Probably not of interest to (m)any, but wanted to mention, since I'd forgotten and am a fan, that the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship is taking place this weekend in (their seemingly permanent home of) Gulf Shores AL.
I watched some in prior years, and the NCAA (and/ or whoever they contract out to) does a nice job of providing live video streams of all 5 competition courts. Links to those streams-
For tomorrow (coverage starts at noon MT) -
http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2017/05/06
For Sunday (starting at 9:00 AM MT) -
http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2017/05/07
Live interactive championship bracket -
http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/beach-volleyball/nc/2017
Note- For those who want/ like commentary, maybe more replays, etc., looks like TRU TV is also televising much of the championships, although I assume they can largely only cover a court or two at a time. Check TV listings for more info on that option.
Note 2-
Pac 12 participation - There are 2 Pac teams in the Championships, undefeated and HEAVY championship favorite USC, and #2 seed UCLA. In the 1st day of action, USC as expected cruised with wins over #8 South Carolina (the "other" USC) and #5 seed Hawaii. UCLA is 1-1 after beating #7 LSU before losing a squeaker to #3 seed Pepperdine. As can be seen in the above-linked bracket, this isn't a single elimination tournament, so UCLA is still alive, but now in the "win or go home" Elimination Bracket.
Note 3 - For those who like to see stars early on in their careers- at least per the seemingly knowledgeable Volleytalk forum (I don't know enough to be able to judge), the #1 pair for USC, Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes, is considered the next "Big thing" in American volleyball, taking over as the big "Olympic hopefuls" for such players a Kerri Walsh-Jennings, Misty May-Treanor, April Ross, etc. as time goes on.
(In the worthless gossip front for a sport probably none of you care much about- there is a (totally unsubstantiated) rumor on Volleytalk that Ms. Walsh Jennings, now 38, may be trying to get Ms. Hughes, who is a senior, to be her partner in her attempt to make one more Olympics. Ms. Walsh- Jennings just broke up with her partner from the last Olympics Ms. Ross, one of the top players in the world, partially or mostly because the former is in a feud with the major American beach tour (the AVP) over moneys owed to her, and the AVP's requiring a 3 year exclusive contract be signed to compete on their tour.)
Note 4- One thing disliked by most serious beach fans, the NCAA does NOT offer an individual championship bracket/ tournament to go with the team championship. USA Volleyball added a College pairs championship this year to help fill that void, and it will be held next Thursday - Saturday in Hermosa Beach (per
http://www.flovolleyball.tv/article...nnounces-collegiate-beach-pairs-championships ). Although better than nothing, one limitation of that tournament is that only U.S. players can play in it, and a few of the top teams are from other countries.