HOUSTON – HBU has added women's sand volleyball as its 17^th NCAA Division I sport to begin competition in Spring 2016, President Robert B. Sloan, Jr. and Director of Athletics Steve Moniaci announced Saturday.
 
"We are looking forward to the addition of our next sport – sand volleyball," Sloan said. "We already have several outstanding women's sports, and the addition of this new and very exciting Olympic sport will offer even more opportunities to prospective female student-athletes."
 
"We had many outstanding sports to consider, but we believe sand volleyball makes the most sense for our department, considering our location," Moniaci said. "The growth and popularity of the sport in this region, as well as having an outstanding facility nearby, should help us field a competitive team quickly, and we feel the benefits to our indoor team could not be overstated. We are very happy with our decision to move forward with sand volleyball."
 
HBU head volleyball coach Trent Herman will oversee both programs until staff assignments have been determined. According to NCAA rules, the Huskies will be allowed to add one additional full-time volleyball coach.
 
There are currently 46 other Division I programs, since the NCAA approved sand volleyball as an emerging sport in 2009 in preparation for competition in 2011. HBU and New Orleans will be the first programs in the Southland Conference, while TCU is the only other program in the state of Texas.
 
"We are very excited to be one of the first universities in the Southland Conference and the second in the state of Texas to add a sand volleyball program," Herman said. "Considering the way the sport has taken off in Houston and in the local clubs, we are proud to be the first in the city to offer sand volleyball."
 
In sand volleyball, two schools play five best two-out-of-three set doubles matches against one another, with the winner being the first to claim at least three of the contests.
 
All indoor volleyball scholarship student-athletes are eligible to compete on the sand volleyball team, but student-athletes recruited to play sand volleyball are not eligible to compete on the indoor team until their junior year, then they would be counted toward an indoor scholarship. The indoor squad receives 12 full scholarships, while the sand squad receives six scholarships, which can be divided between team members.
 
"I believe this will be a great advantage for us," Herman said. "With the momentum sand volleyball is gaining, one of the first questions we get from prospective student-athletes is 'Are you going to be adding sand volleyball?' We can now give them the answer they want to hear and that we have been waiting for."
 
HBU will practice and play its home competitions at Third Coast Volleyball Club, less than three miles from campus near Hillcroft and Harwin.