TAMPA, Fla.— Beach volleyball, The Sun Conference’s newest of its 16 sports, takes center stage this weekend as four of the six Sun beach-playing schools travel to the campus of Webber International for a quadrangular match.
Florida Memorial, St. Thomas, Warner and Webber all convene in Babson Park on Saturday for four matches in this, the inaugural season of beach volleyball as an official sport in The Sun Conference. Ave Maria and Southeastern also are fielding teams in the Sun this spring but they are not competing at Webber this weekend.
Southeastern, Ave Maria, Florida Memorial and St. Thomas all kicked off Sun Conference play two weekends ago in Miami Gardens, while Warner and Webber International begin their initial Sun play this weekend.
Saturday’s slate of four matches at Babson Park begins at 9 a.m. when the host Warriors battle the Bobcats of St. Thomas. Warner takes the sand at 11 a.m. when the Royals play St. Thomas. Florida Memorial and Webber are set to meet at 1 p.m., with Warner wrapping up the full day of play against Florida Memorial at 3 p.m.
Florida Memorial enters Saturday’s play with a 1-5 overall record and a 1-1 mark in the Sun. The Lions lost to Southeastern and defeated Ave Maria on Feb. 21-22 in their first conference action. They also dropped a non-Sun match to Webber International last weekend at the Florida International “FIU Bash.”
St. Thomas started its season with a loss to Southeastern and a 3-3 tie against Ave Maria in the conference-opening weekend at Miami Gardens back in February.
Warner officially stands 0-2 on the season with a pair of losses to NCAA DII Saint Leo. The Royals have also won a pair of exhibition matches in the early part of the season.
Webber International has been the busiest of the Sun’s beach teams, posting a 4-3 record in the early part of the spring season. Highlighting the Warriors’ start was a 3-2 victory over NCAA DII Saint Leo.
The Sun Conference’s inaugural championship tournament will be played at Webber International on April 4.