Three Pac-12 Beach Volleyball teams earn bids to 2021 NCAA Championship

2021 NCAA Beach Volleyball bracket

SAN FRANCISCO - Three Pac-12 Beach Volleyball teams will compete in the eight-team field for the 2021 NCAA Championship to be held May 7-9 in Gulf Shores, Ala.

This marks the second time the Pac-12 sent three teams to the NCAA postseason, the first coming in the event's debut in 2016 (UCLA, USC, Arizona). Either UCLA (2018, 2019) or USC (2016, 2017) has won every national crown since becoming an NCAA-sponsored sport.

Pac-12 champion and defending 2019 NCAA national champion UCLA (28-3) earned the top overall seed, while rival and Conference runner-up USC (26-4) followed as the No. 2 seed. The Bruins will face eighth-seeded TCU and the Trojans draw seventh-seeded Cal Poly in their opening matches on Friday.

STANFORD (23-11), in the midst of its best season in program history, captured 1-of-2 at-large bids available for its first-ever NCAA Championships berth and will play as the No. 6 seed. The Cardinal will open against No. 3 seed Florida State.

The championship will be held Friday through Sunday, May 7-9, in Gulf Shores, Ala., hosted by the City of Gulf Shores, University of Alabama at Birmingham and Orange Beach Sports Commission. The event will be televised live by ESPN networks, with ESPNU providing live coverage on Friday, May 7 starting at 10 a.m. ET. Live coverage will continue Saturday, May 8 on ESPN2, starting at 2 p.m. ET and Sunday, May 9 at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN2. The championship dual will air on ESPN2 Sunday, May 9, at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Additionally, live streaming coverage of every court throughout the tournament will be available on ESPN3. For all championship site match times and more information about the championship, log on to ncaa.com/beachvolleyball.