PREVIEW: Lakehawk Beach Volleyball Preps for 2024 FCSAA/Region 8 Championship
BRADENTON, Fla. (Beach Volleyball) – The Lake-Sumter State College (LSSC) beach volleyball team travels to Bradenton, Fla. for the 2024 Florida College System Activities Association (FCSAA) Beach Volleyball Championship beginning on Friday, April 19. The tournament is hosted at UMR Sports Complex in Bradenton, Fla. for the second year.
The tournament is set up in double elimination format beginning Thursday evening and going through Saturday afternoon with the championship match set for 1:30 p.m. The Lakehawks enter the tournament as the third seed after Palm Beach State College (PBSC) and State College of Florida (SCF)
Lake-Sumter will open tournament play with the No. 2 seeded SCF on Friday at 2:00 p.m. In the regular season, SCF defeated the Lakehawks in both meetings, 4-1 and 4-1.
The number one seeded PBSC enters the tournament with just one loss in regular season conference play, which came against SCF on Friday, March 1. In two regular season matchups, the Lakehawks fell to the Panthers twice, 3-2 and 3-2.
The tournament will kick off Thursday evening with all-state awards. There will be five all-state pairs, 10 all-state individuals, five first team and five second team, one Pair of the Year and one Player of the Year.
The first match will be Thursday evening between No. 4 St. Johns River State College and No. 5 Florida State College at Jacksonville. The winner will advance to play Palm Beach State on Friday morning and the loser will move into the losers bracket.
The first and second place finishing teams will receive automatic bids to the 2023 NJCAA Beach Volleyball Championship at John Hunt Park Sand Volleyball Complex in Huntsville, Ala. from May 2-4. In addition to the two automatic bids, there are three at-large bids left to fill the twelve spots in the tournament.
Up next for the Lakehawks
The Lakehawks will face the No. 2 seed SCF to kick off the 2024 FCSAA Beach Volleyball Championship at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, April 19 at the UMR Sports Complex.
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