06 kills and 2.7 digs per set for the volleyball team, tallying 47 aces. The team appeared in the 25-4A volleyball playoffs in 2014-15 and 25-3A postseason in 2012-13. Sowa earned All-District 25-3A academic first team honors as a member of the softball team in 2012, followed by district honors in volleyball from 2013-15. No stranger to college athletics, Sowa's uncle played football at Mars Hill University and her cousin is currently on the Central Methodist University football team.

Sowa intends to major in biomedical science. The daughter of Clayton and Stephany Sowa, she has a brother Clay.

"I am extremely excited about the addition of the beach volleyball program," said Allen. "Kadi and Marci are experienced beach players and have trained with some very knowledgeable coaches. Maelee is very athletic and excels in indoor volleyball. I think she will transition to beach volleyball with ease. All three of these players are competitive, talented, and have the kind of character we want for our beach roster."

Javelina beach volleyball will practice and compete on sand courts that are part of the Phase I construction for expanded intramural and club sport facilities.

The program will be coached by the current Javelina volleyball staff and led by head coach and all-time winningest coach in school history, Tanya Allen. The season runs during the spring, and beach volleyball will host its first official NCAA collegiate championship in the spring of 2016, becoming the 90^th sport to hold an NCAA Championship.

For full coverage of Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball, please follow @JavelinaVB on Twitter and Instagram, like the /JavelinaVB Facebook page and subscribe to the JavelinaAthletics YouTube channel.

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Beach volleyball: Life's a beach but you don't earn big bucks

David McKenzie, having experienced the Olympics as an indoor volleyball player in London, wants to make it a unique double in beach volleyball at Tokyo 2020, with his new partner Ty Tramblie.

Published

Jan 24, 2016, 5:00 am SGT

Vanessa Kang

It is a common assumption of beach volleyball players that they are perennially enjoying the sun, the sand and the sea, basking in their well-toned bodies and bronzed skins.
Yet, according to David McKenzie, a former Olympian with the United States court volleyball team at the 2012 London Games, the life of the beach volleyball player is not all about the glitz and glamour.
He told The Sunday Times: "One thing with beach volleyball is that it's not the most lucrative sport in the world and there's not a lot of pride and glory.

"Money can be made, but you have to win prize money to do that, and it's definitely not like golf or tennis, so a lot of people who do professional beach volleyball have some other sources of income."

NOT A MONEY SPINNER
Money can be made, but you have to win prize money to do that, and it's definitely not like golf or tennis, so a lot of people who do professional beach volleyball have some other sources of income.
''DAVID MCKENZIE, who competed in indoor volleyball at London 2012, on his fledgling beach volleyball academy, which has a Singapore branch.

In fact, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Beach Volleyball Grand Slam had a prize money of only US$57,000 (S$81,500) last year, to be split between the winning pair.

It pales in comparison to the US$2 million prize money made by singles winners at tennis' French Open, which is the lowest paying of the four Grand Slam tournaments in a season.
McKenzie, 36, was in town to participate in an exhibition tournament at the Singapore Sports Hub yesterday, which featured the Singapore national team as well as some professional players from Japan.
Since the London Olympics, he has focused on his volleyball academy, and opened a branch here in 2014.
However, he is ready to revive his beach volleyball career, as he sets his sights on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"My academy is growing quite well and has gained a very good reputation... so I think I'm ready to get back in the game," said McKenzie.
"My plan is to stabilise my business and use it pursue my passion.
"I will focus on the academy in the off season and commit fully in the summer when the season starts."
In order to qualify for the Tokyo Games, he has found a new partner in Ty Tramblie, 35.
McKenzie said: "I have known Ty since I was in high school and he is a very good player.
"He hustles for every ball and I think with him, we can reach our maximum potential and make it to the Olympics, which is the ultimate goal."

Friday, January 22, 2016

Pilots introduce beach volleyball - Beach volleyball has been added as the newest WCC sport for the University of Portland

Pilots introduce beach volleyball

By Sal Aversa |

Beach volleyball has been added as the newest WCC sport for the University of Portland. Practice began at the beginning of the semester and play will begin during the spring sport season.

Six WCC teams — Pepperdine, LMU, Pacific, Saint Mary’s, San Francisco and Santa Clara — already have beach volleyball teams. This year will be the start of competitive beach play in the WCC.

Head coach Brent Crouch and his staff will be coaching both the fall indoor team and the spring beach and indoor teams. Crouch spent the last four years as the head coach of St. Mary’s beach volleyball program. During his time with the Gaels, Crouch coached beach volleyball in the USA Volleyball High Performance Program.

At UP, Crouch’s roster for beach will be comprised from the same list as the indoor team that played in the fall of 2015 and will use a ladder system to determine which teammates are paired together.

“We teach our players to be all-round players indoors so the transition won’t be a massive challenge for them,” Crouch said.

The University is in the midst of developing a beach volleyball facility, but the team will be practicing primarily in the Chiles Center for now. When the Oregon rain lets up, the Pilots will practice in the sand courts in front of Shipstad and Fields and Schoenfeldt Hall.

Crouch said that he expects the facility to be in place no later than their second season.

Sophomore Sarah Savoca and junior Brittney Markwith are excited for the introduction of the beach volleyball team, but say that because of lack of experience, it will be challenging.

“A lot of us don’t have experience with playing beach volleyball,” Savoca said. “But I think that it will help us connect better as a team for the fall and it can only improve our skill level.”

While Markwith has never played beach collegiately, coming from Hawaii, she grew up around the sport.

