| NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship | |
| Year: | 2016 |
| Dates: | May 6–8, 2016 |
| Num Teams: | 8 |
| Champions: | USC (1st title) |
| Runner-Up: | Florida State (1st title match) |
| Third: | UCLA |
| Fourth: | Hawaii |
| Matches: | 14 |
| Nextseason: | 2017 |
The 2016 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship was the first annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA women's collegiate beach volleyball in the United States. The tournament was played on the beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama, hosted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, from May 6–8, 2016. The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) had previously sponsored a beach volleyball championship prior to the NCAA's sanctioning of the sport in 2015.
USC defeated Florida State in the championship match, 3 sets to 0, to clinch the inaugural national title.[1] This was the Trojans' second consecutive national title, having won the last AVCA tournament before the change in the event's sponsor.
There is only one national championship for beach volleyball, so all sixty NCAA beach volleyball programs, whether from the Division I, Division II, and Division III, were eligible for the tournament field. A total of eight teams were ultimately invited to contest this championship. Three bids were awarded to the top three teams in both the East and West Regions, and two at-large bids were awarded to the best remaining teams from either region.[2]
| Team | Record | Bid Type | Region | Appearance | Last Bid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 19–5 | At-large | West | 1st | Never | |
| Florida State | 29–1 | At-large | East | 1st | Never | |
| Georgia State | 25–8 | At-large | East | 1st | Never | |
| Hawaii | 16–8 | At-large | West | 1st | Never | |
| Pepperdine | 19–3 | At-large | West | 1st | Never | |
| Stetson | 26–7 | At-large | East | 1st | Never | |
| UCLA | 19–6 | At-large | West | 1st | Never | |
| USC | 30–2 | At-large | West | 1st | Never |
All eight teams were subsequently seeded and paired accordingly in the first round of a double-elimination style tournament to be played across a three-day span. Matches were won by the first team to win three-of-five sets.