Women’s pro report: Bajema, Rettke lead Milano; big week for Stuttgart’s Rivers
This is our weekly update on USA women playing professional volleyball around the world. Most of the players are former NCAA standouts: Champions League Milano stayed unbeaten in Pool A by sweeping Mulhouse, which had just 17 kills. Kara Bajema had a match-high five blocks to go...
NCAA volleyball: WMU wins MAC; Omaha vs. KC for Summit title; OVC, MVC semis set
Logan Case leaps for joy as Western Michigan wins the MAC title/WMU photo Western Michigan, which led the MAC from wire to wire, won the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, But it wasn’t easy. The Broncos took the first two sets Monday night against Bowling Green...
Jonas Brothers, Nebraska-Wisconsin, so much more on the NCAA volleyball Zoom
From left in Minneapolis, Kevin Jonas, Nick Jonas, Emma Carpenter, Emily Ehman, Joe Jonas Our weekly (mostly) NCAA Zoom is like no other, because Big Ten Network and ESPN analyst Emily Ehman met the Jonas Brothers before calling Ohio State at Minnesota, VolleyballMag.com editor Lee Feinswog...
Paris 2024: Olympic Beach Volleyball Rankings, updated November 20
Fun mayhem at the BPT Challenge Chiang Mai awards podium/Volleyball World photo The Olympic race for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games officially began in February in Doha, Qatar, with the Volleyball World Elite16. The final event is yet to be determined, but the qualification period will...
VBM Super 16: Minor top-half shuffling; Purdue, Dayton, Kansas get back in
Pittsburgh celebrated Saturday after beating Louisville/Pitt photo The top 11 spots were more or less the same in this week’s VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll, but there was some minor movement. Two teams dropped out and we welcomed back Purdue, Dayton and Kansas: Rank, Team, Points (Last week)1....
Nebraska, Stanford, Dayton, WKU among 13 teams clinching NCAA bids; FSU takes over ACC lead
USC’s Tyrah Ariail steals a serve reception from Megan Verbies/Jim Wolf photo From the foregone conclusions department, Nebraska clinched the Big Ten title and Stanford won the Pac-12 on Sunday. Florida State took over sole possession of first in the ACC, but not before the Seminoles had...
Pitt rallies to beat Louisville; UMBC, FGCU, Delaware, Yale, LIU, GCU earn NCAA bids
Pitt had a record home crowd for its win over Louisville The Louisville at Pittsburgh ACC rematch was all that and more Saturday as Pitt won in an epic reverse sweep. NCAA Tournament bids were claimed by UMBC, FGCU, Delaware, Yale, LIU and Grand Canyon. The recaps and...
Purdue tops Wisconsin; Miami thumps GT; big win for KU; conference tourneys galore
Purdue’s Eva Hudson, who had 30 kills, attacks against Wisconsin/Zach Schuster photo Things just happen on Friday as the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball world had another one of those days. Purdue, ranked No. 16 in the AVCA top 25, got 30 kills from Evan Hudson and...
Kentucky tops Texas A&M; top seeds take tourney victories; busy Friday ahead
Montana State’s Lauren Lindseth gets the pancake against Sacramento State/Bobcat Creative Services Kentucky, the No. 8 team in the VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll, beat Texas A&M to maintain its lead in the SEC. Conference tournaments were in full swing with few surprises and quite a few...
What a ride the past year has been for first-year UCLA coach Alfee Reft
No matter how this season turns out, as UCLA heads into the home stretch and vies for an NCAA Tournament bid, what a whirlwind of a year it’s been for Alfee Reft. And in the middle of it all there was this one five-week stretch where...
Maryland Eastern Shore, Northern Kentucky add NCAA men’s volleyball
From left, UMES vice president of athletics and recreation Tara Owens, First Point’s Wade Garard, UMES president Dr. Heidi M. Anderson, Mike Schwob of the Annapolis Volleyball Club When Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball player Shanti Ramdeen and her teammates — along with some other student-athletes —...
Arkansas rallies; Texas, EIU clinch titles; Arkansas St., App State advance in Sun Belt
Sarah Martinez of Arkansas State gets the pancake against Georgia State in the Sun Belt Championship/Bobby McDuffie, McDuffie Images Arkansas, tied for 10th in the VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll, lost the first two sets and then stormed back to win at Ole Miss on Wednesday...
Girls HS Dream Team of the Week: Drapp, Bardin, Sigler, Chinchar, Marchal, Taylor, Arquette, Lee
HS Dream Team OH Teraya Sigler/Zach Schuster photo Just about every Wednesday during the high school season, VolleyballMag.com recognizes a Dream Team of high school volleyball players who were standouts the week before. Most weeks, the eight-girl Dream Team will consist of the following: Setter Setter, S/RS or RS OH OH MB MB Libero DS Players...
Seain Cook: “An idiot who plays beach volleyball? That’s good.”
HERMOSA BEACH, California — Seain Cook is an idiot. His words. “What’s my brand?” he wondered aloud on SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter. “An idiot who plays beach volleyball? That’s good.” Cook is the one who once competed in a Santa outfit — sleeves...
ETSU, Navy, American win first postseason matches; breaking down the Power 5
American’s Esma Sipahi back sets to Lilou Stegeman in their Patriot League win over Bucknell/Scott Fields photo East Tennesse advanced in the SoCon Championship and Navy and American moved on in the Patriot League as NCAA Division I women’s volleyball postseason play got underway Tuesday. In this...
Tourney time: Conference-by-conference breakdown as NCAA bids on the line
Tourney Time in the NCAA! Stephen F. Austin’s Maddy Bourque sets Kyanna Creecy/SFA photo Our version of March Madness begins Tuesday when two conference tournaments get underway with automatic NCAA Tournament bids on the line. In the SoCon, UNC Greensboro plays East Tennessee State, and in the...
Tawa’s HS Volleyball Dots: Country Day by a country mile; Valor Christian, Wayzata lead undefeateds
This is “Dots,” VolleyballMag.com’s weekly look at 10 things in high school volleyball, past or present, that interest me and hopefully will interest you. Look for Dots every Tuesday until the last high school state championship this month: • There was an avalanche of state championship...
International USA men’s report: Big week for Garcia, Christenson, Aaron Russell
Gabi Garcia led Padova to its second straight victory/legavolley.it 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 All of the pools of the group stage...
Women’s pro report: Americans lead the way in CEV Champions League, Cup
Dana Rettke attacks for Milano against Stara Pazova of Serbia/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 The CEV Champions League group stage began as Potsdam swept Budowlani Lodz. Justine...
Ehman, Feinswog break it down in the VBM NCAA Zoom
Pittsburgh celebrates a point in its big win at Georgia Tech/Pitt photo Big Ten Network and ESPN analyst Emily Ehman and VolleyballMag.com editor Lee Feinswog go it alone this week, regaling you with their usual travel stories — Lee has a doozy — and a breakdown...