One last NCAA title chance for UCLA’s beach volleyball leaders
HERMOSA BEACH, California — For UCLA Beach Volleyball’s three “COVID seniors,” the triumvirate of Lexy Denaburg, Rileigh Powers, and Devon Newberry, there was never a doubt: In spite of technically being in Westwood for four years, they would be coming back for a fifth academic...
NCAA men’s volleyball: Long Beach new No. 1; Penn State reverse sweeps Ohio St.
Penn State’s Toby Ezeonu hits against Ohio State/Caleb Craig photo Penn State not only knocked off then-No. 1 and unbeaten Ohio State in Columbus last Saturday, the Nittany Lions did it again with a reverse sweep at home Sunday. There were eight total NCAA men’s Division I-II...
International men’s pro volleyball report: Smith’s return boosts ZAKSA
Dave Smith has made an impact since returning from injury/plusliga.plphoto This is Blair Lambert’s VolleyballMag.com weekly men’s professional volleyball report, featuring Americans around the world. Got a note about a player or a comment for Blair? Email him at blairlambert2@gmail.com There was a break from CEV competitions...
Tawa’s Girls Club Dots: Volleyball loses to gun violence in Illinois; volleyball wins in Florida, Minnesota
This is “Dots,” VolleyballMag.com’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. • We open today’s Dots with tragic news. The horrific mass slaying of seven...
Women’s international volleyball: Big weeks for DeHoog, May, Drews (both), Hoffman
Carly DeHoog had 22 kills, two blocks and an ace but Trentino lost to Novara/LVF photo This is our weekly update on USA women playing professional volleyball around the world. Most of the players are former NCAA standouts: Italy ITALIAN CUP: Imoco Conegliano easily swept Firenze in the...
Ehman, Feinswog on Real Pro Volleyball, Batenhorst, travel woes and more
The Grand Rapids Rise played host to the Columbus Fury last Thursday It’s been a while since our last Zoom, but after Emily and Lee both covered the Atlanta-at-Omaha Pro Volleyball Federation league opener, we decided it’s a great time to get together and talk some...
NCAA volleyball: UCI, LIU, Lincoln Memorial win; Batenhorst to fight on
UC Irvine’s Maxim Grigoriev tries to tip over BYU’s Miks Ramanis, left, and Julien Gavin/BYU photo UC Irvine did it again. This time the No. 7 Anteaters won in five sets at No. 8 BYU a day after beating the Cougars in four. Unranked LIU upset No....
Atlanta off to 2-0 Pro Volleyball Federation start after victory at Orlando
Grand Rapids libero Sarah Sponcil and Shannon Scully both go for the ball against Columbus/Grand Rapids photo Five of the seven Pro Volleyball Federation teams have matches behind them after the league opened play this week. The Atlanta Vibe, which won its opener at Omaha on Wednesday,...
NCAA men’s volleyball: UCI tops BYU; UCLA, Long Beach, Hawai’i all sweep
Long Beach State’s Lazar Bouchkov with the stuff against Pepperdine/John Fajardo photo Seventh-ranked UC Irvine and Hilir Henno ended No. 8 BYU’s 18-match home winning streak Friday and No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Long Beach State and No. 4 Hawai’i all swept. They were part of another...
NCAA men’s volleyball upsets for CSUN, Penn State, UCSB
CSUN’s Kyle Hobus hits over the USC block/Steve Fitzgerald photo The status quo was anything but the past two days in NCAA men’s volleyball. Things got going Wednesday when No. 18 CSUN upset No. 11 USC. Then Thursday, No. 9 Penn State, which had lost its last two,...
“History was made tonight” as Atlanta beats Omaha in Pro Volleyball Federation opener
Brooke Nuneviller watches Omaha teammate Kendall White go all out for a dig/Matt Bills, aspectsandangles.com OMAHA, Nebraska — For the record, the Atlanta Vibe won, beating the Omaha Supernovas 26-24, 25-23, 17-25, 19-25, 15-13 and avoided the reverse sweep by rallying from a 13-10 fifth-set deficit. But,...
Girls club volleyball Dream Team: Flynn, Osunsanmi, Antoine-Dillon, Nelson, Spears, Flemister, Grenadier, Tavares-Seda
Every Wednesday during the club season, VolleyballMag.com will recognize a Dream Team of eight girls volleyball players (15s to 18s age groups) who were standouts the weekend before. The team, most weeks, consisted of the following: Setter or S/RS Setter, S/RS or RS OH OH MB MB Libero DS This is our first Dream Team...
Betsi Flint, the Supermom of professional beach volleyball
Betsi Flint/Andy J. Gordon photo MANHATTAN BEACH, California — Dawn has not yet broken on the morning of August 20. It is just before 5 a.m., that blurry time where, for some, it is late in the night and, for others it is early in the...
NCAA volleyball: Ohio State new men’s No. 1; Air Force hires
Ohio State and Jacob Pasteur are the new No. 1/Scott Clouse photo Ohio State moved up three spots and is now No. 1 in the AVCA men’s top 20 after the Buckeyes came away with two victories last weekend in Austin, Texas, at the First Point...
International men: Anderson, Ziraat Bankasi advance; Russell blasts away in Japan
Erik Shoji passes for defending Champions League ZAKSA/CEV.eu photo This is Blair Lambert’s VolleyballMag.com weekly men’s professional volleyball report, featuring Americans around the world. Got a note about a player or a comment for Blair? Email him at blairlambert2@gmail.com Matt Anderson took another step towards furthering his...
Tawa’s Girls Club Volleyball Dots: Qualifying the 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 every Tuesday through Junior Nationals this summer. • In today’s Dots, we answer the question EVERYONE is dying to know:...
Omaha’s mix of vets, youngsters “super excited” for Pro Volleyball opener
Coach Shelton Collier talks to the Supernovas before Tuesday’s practice/Lee Feinswog photo OMAHA, Nebraska — They range from the seasoned veterans, like 36-year-old Bethania De La Cruz and 34-year-old Allison Mayfield, to volleyball kids like Brooke Nuneviller and Paige Briggs, who were born in 2000. But young...
Pro volleyball report: Thompson, Frantti, Ogbogu lead VakifBank
Taylor Bannister gets a kill for Vasas against Maritza Plovdiv in the Champions League/CEV photo This is our weekly update on USA women playing professional volleyball around the world. Most of the players are former NCAA standouts: Champions League VakifBank finished the pool stage with a five-set upset...
All seven Pro Volleyball Federation rosters, info, outlooks
The Pro Volleyball Federation’s first serve is two days away. Five of the new league’s franchises will be in action this week, starting Wednesday night when the Omaha Supernovas play host to the Atlanta Vibe (8 p.m. Eastern, Stadium streaming sports network, News Channel Nebraska). The next...
The differences between beach and indoor volleyball players
How different are indoor volleyball and beach volleyball players? In this primer, we get explanations from two coaches who have been on both sides. Rita Buck-Crockett, the former indoor and beach coach at FIU, was a two-time USA indoor Olympian. She’s been inducted into the International...