Bushnell’s Camille Guerrero (20) prepares to spike the ball over the net as Corban’s Avari Ridgway (23) defends during the Warriors’ 4-1 win over Bushnell on April 2, 2022. Northwest University has announced it is joining Corban and Bushnell in sponsoring beach volleyball in 2023.

KIRKLAND — Northwest University Director of Athletics Gary McIntosh formally announced the sponsorship of beach volleyball beginning in 2022-23.

Following the addition of beach volleyball, Northwest will sponsor 11 athletic programs in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The addition of beach volleyball will add approximately 12 female student-athlete opportunities to the Northwest athletic program and will become the seventh female sport at Northwest University.

“We are excited about the opportunity to add beach volleyball to our department,” said McIntosh. “We are confident that beach volleyball will be a good addition here at Northwest and will achieve success in conjunction with our current women’s volleyball program. Beach volleyball is a growing sport in the NAIA, and we are excited to bring that growth to Northwest.”

Beach volleyball consists of two-player teams with dual matches featuring five pairs from each team. The school that wins three matches first is the winner. Each match consists of three sets with the first to 21 winning the first two sets and the third set to 15 points if needed.

“Beach volleyball competition at Northwest is set to commence in the spring of 2023. We are currently searching for a head coach,” McIntosh said.

Beach volleyball was declared an emerging sport by the NAIA in 2019 and has since garnered national invitational tournament status with more than 25 programs.

Though not a conference sport, the Cascade Collegiate Conference, which includes Eastern Oregon University, has six member or associate member schools sponsoring the sport: Arizona Christian, Bushnell, Corban, Life Pacific, Southern Oregon and Vanguard.