Tavares, Fla. – It all comes down to this weekend for the Colorado Mesa Beach Volleyball squad who makes the trip to the Sunshine State for their third appearance in AVCA Small College Beach Championships, held at Hickory Point Beach, April 14-16.
Seeding and Schedule
The AVCA released the seedings earlier this week the
Mavericks (11-9) enter the weekend as the No. 6 seed in the 14-team turnout. Defending champions Tampa were favored as the top-seed, Concordia Irvine jumping into the No. 2 spot, followed by Palm Beach Atlantic (3-seed), Spring Hill (4-seed) and Texas A&M Kingsville (5-seed) ahead of the Mavs.
Teams have been divided into four pools based on seasonal results through Sunday, April 10. There are two pools of three teams and two pools of four teams those breakdowns in the link above.
All teams will have pool play matches on Thursday. On Friday, the three-team pools will play a Challenge Pool match, awaiting the four-team pools to wrap up their third pool match. Friday afternoon will feature challenge round play for the teams based on the results of pool play and challenge pool matches.
The Mavericks draw a four-team pool with Palm Beach Atlantic, Wayne State (Neb.) and Catawba. Thursday they will open with Catawba at 12 p.m. EST, closing out day on with Wayne State at 5 p.m.
Following Thursday, the Mavs set up a meeting with the Sailfish of Palm Beach Atlantic to close out pool play on Friday at 2 p.m. EST.
Pairs Challenge
In addition to the team matches the championships also host a pairs challenge. Teams can enter up to two pairs into the challenge, pairs consisting of teams across all divisions.
Last year the duo of
Hailey Peters and
Savannah Ott made it all the way to championship match, taking a second-place finish behind a pair from TAMUK.
Each pair will play two pool play matches on Thursday. Ten pool champions will be crowned, each pairs challenge pool champions will be recognized and receive a medal at approximately 3 p.m. on Thursday after the completion of the 2 p.m. pool matches.
Tournament History
In their first appearance back in 2019, the team finished fourth. Making it to the gold bracket they fell by a 3-2 count to Texas A&M Kingsville in the semifinal round, and falling to Spring Hill in the third place dual to finish with a 4-3 record for the tournament.
With the season called off early in 2020, their returned to Hickory Point Beach in 2021 looking to build on their finish from two seasons ago.
In their return to the tournament, they found themselves securing a spot in the gold bracket for the second straight time. Last season the Mavs finished in a tie for fifth, rerouted yet again by the Javelinas in the quarterfinal round, wrapping up with a 2-3 record throughout the weekend.
Scouting the Opponents
Apr. 14 (Thurs.) | vs. Catawba | 12 p.m.
The Indians of Catawba enter the weekend 3-17, having lost the last 6-games prior to the weekend. They claimed wins over Saint Andrews, Huntingdon and Liberty.
Ariana Colon and Payton Medich have the most wins at four, bouncing between the ones and twos flights.
Apr. 14 (Thurs.) | vs. Wayne State (Neb.) | 5 p.m.
The Wildcats from Wayne State come in sporting a 11-3 record in just their third season of existence. On a five-game win streak dating back to March 11, they haven't played many Division II opponents, but did open their season with Nebraska their top competition to date.
Most recently they outlasted Ottawa (Kan.) winning at the 2, 3 and 4s. Kelsie Cada and and Jordan McCormick coming out on top at the twos with identical 21-19 set victories.
Apr. 15 (Fri.) | vs. Palm Beach Atlantic | 2 p.m.
At 15-13, the Sailfish are most recently coming off a 1-2 showing at the FAU Owls Tournament, there they blanked Saint Leo the only Division II opponent of the weekend.
The weekend prior they battled with top-seed Tampa splitting those meetings both by 3-2 decisions.
At the ones, Lunden Evans and Jazz Schmidt are an impressive 21-4. The twos pair of Abby Devido and Lyndzey Minter with a 15-9 record playing together.
