Babson Park, Fla. - On June 25th, our Men's beach volleyball team, MBA student-athletes Matthew Whelan and Daniel Perkins, competed in the Collegiate Invitational Qualifier at the Aspire Higher Volleyball complex in Winter Haven, FL. The tournament was a qualifier for the National Collegiate Open Beach Volleyball Championships, which are held in Long Beach, CA.

Perkins and Whelan faced off against Robert Schramm and Orlando Catalan Jr. from cross-town rival, Warner University in the finals. With the teams being very familiar with each others style of play, the championship match was destined to be a close, hard fought match. Perkins and Whelan fought back from an early deficit to take the first set 21-18. The second set began how the first set ended with the momentum in favor of Perkins and Whelan. During the second set, Perkins and Whelan had a couple big runs to take a commanding lead and eventually winning the second set and the qualifier 21-14.

The Webber Men's beach volleyball team will play in Long Beach, CA. this weekend, July 16th and 17th in the National Collegiate Open Beach Volleyball Championships. Perkins and Whelan will be going up against prominent Division 1 schools such as BYU, South Carolina, Arizona State, and the University of Cal to just name a few. The winner of the National Collegiate Open Beach Volleyball Championships earns the right to call themselves the best collegiate beach volleyball team in the country and an invite to play on the professional tours, National Volleyball League (NVL), West Coast Championships at the end of September.

Head Coach Tim Edfors had to say this about Perkins and Whelan and the upcoming Championships, “After a year and ten months of sacrifice, training and hard work, this is a great way for both athletes to end their season while earning their MBA”. Daniel Perkins says “it feels great to be able to represent Webber at these Championships and Matt and I feel very confident in our chances to be on top at the end of the day”.

You can follow the guys at http://collegiatebeachvolleyball.com/, which will be streaming live video from the tournament.