UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas aims to secure its third consecutive girls’ championship, while National University-Nazareth School sets its sights on a back-to-back title in the boys’ division as the UAAP Season 87 High School Beach Volleyball Tournament kicks off on Friday at Sands SM By the Bay.
The Junior Tiger Sands will launch their title defense with a match against UP Integrated School at 10 a.m., followed by a showdown with De La Salle-Zobel at 4:15 p.m. to cap off the opening day in the six-team girls’ division.
The Bullpups, last season’s champions, will also see action on the tournament’s opening day with two matches: a morning clash against last year’s third-placers, UST, at 7 a.m. and an afternoon duel with University of the East at 2 p.m.
In other girls’ division fixtures, last season’s runner-up Far Eastern University-Diliman will face La Salle-Zobel at 10:45 a.m., while Adamson University, a podium finisher in the tournament’s first two seasons, takes on NUNS in the afternoon session at 3 p.m.
The boys’ division action features morning matchups between FEU-D and Adamson at 7:45 a.m., UE and Ateneo de Manila University at 8:30 a.m., and La Salle-Zobel versus UPIS at 9:15 a.m.
Afternoon matches will see the Baby Tamaraws and the Junior Green Spikers returning to the sands at 2 p.m.
This season follows a successful UAAP collegiate beach volleyball campaign last November, where UST and NU split the championships.
The Tiger Sands captured their sixth consecutive men’s title, while the Lady Bulldogs claimed their first-ever women’s crown.
The high school tournament adopts a single-round elimination format, with the top four teams advancing to the knockout semifinals on February 2.
The winners of the semifinals will vie for the championship in a one-match final on the same day, while the losing teams will compete for third place in another one-off contest.
