INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - North Florida beach volleyball (24-11) will enter its first-ever appearance in the National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship with the No. 16 seed, as they will be set to take on No. 17 Chattanooga in the opening round on Friday, May 3, at 9 a.m. ET, in Gulf Shores, Ala., on ESPNU. The winner of the opening-round matchup will advance later that day to take on No. 1-seeded USC in the following round at 1 p.m., on ESPNU.
The NCAA Championship will span from May 3-5 with the second round and the semifinals taking place on Saturday, May 4, and the final match being on Sunday, May 5, at Gulf Place. The Ospreys earned an automatic berth to the postseason after winning the ASUN Championship for the fifth time in program history on Saturday, Apr. 27, in DeLand, Fla.
In its quest to a fifth conference title overall, as well as their second title in four years, UNF became the first team in ASUN Championship history to sweep each of its matches on their way to an undefeated 4-0 record in the tournament. They will take a seven-match win streak to Gulf Shores with four of their five pairs recently selected to the ASUN All-Conference teams.
This will be the first time in program history that the Ospreys will being seeing Chattanooga, while they have played USC twice with their last matchup during the 2023 season in Miami Beach, Fla. UNF will enter the postseason tournament as one of eight non-Power Five schools and one of 17 teams overall that made it to the national stage.