April 10, 2022

Pools and bracket announced for AVCA Small College Championships

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The seedings, pools and bracket for the 2022 AVCA Small College Beach Championships were announced on Sunday, Apr. 10 with Carson-Newman earning the no. 10 seed.

The Eagles finished the regular season with a program record for wins, going 14-9 during the 2022 season and finishing second at the SAC Beach Challenge.

Carson-Newman was placed into Pool B with the two-seed Concordia-Irvine and the six-seed Saint Leo. Teams have been divided into four pools based on seasonal results through Sunday, April 10. Two of the pools will have three teams and two pools will have four teams as noted below. All teams will have two pool play matches on Thursday, Apr. 14.

On Friday, Apr. 15, the teams in Pool A and Pool B will play a Challenge Pool match. The Eagles will either face off against one-seed Tampa, five-seed Tusculum or nine-seed Florida Southern.

All teams will be assigned to challenge round play on the afternoon of Apr. 15 based on the results of pool play and challenge pool matches. Championship bracket play will begin on Saturday, Apr. 16. The four winners of Challenge Round matches 1 – 4 will advance to the Gold Bracket. The four losers of Challenge Round matches 1 – 4 will move to the Silver Bracket. The six teams that competed in Challenge Round matches 5 – 7 will compete in Bronze pool play. All teams will have two matches on Saturday. The Division II Champion will be the winner of the Gold bracket.

Carson-Newman is just 1-11 all-time at the AVCA Small College Championships, knocking off Principia at the 2019 event. Since then, the Eagles have dropped six straight matches at the event, including going 0-5 at last year's tournament.

C-N will face a tough test against Concordia-Irvine on Thursday, Apr. 14 at 9:00 A.M. The Screaming Eagles enter the tournament with a 19-3 record, their only losses being a 3-2 decision to Division-I Cal State Bakersfield and a doubleheader loss to no. 18 Pepperdine. UCI has earned wins this season over several Division-I programs, including Nebraska, Utah and San Jose State.

This will be the first matchup between the two convocations, and the most westerly team the orange and blue have ever faced in beach volleyball. Carson-Newman dropped a 3-2 decision to Colorado Mesa at the 2021 AVCA Small College Championships.

The Eagles wrap up the opening day of the tournament with a rematch against Saint Leo at noon. The Lions enter the tournament at 19-10 and on a three-match losing streak, going 0-3 at the Paradise Classic at Florida Atlantic, falling to the host Owls, Palm Beach Atlantic and FGCU.

Both squads faced off earlier this season at the Bear Beach Bash at Mercer University on Mar. 2, with the Lions winning 4-1. Piper Halcrow and McKenna Hall were the lone pair to record a win for the Eagles at the no. three position. Saint Leo holds a 2-0 series edge over Carson-Newman all-time.

Fans can follow along with live stats and updates from the AVCA Small College Championships here. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @cn_eagles.