SURPRISE, Ariz. – The No. 4 OUAZ Beach Volleyball team is heading to Panama City Beach, Fla. to take part in the 2023 NAIA Women's Beach Volleyball National Invitational. Pool play is set to begin Thursday, April 20 where the No. 2 seeded Spirit will take on No. 3 Park and No. 1 Westcliff. OUAZ is entering the tournament with a top-5 national ranking after posting a 16-8 overall and a 10-2 in conference play.
OUAZ will take on No. 3 Park (Mo.) at 10 a.m. PT on Thursday, April 20 to kick things off. Shortly following the Park match, the Spirit will face No. 1-seed Westcliff (Calif.) at 12 p.m. PT. The teams will begin with pool play on day one and each of the six teams will advance to a single-elimination bracket. A champion will be crowned on April 22.
This will be only the second time in school history that OUAZ will go head-to-head with Park (Mo.). The last meeting came a year ago during the opening match of pool play in the 2022 tournament where the Spirit fell 2-3. As for Westcliff, the all-time series is tied 2-2, including a Spirit loss earlier this season.
The Spirit roster is backed by multiple conference leaders that helped take the team to the National Championship game in the GSAC tournament. Zoey Mohring and Dayana Raygoza are undefeated on the season, going 8-0 for one of the highest undefeated records in the GSAC. Sam Leight and Mattea Wilson join Mohring and Raygoza in the Conference's top-10 pairs with a record of 12-3, after just winning GSAC pair of the Month (March) and being the conference's leading pair on court two. Olivia Andersh and Livia De Pra have taken claim over court one, going 11-7 (.611) for the second best record on their respective court.
Head Coach Haleigh Carvahlo
On heading into the tournament…
"We've been preparing for this all season and preach championship mentality and getting 1% better every day and we feel ready to see all the hard work pay off this week and being present to enjoy every moment."
WATCH LIVE:
All OUAZ matches will be streamed on Instagram Live with each court will streaming their own dual. The Instagram handles are as follows:
Court 1: @ouazbeachflight1
Court 2: @ouazbeachflight2
Court 3: @ouazbeachflight3
Court 4: @ouazbeachflight4
Court 5: @ouazbeachflight5