“I watched a lot of people play for fun on the beach so I’m excited to learn more about the game and I know it will bring our team together,” Markwith said.

The players will also have to adjust to playing in the sand, which is a challenge to mobility. For UP players, not having a sand court to train on could be a disadvantage.

“Moving around on the sand is so much different than indoors,” Savoca said. “You can’t jump as high or run down a ball as quickly. Conditioning is harder on sand also.”

Indoor volleyball is played six on six. Beach is played with two players on each side of the net so that the women have to be all-around players as opposed to focused on one task such as serving, hitting or setting.

The recruiting process will not change for UP. The school will continue to recruit for the indoor program, but the girls will play for both the indoor and beach volleyball teams. UP will not recruit players specifically for beach volleyball.

“It’s an amazing sport to play,” Crouch said. “The WCC is adding it as a sponsored sport, and of course, we wanted to be a part of that. It’s also a great compliment to what we do on the indoor side.”

Growth Evident As 2016 Training Camp Begins Cal Beach Volleyball Team Raises Expectations

Growth Evident As 2016 Training Camp Begins

Cal Beach Volleyball Team Raises Expectations

By Jonathan Okanes on Wed, January 20, 2016

Inside The Lair

BERKELEY – The Cal beach volleyball team came into existence two years ago and featured a roster made up almost exclusively of indoor players that had never played on the sand.

They laid the ground work for the evolution of the program. On the first day of practice for the 2016 season, the growth the Bears have made since was strikingly apparent.

Eighteen student-athletes crowded into the Clark Kerr Sand Courts for a three-hour workout that focused mostly on fundamentals. The major difference between the beginning of training camp this year compared with 2014 is that most of the players already had a pretty good sense of the fundamentals.

That’s because head coach Meagan Schmitt and director of volleyball Rich Feller have since been recruiting strictly beach-only athletes, and with each passing year those athletes arrive in Berkeley with more and more experience in the sand game.

“Every year, we get more and more players that have been playing sand a long time,” said senior captain Sarah Cole, a transplant from the Bears’ indoor team. “These girls have been doing it longer than the girls who are here already. The freshmen this year have been doing it just as long as the seniors.”

Of the 18 student-athletes on Cal’s 2016 roster, only three have indoor volleyball experience with the Bears. Cole played for the Bears for two years before deciding this season to only play on the sand. Junior Sabrina Blackwell has played indoor for three years while sophomoreSammy Furlan played inside for just one year after being recruited primarily as a beach volleyball player.

In the past two years, Schmitt has brought in 12 student-athletes as beach-only prospects, and this year’s freshmen class features three players who have participated in the Team USA High Performance program – Grace Campbell of Manhattan Beach, Mia Merino of Tustin and Kaity Uythoven of Valencia.

“This group of incoming freshmen have had the most youth beach volleyball experience in their development,” Schmitt said. “Rather than teaching them the beach game, as a coaching staff we can refine their beach game and elevate it. They already have such a great amount of knowledge coming into the program.”

The addition of the freshmen, the continued development of last year’s class and the leadership provided by seniors Cole, Ashley Johnson and soccer-turned-beach volleyball athlete Kory Lamet has the Bears thinking big in the first season ever in which beach volleyball will be recognized as a championship sport by both the Pac-12 and NCAA. The first-ever Pac-12 championships will take place at the end of April at USC and the inaugural NCAA Championships will be held the following week in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

“I’m phenomenally excited,” said Cole, who played on the Bears’ No. 1 pair all last season. “This year, we have so much talent that I think it’s going to be a wake-up call for everyone. The freshmen are so good that you are going to have to work hard to keep your spot that you may have been so comfortable in last year. Every single day you are going to have to fight for your spot. It’s going to be way more competitive.”

The Bears open the season March 4-5 at the Arizona Invitational. Their first home match is a tri-meet with Pacific and San Francisco on March 15.

“It was great to be out here this morning,” Schmitt said. “The girls put in a lot of hard work this fall which led us to feeling like we established a culture that we want for the upcoming season. We want to have excellence expected in every moment in our program, whether it be in the weight room, on the courts or in the classroom. It’s become the norm for this program.”

Nebraska announces beach volleyball schedule

See it in Print

20 hours ago • By the Lincoln Journal Star

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Trips to Hawaii and California highlight the Nebraska beach volleyball schedule, which was announced Thursday.

The Huskers' beach season begins March 9 with a closed scrimmage against Missouri Baptist at Hawks Championship Center. It will mark NU's first home competition in the program's four-year existence.

NU will head to Hawaii to compete against Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade on March 17. The following day, the Huskers will take part in the Hawaii Invite, which includes Loyola Marymount, USC and Hawaii. The trip will conclude with a match against Hawaii on March 20.

Nebraska will make three stops in California the following week.

The first-ever National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship will take place May 6-8 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. However, Nebraska will not take part in this year's event while continuing to evaluate how it wants to proceed as a program.

Nebraska went 6-2 last season, with both losses coming against the top-two ranked teams — USC and Hawaii. The Huskers finished the season ranked 12th.

2016 SCHEDULE

March: 9—Missouri Baptist (closed match); 17—vs. Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade, Honolulu; 18-19—Hawaii Invite, Honolulu; 20—at Hawaii; 23—vs. Irvine Valley College and Concordia (Calif.), Huntington Beach, Calif.; 24—at Long Beach State; 25—vs. Pepperdine and Caly Poly, Malibu, Calif.