NCAA national championship beach volleyball tourney now through Sunday in Gulf Shores

Gulf Shores is the headquarters for the NCAA national championship tournament for beach volleyball. The Alabama beach town has hosted the tourney since its inception in 2016.

This year, the 16-team tourney is going on now through Sunday. Schedule, details and tickets are available here.

The tourney was not supposed to return to Gulf Shores this year. For the first time, it was slated for Huntington Beach, Calif. However, the Good Lord and the California fires of 2024 did not cooperate with that site, and the tourney unexpectedly returned to its Gulf Shores home.

Two SEC teams made the national tourney this year, LSU and Texas.

In the nine years of the tourney, one team has been dominant: the University of Southern California. The Lady Trojans have won six of the nine national championships, including the past four. This year, USC is back in Gulf Shores trying for a five-peat.

The games played are single elimination and involve 16 colleges that earned selection after the regular season. The final game to determine the national champion will be played on Sunday.

Jim ‘Zig’ Zeigler writes about Alabama’s people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths.  He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at [email protected].

Don’t miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.