Six teams, 32 pairs invade West Valley for CCCAA Beach Volleyball Championships starting Thursday

CCCAA Beach Volleyball Championships: Team schedule (Thu) l Pairs schedule (Fri.) l Pairs bracket schedule (Sat.)

SARATOGA, Calif. – West Valley College, home to one of the best beach volleyball facilities in the country, will be the center of action for three days when it hosts the 2018 California Community College Athletic Association Beach Volleyball Championships beginning on Thursday.

Six programs – four from the south and two from the north – will vie for the team title on Thursday, starting at 9 a.m., before 32 teams from 20 different colleges take to the sand on Friday and Saturday to determine the pairs championship.

Defending champion MiraCosta (16-4) returns to this year’s field as the No. 2 seed after dispatching Riverside City and Golden West during regional action last week. It’ll be joined by top-seeded Long Beach City (17-4-1), third-seeded Irvine Valley (11-8) and fourth-seeded Moorpark (13-3), each of which survived regional championship play as well.

Sierra College (14-3) will bring the north’s top seed into the tournament and will be joined by Cabrillo (13-1). The Wolverines beat Feather River and Gavilan on their home court while the Seahawks turned back West Valley and Foothill to claim their spot in the championship field.

Long Beach, Cabrillo and Moorpark will comprise Pool 1 while Sierra, MiraCosta and Irvine Valley will make up Pool 2. Teams wil play each team in their respective pool once with the top pool winners squaring off for the CCCAA Championship at 4 p.m. MiraCosta downed Grossmont, 3-2, for last year’s title.

The team competition yields to the individual tournament that begins on Friday morning. Eight pools consisting of four pairs each will begin in waves at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., with the top two teams in each pool advancing to single-elimination bracket play on Saturday.

The championship, claimed by Long Beach’s Sarah Miller and Paige Panter last year, is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Beach volleyball is the fastest-growing sport among California community colleges. A total of 34 schools sponsor the sport, up from eight from 2017 and 16 in its inaugural 2016 season.

The West Valley beach volleyball facility is one of the top sand courts in the country. It features six, wind-screen-protected courts, bleachers with 150 fold-down seats, and a state-of-the-art scoreboard.