GULF SHORES, Alabama (May 3, 2018) – The waiting game, practice, and preparations are over, as are the autograph sessions and the ESPN interviews, it's now time for the eighth-seeded FIU beach volleyball team to hit the court on Friday morning as the Panthers face top-seeded UCLA in the first dual of the 2018 NCAA Beach Volleyball National Championships. First serve for FIU and the Bruins is at 10 a.m. ET and can be seen live on ESPNU, along with all of Friday's duals. Saturday's contests can be seen on ESPN2, and Sunday's championship dual, at 11:30 a.m., will be televised live on ESPN.
Click here for the 2018 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship page.
Click here for complete interactive championship bracket.
Click here to purchase NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship tickets
In addition, each dual on Courts 1-5, can be seen live on ESPN3 courtesy of ESPN's whip-around coverage. Click the respective link below to watch a specific court.
Click here to watch Federica Frasca and Margherita Bianchin on Court 1.
Click here to watch Lina Bernier and Erika Zembyla on Court 2.
Click here to watch Katie Friesen and Anabela Satarich on Court 3.
Click here to watch Taija Thomas and Dorina Klinger on Court 4.
Click here to watch Estefanie Bethancourt and Natalia Giron on Court 5.
The winner of the FIU-UCLA dual will face the winner of USC and Florida State on Friday at 4 p.m. ET. The losers from each of those matches will face off in the elimination bracket on Friday at 2 p.m.
The Panthers and Bruins met twice this season with UCLA winning both duals, 3-2, on March 10 in the East Meets West Classic in Manhattan Beach, California, and 5-0, in the Surf 'N' Turf Invitational on March 30, on South Beach.
The Panthers have two pairs that are teaming up this weekend that are ranked in the top 12 of their respective positions, as ranked by colegebeachvb.com.
Federica Frasca and
Margherita Bianchin are No. 7 at the one position, while
Natalia Giron and
Estefanie Bethancourt are No. 12 at the four-spot.
Other first round duals on Friday are (all times are Eastern):
Dual 2 – No. 5 South California vs. No. 4 Florida State (approx. 11 a.m.)
Dual 3 – No. 7 LSU vs. No. 2 Pepperdine (approx. Noon)
Dual 4 – No. 3 Hawaii vs. No. 6 South Carolina (approx. 1 p.m.)
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Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
