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Fresh off of winning the NCAA championship a Long Beach State outside attacker will now attempt to win a European championship.
Outside attacker Ryan Poole is part of a pair representing England at the CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship that started Thursday in Latvia.
Poole and his partner Harry Jones lost to an Italian pair 21-17, 22-20 in its pool-play opener. The English team will play two more pool-play matches on Friday and needs to finish in the top three of its four-team pool to qualify for the Round of 24.
The U22 Beach Volleybll European Championship is a four-day event comprised of 32 men’s pairs from 27 nations. Poole and Jones are the only English pair in the tournament field, and England began this event at No. 21 in the CEV U22 Beach Volleyball Rankings.
Poole returned to Europe during this offseason after Long Beach State won its first national championship in almost 30 years. The 6-foot-5 outside attacker in the match he played as a freshman had three kills to help Long Beach State sweep Mount Olive in non-conference play in March.
This is the second consecutive year that NCAA players have competed in the U22 Beach Volleybll European Championship.
Barton teammates Angelos Mandilaris and Vasilis Mandilaris playing for Greece advanced to the Round of 16 at this tournament last year.