While the NCAA crowned a new champion in Gulf Shores, the junior college beach volleyball world watched the same movie for the fourth year in a row — and Palm Beach State College is still the star.
The top-seeded Panthers defeated No. 2 Lake-Sumter State College 3-1 at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Alabama to capture the 2026 NJCAA Beach Volleyball National Championship — their fourth consecutive national title. Palm Beach State has now won every NJCAA beach volleyball championship ever contested, dating back to the inaugural tournament in 2023.
An all-Florida final
Fittingly, the title match was an all-FCSAA affair. Lake-Sumter State, making its first-ever appearance in the championship match, earned its shot the hard way — sweeping through pool play against Trinidad, Sandhills, Central Wyoming, and Richard Bland without dropping a dual. The Lakehawks had already pushed Palm Beach State in the FCSAA championship final back in April, and they made the Panthers earn it again on the national stage before falling 3-1.
For Palm Beach State, the path to the final was ruthless: straight-set wins over No. 7 Central Wyoming, No. 6 Trinidad, No. 5 Sandhills, and No. 3 Mesa in pool play, followed by a semifinal rematch win over Central Wyoming. Lake-Sumter handled Mesa in the other semifinal to set up the all-Florida final.
A dynasty by the numbers
The scale of what head coach Drew Colvin has built in Lake Worth is hard to overstate. Four national championships in four years. Four straight FCSAA titles. A 40-1 record against FCSAA competition since 2023. Colvin — who runs the program alongside assistant coaches Jessica Colvin and Tiffany Snow — picked up FCSAA Coach of the Year honors this spring, which at this point feels less like an award and more like a standing reservation.
And the dynasty is reinvesting. In April, Palm Beach State broke ground on the Baptist Health Beach Volleyball Complex at its Lake Worth campus — a 2.5-acre facility with ten competition-grade sand courts, Musco LED lighting, seating for more than 1,000 spectators, a 32-by-18-foot LED video board, and live broadcast capabilities. Slated to open in early 2027, it’s built to championship standards and designed to host everything from national-caliber tournaments to youth and community events. Four-time champs, and they’re just now getting a home that matches the resume.
Why JUCO beach matters
NJCAA beach volleyball is still young — the 2026 tournament was just the fourth edition, with an eight-team field and a new pairs event added this year — but it’s becoming a legitimate pipeline. Florida’s junior colleges are stacked with beach talent, and the all-FCSAA national final proved the sport’s center of gravity runs straight through the Sunshine State.
Somebody will eventually beat Palm Beach State in this tournament. But after four years, four titles, and a final where their toughest test came from their own conference, that day still feels a long way off.
The sand in Huntsville belongs to the Panthers.
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