Cal Selected To Third Straight NCAA Championship

BERKELEY – The California beach volleyball team is going dancing for the third straight year after earning an NCAA Championship berth Sunday morning. The No. 7 Golden Bears (28-9) received their highest seeding in school history and will face No. 10 Long Beach State (21-13) in the first round on Friday at noon PT in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
 
It'll be a first-round rematch between the two teams, as Cal defeated the Beach 3-2 last season to earn the first NCAA Championship victory in program history. Long Beach has won seven of its last nine, including a Big West Championship semifinal win over top-seeded Cal Poly, but fell in the final round to Hawai'i.
 
On the other side of the bracket lies a second potential rematch with UCLA, with the second-ranked Bruins facing No. 15 Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
 
The 17-team, single-elimination tournament will be televised on the ESPN family of networks. ESPNU will provide the coverage for Friday's opening round with Saturday's matches airing on ESPN2 and Sunday's final airing on ESPN. Additional championship info can be found at NCAA.com.