March 4, 2016
The 2016 San José State beach volleyball team begins the season this weekend at the Stanford Tournament with four matches on Saturday and Sunday, March 5 & 6, at the Stanford Sand Volleyball Stadium.
On Saturday, the Spartans face Pacific at 11:30 a.m., and Stanford at 2:30 p.m. Sunday's matches include Sacramento State at 8:30 a.m., and San Francisco at 2:30 p.m. The tournament is expected to be completed, regardless of this weekend's weather. Live updates will be available on GoStanford.com.
San José State begins the third season of beach volleyball competition and plays 19 matches during the year. The team plays 15 of its 19 matches in Northern California. After the tournament this weekend, the Spartans play Portland and San Francisco next Wednesday, March 9, in Larkspur.
The Spartans travel to Monterey on April 2 for matches against California and Sacramento State and an exhibition against Feather River College. The team faces crosstown rival Santa Clara on Thursday, April 7, at Los Gatos High School.
On the roster, eight of the 16 players are new to the program, and 13 players are from the indoor roster. Graduate student Julia Menhart, junior Lyndi Scholl and freshman Julia Golbeck are making their Spartan debut this weekend.
The 2016 beach season also marks the first year that the NCAA is sponsoring the sport and holding a championship. The inaugural championship will take place May 6-8 at the Gulf Shores Public Beach in Gulf Shores, Ala. Eight teams will compete for the championship, and tickets are now on sale for the championship at www.NCAA.com/beachvolleyball