Volleyball today: Long Beach-UCI showdown; UCLA clinches; Rise win; USA sitting silver
Grand Canyon’s Cameron Thorne against the Pepperdine block of Ethan Watson/Rachel Sollazzo photo A Big West title and top seeding in the NCAA tournament are on the line when top-ranked Long Beach State and No. 4 UC Irvine play back to back matches Friday and Saturday....
Simo-Van Winkle stun Olympic bronze medalists to make Guadalajara main draw
GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Thursday seemed as good a day as any for Savvy Simo and Abby Van Winkle to win the biggest match of their respective careers. They had already flown to Mexico from playing a NORCECA event in the Dominican Republic for this week’s Beach...
Elliott of Texas gets highest volleyball contract; Nebraska news, notes
Texas coach high-fives a cheeerleader after winning the 2023 NCAA title/@AndyWenstrand. The two teams that played in the NCAA national volleyball championship match have been noteworthy in the offseason. Start with 23rd-year Texas coach Jerritt Elliott, who has won back-to-back NCAA national championships. He recently set a new...
NORCECA medalists descend upon Mexico for Guadalajara Challenge
GUADALAJARA, Mexico — It was only two years ago, but they had almost forgotten. Hailey Harward and Kylie Deberg came to Mexico for this week’s Beach Pro Tour Guadalajara Challenge fresh off a gold medal at a NORCECA in the Dominican Republic. Did it feel a...
This week’s NCAA beach volleyball centers on Cal Poly’s Center of Challenge
Much like their indoor counterparts, the coaches of the top NCAA beach teams are not hesitant about playing each other. By the time the NCAA Championship comes around the first week of May, all the highest ranked programs will likely have played each other multiple...
Tawa’s Club Volleyball Dots: Show Me, Salt Lake City qualifiers
This is “Dots,” VolleyballMag’s weekly look at 10 things in club volleyball, past or present, that interest me and hopefully will interest you. Look for Dots each week through Junior Nationals this summer. • It’s hard to believe, but we’re two-thirds of the way through qualifier...
Brandie Wilkerson, Melissa Humana-Paredes, and the complete overhaul of Canada’s top team
HERMOSA BEACH, California — There was nothing wrong with the 2023 season on the Beach Pro Tour for Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie WilkersonI. Even the stingiest of coaches with the sharpest of eyes would have had to agree that, in fact, it went about as...
Updates, news and notes: Pro Volleyball Federation; NCAA men, beach, women; AVCA
Hannah Maddux of Vegas hits against the Atlanta triple block/Thrill photo In this report, we catch up on the Pro Volleyball Federation, NCAA men, NCAA beach, AVCA polls and POWS, and note a couple of NCAA Division I women’s coaching hires. Pro Volleyball Federation There are matches each...
Jordan Larson, 37, chooses to train instead of play as she makes last USA Olympic run
Jordan Larson signs autographs after Nebraska’s practice before last December’s national semifinal match/@AndyWenstrand By Leo Adam Biga for VolleyballMag Jordan Larson chose not to play volleyball this season. And with the Paris Olympics drawing near, the USA Volleyball star is unapologetically self-reflective as she prepares for the last...
International volleyball: Congliano, Scandicci advance; 33 kills for Galatasaray’s Eggleston
Congeliano’s Kathryn Plummer hits against Novara/Filippo Rubin photo, LVF This is our weekly update on USA women playing professional volleyball around the world: Italy Lindsey Ruddins attacks for Scandicci against Milano/Maurizio Anatrini photo Conegliano and Scandicci both opened their best-of-three semifinal series with victories. Conegliano beat Novara as Kathryn Plummer...
NCAA volleyball logjam — led by Long Beach, UCLA — as postseason looms (at) large
UC Irvine’s Hilir Henno/Jim Wolf photo As the NCAA Division I-II men’s regular season winds down this week and conference tournaments begin, everyone seems to be chasing Long Beach State, the near unanimous No. 1 in the AVCA coaches poll But can No. 2 UCLA defend its...
Ball St., Belmont Abbey win men’s titles; Orlando tops Grand Rapids in Pro Volleyball
UCLA’s Grant Sloane goes down the line to beat the GCU block of Camden Gianni and Cameron Thorne/Andy J. Gordon photo Fourth-ranked Hawai’i bounced back in a Big (West) way at No. 5 UC Irvine, second-ranked UCLA broke the tie at the top of the MPSF...
Long Beach, UCI, UCLA, BYU, Penn St. win in NCAA men’s volleyball
GCU’s Jackson Hickman tries to hit past the UCLA block of Grant Sloane, Merrick McHenry and Cooper Robinson/Andy J. Gordon photo Top-ranked Long Beach State and No. 5 UC Irvine have made it a two-team Big West race after the Beach swept No. 15 CSUN and...
Ball State clinches MIVA tie; Omaha beat Columbus Fury in Pro Volleyball Federation
Ball State swept Quincy on Thursday night and guaranteed the No. 11 Cardinals at least a share of their third MIVA men’s volleyball regular-season title in a row. In the Pro Volleyball Federation, the Omaha Supernova pulled a little closer to first place with a four-set...
Coakley, Jackson, Fernandez, Perez top 2024 VolleyballMag Girls Beach Volleyball Fab 50
Kennedy Coakley As usual, there is no shortage of star power on the 2024 VolleyballMag Girls Beach Fab 50 list. The Girls Beach Fab 50 recognizes the nation’s top high school (Class of 2024) seniors, voted on by an esteemed panel of NCAA Division I beach and...
VolleyballMag Girls Beach Volleyball Fab 50: Underclassmen to Watch List
During the voting process for this year’s VolleyballMag.com Girls Beach Fab 50, we were inundated with names to include on the annual bolt-on Underclassmen to Watch List that highlights non-senior players (most of which eventually move up to the Fab 50 list in subsequent years). Thus,...
Girls club volleyball Dream Team: Mottola, Harris, Miller, Vander Wal, Thompson, Andrews, Tarnow, Leimbach
Triangle overcame illness to qualify in 17 Open at Big South Every Wednesday during the club season, VolleyballMag recgnizes a Dream Team of eight girls volleyball players (15s to 18s age groups) who were standouts the weekend before. Players are selected EXCLUSIVELY from nominations. To nominate, coaches...
Miles Partain, Andy Benesh, and the mindset shift that changed everything
HERMOSA BEACH, California — Miles Partain thought he was a loser. Those three AVP wins? Three Elite16 medals, a collection of every color? The stunning, back-to-back victories over Anders Mol and Christian Sorum to win the Gstaad cowbell? The accolades lavished upon him by his peers:...
PVF’s Orlando signs Fields; NCAA men, beach volleyball, AVCA updates
Marin Grote of Grand Rapids blasts through the Atlanta block of Anna Lazareva, left, and Shelly Fanning/Rise photo The Pro Volleyball Federation leads off this report that includes NCAA men’s volleyball, NCAA beach volleyball, and the AVCA news of the week. Skylar Fields, second in the NCAA...
Tawa’s Club Volleyball Dots: Column this week comes with a Qualifier
This is “Dots,” VolleyballMag’s weekly look at 10 things in club volleyball, past or present, that interest me and hopefully will interest you. Look for Dots every Tuesday through Junior Nationals this summer. • Last week was the busiest by far of the qualifier season, with...