Déjà Vu? Nebraska Beats Stanford for
Collegiate Nationals Title
By Dave Wegbreit
Fresh from defeating the Cardinals for the NCAA title in indoor last December, University of Nebraska’s Jordan Larson and Sarah Pavan defeated Stanford’s Cynthia Barboza and Bryn Kenhoe for the Collegiate Nationals Beach Volleyball Championship. The second annual competition at Crown Point Park in San Diego, Calif. took eight women from the nation’s best indoor college teams off the courts and onto the sand.
Last year was “Go Pro, Or Go Home.” Cameras followed some of the best indoor college players as they trained on the sand, picked partners and competed for a shot at a berth into the AVP in a competition/reality TV show. This year was something different. CSTV, the college sports-oriented kid brother of CBS, hooked up with the American Volleyball Coaches Association to make the tourney more NCAA-friendly. Instead of partnering with strangers, current undergrad teammates from eight of the top schools got together. Of course, the biggest change was the purse. Instead of competing for a shot at an open door into the AVP — it would have violated their NCAA eligibility — these student-athletes competed for personal, and school, pride. Oh, yeah and a pretty sweet trophy too. And, while you’ll be able to catch the games TV, CSTV nixed the reality TV-style programming — the tourney came just before finals and none of the girls could sacrifice the extra time away from their teams or their books.
Eventually, these college superstars may see even more time on the sand. The attention CSTV is giving the sport might give beach volleyball the boost to get it slotted as a NCAA sport.
Semifinals:
Stanford over Cal Poly, 21-16, 21-12 (34 minutes)
Nebraska over San Diego, 23-21, 21-16 (36 minutes)
Championship match:
Nebraska over Stanford, 19-21, 23-21, 18-16 (60 minutes)
(Check out more on the Collegiate Nationals in our June digital issue and watch the competitions in everything from beach volleyball to wakeboarding throughout May on CSTV. For a complete list of air dates go to CSTV.com)
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