NCAA men’s volleyball, beach volleyball, and tennis launch their national championships this weekend
The GIST: ’Ship season is back, back again. Here’s the lowdown on this weekend’s hardware-hoisting:
🏐 Men’s volleyball: For all of last night’s semifinal stress, the tourney’s top two seeds are headed to tomorrow’s 5:10 p.m. ET final on ESPN. Reigning champs No. 1–seed UCLA looked unusually shaky in last night’s five-set thriller against No. 4 UC Irvine — not what the Bruins wanted before facing one of the few teams to beat them all season, No. 2 Long Beach State.
🏖️ Beach volleyball: Not enough volleyball for you? No worries — the beach gals’ tourney crams 16 matchups into three days, starting with today’s play-in game and first round and ending with Sunday’s 11 a.m. ET final. Only two schools, No. 1–seed USC and No. 2 UCLA, have ever won this natty, but No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 Florida State could break that trend. Time to bump, set, bop.
🎾 Tennis: If seeing Challengers has you in your tennis era, you’re in luck. The women’s and men’s 64-team, three-week tournaments start today, with their Super Regionals (aka Sweet 16) set by Sunday evening. Prep for some potential shake-ups, as neither reigning champ enters as the top seed: Virginia’s men come in at No. 3, and UNC’s women are seeded fourth.
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