SALT LAKE CITY — After nine seasons as part of University of Utah athletics, the school's beach volleyball program is being eliminated.
Tuesday's announcement comes days after the team fell in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament in a 3-1 loss to Arizona State. The Utes ended the season with 21 wins, making it the winningest season in Utah beach volleyball history.
Head coach Brenda Whicker, a member of the Utah Athletics Hall of Fame, announced her retirement immediately following the conference tournament loss.
Beach volleyball became part of the Utes athletics program as a varsity sport in 2017 when the school was still a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Utah currently competes in the Big 12, where only three other schools participate in the sport.
"This was an extremely difficult decision, and we did not arrive at this conclusion without a significant and appropriate amount of thought, consideration and consultation," said Utah Athletics Director Mark Harlan.
Harlan added that with only 12 beach volleyball programs among the four power conferences, it does not appear that the sport is expanding, and that the school is "not providing the world-class experience that we seek to provide to our student-athletes."
Utah said it will work to support its current beach volleyball student-athletes, and if they choose to remain at the school, their scholarships will be honored. Scholarships provided to incoming student-athletes will also be honored.
Following the elimination of beach volleyball, the Utah athletics program will be comprised of 19 sports.
