MANHATTAN, Kan. (WIBW) – Over a half dozen former K-State volleyball players made their way back to Manhattan on Saturday for the first alumni game in the Jason Mansfield era.

The alumni crew, despite having graduated over a decade ago, held their own through all three sets of the scrimmage. Liz Wegner-Busch, the two-time All-American and K-State Hall of Famer headlined the returning stars. Seven others from the early to mid-2010s were also on the court.

“Definitely worn out a little bit easier than I probably would’ve in the past,” Wegner-Busch laughed. “Very fun to be out there and feeling like you still got it, a little bit.”

“The current players need to know the former players and what they’ve done to build a program and play with them is special and fun,” K-State head coach Jason Mansfield said. “I just love the event today, it’s really exactly what I wanted it to be.”

Saturday was the first time in Morgan Family Arena for many of the former players. Alum JuliAnne Rathbun explained how it shows the university’s investment into the athletics and raises the recruiting pitch.

“It’s the first time I’ve been in here and it’s awesome to see,” Rathbun added. “I think this rivals any gym we’ve played in the Big 12. Super fun to see all of our fans come back out and just support, have fun, people who’ve known us forever. This is clearly a statement that K-State cares about volleyball.”

“I think it’s the best in the country in terms of volleyball only arena,” Mansfield said. “It’s helped us get the six freshman coming in. We have four in the next class and we’re looking to build. So yeah, we’re trying to recruit elite high school talent and build a program that way.”

K-State returns to Morgan Family Arena on August 29 for its season-opener against UMBC.

Copyright 2025 WIBW. All rights reserved.

GULF SHORES, Ala. – No. 2 overall seed TCU won the 2025 NCAA Beach Volleyball title for the first time in program history by defeating No. 4 LMU 3-2 Sunday morning at Gulf Shores Main Public Beach. 

Both programs in the Championship final were looking for their first national championship but TCU prevailed by avenging two losses earlier this season to LMU. The win marks the first beach volleyball title by a school in the Big 12 in the Conferece’s inaugural season sponsoring the sport. The Horned Frogs are only the third school to secure the Championship trophy since the sport debuted in 2016. 

The Horned Frogs received wins from all three AVCA Top Flight honorees as Anhelina Khmil/Ana Vergara, Sofia Izuzquiza/Allanis Navas and Daniela Alvarez/Tania Moreno recorded points for TCU.  

TCU’s winningest pair, this season, Izuzquiza and Navas, won at No. 3, 21-16, 21-13 to remain perfect for the championship at 4-0. The freshman and senior duo ended the year at TCU 26-2.  

Khmil and Vergara won at No. 4, 21-14, 21-19, to finish the season undefeated at 21-0. The duo has tallied 41 wins together all-time. 

Alvarez and Moreno clinched the final point and the title with a three-set thriller for TCU at the No. 1 spot (18-21, 21-15, 15-6). The pair of Olympians took the 2024 season off before helping TCU accomplish a 32-5 season.

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Nebraska volleyball team wrapped up its spring season on Saturday, sweeping South Dakota State in front of a sold-out crowd in Ord.

1,750 fans packed into the gym at Ord High School, with some fans getting their first chance to watch the Huskers in person.

The Huskers took all four sets from the Jackrabbits: 25-18, 25-19, 25-17, 25-19.

As a team, Nebraska hit .317% while holding the Jackrabbits to a .015% hitting percentage.

Harper Murray led the Big Red with 12 kills, seven digs, five blocks and two aces.

Andi Jackson added 11 kills and 10 blocks, while Rebekah Allick posted eight kills and nine blocks.

Skyler Pierce added six kills and three blocks, and Taylor Landfair provided five kills and four blocks.

Freshman Campbell Flynn played the entire match at setter, racking up 44 assists, eight digs, four kills and four blocks.

Bergen Reilly missed the match due to wrist soreness.

Laney Choboy led the Huskers with nine digs, while Maisie Boesiger pitched in with eight digs.

GULF SHORES, Ala. (WALA) – NCAA. com says TCU has won the 2025 beach volleyball championship in Gulf Shores.

The championship match was played Sunday.

Here is the post on NCAA.com

TCU won its first-ever beach volleyball championship, defeating Loyola Marymount 3-2 in the title matches. This was the first time in NC beach volleyball history that UCLA or Southern Cal did not take home the trophy.

