The Arizona sand volleyball team will compete in the inaugural Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Championships, which will take place at USC’s Merle Norman Stadium beginning Thursday.

The tournament consists of a pairs bracket and a team bracket. Play runs Thursday through Sunday with semifinal and final matches televised on the Pac-12 Networks.

Arizona earned the No. 3 seed in the team bracket and will face No. 6 seed Stanford Friday at 5 p.m.

In the pairs bracket, Madison and McKenna Witt will compete as the No. 2 seed while Jianna Bonomi and Katarina Schulz earned the No. 8 seed. Both pairs play Thursday afternoon.

The Pac-12 Conference recently added sand volleyball as its 23rd sponsored sport.

Eight of the 12 conference schools were invited to participate in the postseason tournament including top seeds USC and UCLA.

USC is the No. 1 team in the country according to the latest AVCA Top 10 poll. UCLA ranks No. 4, while Arizona comes in at No. 6.

The Wildcats produced a 15-3 regular season record, led by the Witt twins, who own a 17-1 pair record.

USC’s Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes hold the No. 1 seed in the pair bracket after finishing the regular season with an unblemished 36-0 record.

If the top seeded pairings advance in the pairs bracket, Arizona’s Witt twins could face USC’s duo in the finals.

The pairs championship will take place Friday at 11 a.m., while the team championship is scheduled for Sunday at 4 p.m.

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