By: Chase Dodge

The beginning of the 2023 season the Men's Beach team had high expectations going back to the AVCA National Championship and repeat.

Now for everyone that knows sports it is very hard to go back to back. Westcliff Warriors throughout the season since Men's Beach Volleyball is an emerging sport were only able to play men that competed in the open or AA divisons of amatuer and professional beach volleyball.

Day 1

Warriors landed in Alabama with a tough pool play ahead them consisting of division II schools like Tusculum, Stevenson and Lincoln Memorial. Along with Webber International that the Warriors fought for the title a year ago.

Pool Play saw all of our pairs learn and win throughout the 1st day. A lot of momentum with a 5-0 victory against Stevenson. Followed by a rematch of the title game with Webber International. The Warriors knew it was going to be a tough game. But the Warriors took care of business easily beating Webber 4-1.

The last match of the day was against Lincoln Memorial this is where the Warriors were pushed to a 3rd set with our #1's. It was a back and forth affair with both sides cheering on their team. Westcliff dropped the match 3-2.

Day 2

Heading into the final day the Warriors came in with a fire underneath them. Tusculum was the team in front preventing the Warriors from going back to the title round. Westcliff swept Tusculum 5-0.

Pool Play ended and with the structure of the event three teams were tied 3-1. It went down to points earned from the pairs with Westcliff grabbing 16. Westcliff easily led the pack and earned a spot in the Championship round. Lincoln Memorial had the edge with 13 against Webber International 13 for that final spot. The Warriors will be facing a new opponent for the championship.

Title Match

Westcliff entered the match with one thing on their mind National Champions. To do that they would have to play the best volleyball that they could. Boy did they deliver.

LMU struck first grabbing a 1-0 lead with the 4th pairs. Warriors responded with a sweep of the 5th pairs.

3rd Pair Tom Dempsey and Kajus Mazuronis down a set was able to muster a comeback to force a decisive 3rd set. Mazuronis and Dempsey made quick work to give the Warriors the 2-1 lead.

Now it was up to our 2nd pair or our 1st pair. Both matches were going back and forth in the 3rd set.

Gabriel Pizza and Jacob Titus in the 2nd pair match dropped a close 1st set 23-21.

Pizza and Titus dug deep were able to grab the 2nd to force the 3rd and final set to basically determine the championship for the Warriors.

Pizza and Titus with the help of a very energetic and loud crowd were able to use that energy and momentume to grab that 3rd set and ultimately the win.

The Warriors team celebrated but quickly went over to our #1 Pair DJ Klasnic and Ilias Lazaar to cheer on their capitans this whole season.

They finished their match and immediatlye turned around and celebrated their Back to Back National Championship in style!

AVCA National Championship Standout Performances

1 Pair - DJ Klasnic / Ilias Lazaar this weekend went 3-2 with big time wins against Webber and Stevenson.

2 Pair - Gabriel Pizza / Jacob Titus was the 2nd pair of the weekend to go a perfect 5-0 beating Stevenson, Webber, Lincoln Memorial (twice) and Tusculum.

3 Pair - Tom Dempsey / Kajus Mazornis in pool play and in the championship went 4-1 with a big from behind win in the championship match.

4 Pair - Andy Jaszczynski / Mikael Massaki grabbed important points for the team in pool play to secure their #1 seed  and their spot in the championship match beating Stevenson and Tusculum.

5 Pair - Pawel Tuz / Tyler Brossard was the final pair of this weekend to go perfect 5-0 with beating Stevenson, Webber, Tusculum and Lincoln Memorial (twice). Along with being the only warrior pair to sweep their opponents in the championship match. 

Match Results

vs Stevenson (5-0 W)

vs Webber International (4-1 W)

vs Lincoln Memorial (2-3 L)

vs Tusculum (5-0 W)

vs Lincoln Memorial (3-2 W)