SANTA MONICA, Calif. - The 2022 West Coast Conference Beach Volleyball Tournament will be held at Ocean Park Beach in Santa Monica, Calif. The event runs Thursday, April 28 to Saturday, April 30.
After being held at Dockweiler State Beach last year, the championship returns to Santa Monica where all the previous WCC Beach Volleyball Championships had been held prior to last year.
LMU is the defending two-time WCC Champion after capturing its inaugural title in 2019. The Lions upended three-time champion Pepperdine who did not drop a point in winning the debut event in 2016 and repeating in 2017 and 2018. The Lions beat Pepperdine twice in elimination matches on day two of the 2019 tournament to take the crown before topping the Waves in back-to-back matches once again in 2021.
Two WCC programs are ranked in the top-25 in the most current AVCA beach volleyball rankings: No. 4 LMU and No. 16 Pepperdine. The Lions topped the Waves, 5-0, when these teams met during the regular season on March 26.
LMU (26-7) enters the championship as the No. 1 seed and having won four of its last six. Seven of the Lions’ six losses this season have come against top-8 squads, and all seven have come against top-15 teams.
No. 2 seed Pepperdine (19-10) enters championship weekend after being idle last week. The Waves last competed at the TCU Tournament from April 15-16, dropping their last two matches against the Horned Frogs and Stanford.
Pepperdine owns most of the WCC postseason history, highlighted by two AVCA National Championships in 2012 and 2014. The Waves have competed in all four NCAA Nationals (2016-19), highlighted by a NCAA Runner-Up showing in 2017. After its WCC Championship last season, though, LMU put up a strong showing at NCAAs in 2021, topping LSU and UCLA before losing to USC and the rematch against the Bruins.
No. 3 seed Saint Mary’s (15-16) ienjoyed a seven-match winning streak earlier this season.
2022 WCC Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament Seedings:
- LMU
- Pepperdine
- Saint Mary's
- Santa Clara
- Portland
- San Francisco
- Pacific