Sophomore Quin Zilch competed at the 2024 Men’s Beach Volleyball Collegiate Challenge on Sept. 15. The tournament took place at Stevenson University in Owings Mills, Md. from Sept 13-15. Zilch was partnered alongside graduate senior Matt Gentry of Lincoln Memorial University. The pair had met over the summer at a collegiate beach volleyball camp, which was led by Lewis men’s volleyball head coach Daniel Friend. Zilch was the only representative of Lewis at the tournament.
Zilch started participating in beach volleyball events nine years ago. USA Volleyball, the sponsor of the tournament, launched the collegiate challenge in 2020. He first signed up for the tournament in 2023, making it to the quarterfinals. Zilch lost to Ayden Keeter and Carson Barnes of Webber International University and finished in fifth place. The university, based out of Babson Park, Fla., participates in NAIA athletics and has a men’s beach volleyball program.
This year, Zilch and Gentry finished in first place, earning them a gold medal against Keeter and Barnes. In the first set, Zilch and Gentry lost 17-21. Zilch and Gentry had a dominant second set finishing 21-9. The final set was a close contest, but the duo finished strong with a 15-11 score, securing the gold medal. William Kuhns and Ryan Merk of Penn State finished off the podium, placing third.
Men’s beach volleyball is not a NCAA sanctioned sport. In 2022, Stevenson University became the first school in the NCAA to create a men’s beach volleyball team. The Mustangs participate in DIII athletics. Zilch believes that universities will add men’s beach volleyball programs within the NCAA soon, but not during his collegiate career. “It’s starting to grow,” he said. “But, I think I will never get to play any beach volleyball collegiately. It’ll be after my time.” Women’s beach volleyball was launched in 2012 as an Emerging Sports for Women program, but the first championship was not played until 2016.
In 2022, the American Volleyball Coaches Association created the Men’s Collegiate Beach Volleyball Alliance. The championship is played in the first week of November in Huntsville, Ala. Five schools are selected to participate in the tournament. There are three regional bids, west, central and east, and two at-large bids. Westcliff University, located in Irvine, Calif. has won the first two championships.
If you want to get involved in beach volleyball, Zilch recommends getting involved with the campus’s intramural team or just playing beach volleyball on one of the courts with your friends.
Photo Credits: Quin Zilch
