2018 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship

The 2018 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship was the third annual tournament deciding the NCAA champions for the 2018 collegiate beach volleyball season. It took place May 4-6 in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and was hosted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It was a double elimination tournament, with a single championship match.

Qualification

The tournament was open to teams from Divisions I, II, and III. The top three teams each in the East and West Regions qualified automatically, and two additional teams were selected at large. Selections for the tournament were announced on April 29 on NCAA.com.

Team	Record	Bid Type	Region	Appearance	Last Bid
UCLA	35–3	Automatic	West	Third	2017
Pepperdine	24–3	Automatic	West	Third	2017
Hawaii	35–3	Automatic	West	Third	2017
Florida State	27–7	Automatic	East	Third	2017
USC	25–12	At-large	West	Third	2017
South Carolina	24–7	At-large	East	Second	2017
LSU	26–12	Automatic	East	Second	2017
FIU	22–10	Automatic	East	First	Never

All-Tournament Team

At the conclusion of the championship, the following pairs were announced as members of the All-Tournament Team.

Pair Rank	Team	Players
1	UCLA	Nicole McNamara & Megan McNamara
2	Florida State	Katie Horton & Hailey Luke
3	Hawaii	Carly Kan & Laurel Weaver
4	Pepperdine	Skylar Caputo & Alexis Filippone
5	UCLA	Izzy Carey & Megan Muret

Media Coverage

In December 2017, ESPN was awarded a 5-year contract to provide television coverage of the NCAA Women’s Beach Volleyball Championship, beginning with the 2018 season. In addition, the Selection Show for the championship tournament was broadcast on April 29 at NCAA.com.

Television channels

The 14 dual matches comprising the entirety of the championship were broadcast on the following channels:

Day 3: National Championship Final - ESPN
Day 3: Semifinal/Elimination Bracket, Final - ESPN2
Day 2: Third Round and Elimination Bracket, Second Round - ESPN2
Day 2: Elimination Bracket, Third Round - ESPNU
Day 1: Opening Rounds - ESPNU