The 2025 NC beach volleyball championship with the selection show, live-streamed on NCAA.com, and ended with the national championship match on May 4, all taking place in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

The NCAA Beach Volleyball Committee announced the 16-team field for the championship here.

Copyright 2025 WALA. All rights reserved.

GULF SHORES, Ala. – The LMU Beach Volleyball finished the 2025 season as National Finalists, the furthest the program has ever gone. The Lions entered the day coming off a quarterfinal win over USC and a semifinal win over UCLA to earn a spot in the National Championship game against 2-seed TCU.
 
The Horned Frogs took the first dual point on Court 4, before LMU tied the dual at 1-1 with a win on Court 2 from Chloe Hooker and Vilhelmiina Prihti. The LMU Twos Pair won 21-16, 21-17. With the win, Prihti surpassed Jessie Pritchard as LMU’s all-time winningest player with 110 wins. The pair of Hooker and Prihti were named to the NCAA All-Tournament team after going 2-0 with two unfinished matches.
 
TCU then went back ahead 2-1 with a win at the threes pair. The response came with a win at Court Five from Tanon Rosenthal and Giuliana Poletti Corrales. The pair won with identical sets of 21-16, 21-16 to tie the dual at 2-all and setting up a decisive match on the final court. Rosenthal and Poletti Corrales went 4-0 in four matches at Gulf Shores.
 
After winning the first set, 21-18, Michelle Shaffer and Anna Pelloia fell behind in the second set and TCU forced a decisive third set for the National Championship. The Horned Frogs came out fast, leading 9-2, 10-3, and 11-4 before ultimately taking the final set of the season 15-6.
 
The Lions are just the second program in school history to play in a National Championship Game, joining the 2004 Women’s Water Polo program. The 38 wins are a program record and John Mayer became the first coach in school history to be named National Coach of the Year. The team also became the first in school history to win six consecutive conference titles.
 
Fans, students, staff, faculty, and community members are invited to welcome the Lions home on Sunday night. LMU will be arriving to Fans, students, staff, faculty, and community members are invited to welcome the Lions home on Sunday night. LMU will be arriving to campus around 9:15 PM straight from Gulf Shores and head directly back to campus to depart the team bus outside the Hank Gathers statue.
 
Official Beach Volleyball Results (Final)
#2 TCU (32-5) vs #4 Loyola Marymount (38-7)
05/04/2025 at Gulf Shores, Ala. — The Hangout
Match Score: TCU 3, LMU 2
 

1. Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno (TCU) def. Michelle Shaffer and Anna Pelloia (LMU); 18-21, 21-15, 15-6
2. Chloe Hooker and Vilhelmiina Prihti (LMU) def. Hailey Hamlett and Maria Gonzalez (TCU): 21-16, 21-17
3. Allanis Navas and Sofia Izuzquiza (TCU) def. Abbey Thorup and Lisa Luini (LMU): 21-16, 21-13
4. Ana Vergara and Anhelina Khmil (TCU) def. Isabelle Reffel and Magdalena Rabitsch (LMU): 21-14, 21-19
5. Tanon Rosenthal and Giuliana Poletti Corrales (LMU) def. Stacy Reeves and Denie Konstantinova (TCU): 21-16, 21-16

 
MATCH NOTES
Order of finish: 4, 2, 3, 5, 1,
Start Time: 9:35 AM
Duration: 1:13
 
Donate Today:
Fans interested in making a contribution to the Lions Athletic Fund can do so by clicking here. Your gift will help provide a transformational student-athlete experience athletically, academically, and culturally for every LMU student-athlete. We appreciate your continued support of LMU Athletics. 
 
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For complete coverage of Loyola Marymount University athletics, visit LMULions.com. We encourage you to follow along with all the action on social media as well. Follow along by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Instagram.
 
 

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When Geoff Colton went to college in his early 30s, he wanted to join some kind of activity where he could meet people. 

He felt his options were a bit limited as someone who had recently gotten sober after struggling with drugs and alcohol. 

“I knew it couldn’t be a frat,” he said. 

