What is the tallest program in NCAA D1 Beach Volleyball?
NCAA D1 Indoor Women’s volleyball concluded last month with Texas’ dominant performance. Now the indoor season has ended, which means that the beach season is starting. HOW EXCITING! Now, before the season starts, let’s look at programs and rosters for this year.
Beach volleyball is the fastest-growing sport for NCAA, and there are over 60 programs and 1,000 athletes in the D1 division this year.
I would like to welcome all the freshmen, transfers, and those who converted from indoor to beach. I personally am very excited to see the sport grow like this. It is no longer only in California and Florida but also expanding geographically.
I would also like to wish good luck to all the programs as it is getting more and more competitive. Among the 1,000-plus athletes, there are Olympians, AVP athletes, and more who compete outside the NCAA program.
Height is not a requirement to be a good volleyball player, as Kristin Nuss, who is 5'6, has proved again and again in the past few years, but it is definitely an advantage, especially in sand, because you may not have to block, but you have to hit for sure. Let’s look at height of all the players (who are listed in their program roster as of 1/22.) Note that not every player has height listed, and some programs have not updated their webpage since last year yet.
The average height of all the players is 177cm or just a little below 5'10. Is it higher than you thought? The average height for women in the US is about 5'4 so they are significantly taller than that. Below is the distribution of height (in m.)
It is normally distributed. The shortest player is 155cm (5'1), while the tallest is 196cm (6'5). The tallest player is more than a foot taller than the shortest!
What’s interesting is that between the ranked programs in 2022 and the others, the average height is different only by 1 centimeter, which is much less than 1 inch. Again, this tells you that height is not a requirement for a good player or program.
The 2023 season is starting next month, and the championship game is at Gulf Shore, AL, this year.
Who are you rooting for, and who do you think will win?
Thank you for reading!!
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