So, to help him move forward, he looked back, where he reconnected with volleyball. He grew up in California, where he had plenty of opportunities to play on club and school teams. He found a club team at his college in Sacramento, and has spent the last decade-plus integrating himself back into the sport. 

Now, Colton is trying to teach the game he loves to younger generations as the head coach of the Tigard boys volleyball team, a new team in its first season at the school. 

“This is my giveback to the community,” Colton said. “It’s about teaching kids about the sport I love. I was in communication with (Tigard Athletic Director) Ryan Taylor for three years about getting a team together, and this year, we were finally able to give it a shot. Without him, this wouldn’t have happened.”

In October 2023, the Oregon School Activities Association named boys volleyball as an emerging activity, meaning there was enough interest in making it a full-on sport that OSAA would give it a probationary period to see if enough schools participated. The sport has grown from 25 teams in 2023 to nearly 70 this year, and the OSAA is expected to vote on whether to make it a full sport this October. 

Colton has coached boys volleyball club teams in the area and was following along as OSAA discussed adding boys volleyball, and was in contact with Taylor about bringing a team to the school. 

There are some difficulties in starting a new program, of course, both on and off the court. Colton wasn’t totally sure about what turnout would be like, but he had 24 boys sign up to tryout, 14 of whom made the team.

“I’m a one-man band and I would have loved to produce a JV team, as well,” he said. “But the time constraints with coaching club and my regular work, there wasn’t enough for me to go around.”

Another difficulty is teaching his team the sport. Of the team’s 14 members, only two have any kind of organized volleyball experience: sophomore Brayden Ellis, who has played six years of club ball, and junior Cody Matthews, who has played club for four years. 

“It’s been a challenge,” Ellis said. “Everybody is so new. It’s also a good challenge to step up in this leadership position and help out the players with less experience. It’s been fun to see them pick things up and get better.”

Colton said he has leaned on Ellis and Matthews quite a bit so far this year. 

“I consider them assistants to me,” he said. “When it came time to running specific drills, they were my examples. I ask them to showcase and display what I was trying to convey to the rest of the team as far as the execution of certain plays. They’re big leaders within the team.”

Colton said his team is very willing to learn and are excited about the sport, which is what he wants to see more than anything else. He said coming into the season, he compared the process of teaching the Tigers about the game to coaching an under-12 team. 

“It’s about fundamentals,” he said. “If they’re showing excitement and improving as athletes, that’s great. We’re working on footwork, court IQ, knowing your surroundings, and how to work as a team.”

One other thing that has made it a bit more difficult is that volleyball isn’t the most mainstream sport. It’s not one you can typically throw on the TV any time of year, or one kids grow up watching or playing outside of occasionally in gym class. 

Freshman Patrick Gerhard had some experience playing on an afterschool team in middle school, but his first year on the school team has been quite a bit different just in terms of learning the sport and the intensity of playing for the school.

“We have so many people doing it for the first time or even me, who’s been playing for a few years, but never in a competitive environment,” he said. “It’s a big change for me from middle school afterschool teachers to actual professional coaching.”

He said he heard there was a chance there would be a boys team when he got to high school, and he was pumped when he found out he could give it a try. Both Gerhard and Ellis said they told friends about the team to try and get them to try out, but not many did.

However, they both also said they have friends coming to their home games already, and they’ve loved playing in front of a crowd. 

Colton said he’s already seen so much growth in his players that he’s already excited about the future of the program. 

“It’s a sport where you have to crawl before you can walk,” Colton said. “You start with learning how to pass the ball and set the ball, and the arm swing mechanics of hitting the ball at the net. You have to break every little piece down. From there, the boys go from learning the techniques to learning the rules, and they connect the dots. That’s the exciting part. They go from scoring a point to understanding how they scored a point.”

The work the team has put in is already paying off. Tigard has had a few injuries, leading to some younger or more inexperienced players having to play more than expected. Colton can see the players on his team connecting to the sport the more they play, and he thinks that bodes well for the future of boys volleyball at Tigard. 

“What we’re able to do with those younger aged athletes is have them lock in on the sport,” he said. “So many families have already reached out to ask what more they can do to get their son playing more volleyball. There are plenty of camps and plenty of clinics close, and the next season of club volleyball is coming up. Right now, for all these kids, they’re all going after the same goal: to get better and represent their school.”

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