SAN BRUNO, Calif. – The West Coast Conference will add conference championships in men’s soccer, women’s soccer and softball, as the Presidents’ Council ratified the three championship proposals during their annual spring meeting that concluded June 5, 2025.
All three championship events will begin in the 2026-27 academic year.
“Following a thorough evaluation of each championship proposal, the membership was aligned in adding championship events in men’s soccer, women’s soccer and softball,” West Coast Conference Commissioner Stu Jackson said. “We look forward to hosting high-caliber championships and are excited for our programs to have the opportunity to compete for a title and secure the Conference’s automatic qualification to their respective NCAA Championship.”
The men’s and women’s soccer championship formats will be four teams with the highest seed hosting each event. The semifinal matches will be played on Wednesday, and the championship match will be contested on Saturday preceding NCAA selection.
The West Coast Conference is a perennial multi-bid league in both men’s and women’s soccer. West Coast Conference teams have made three appearances in the NCAA Women’s College Cup in the last five seasons with Santa Clara capturing the 2020 NCAA title and the Broncos and BYU advancing in 2021. In the last three men’s soccer seasons, Portland (2022) and LMU (2023) advanced to the quarterfinals and San Diego (2024) reached the third round of the NCAA Championship.
The softball championship format will be a four-team, double elimination, tournament contested on the Thursday-Saturday preceding NCAA selection. The championship will be held at a pre-determined campus site.
Three different softball programs have captured a West Coast Conference title the last three years. LMU won in 2023, Saint Mary’s won in 2024, and the Gaels and Santa Clara were co-champions this past season, as the Broncos earned the tiebreaker to secure their first bid to the NCAA Championship.
About the West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference was formed in 1952 and has evolved and grown to become a nationally recognized and competitive force in Division I intercollegiate athletics. The West Coast Conference is fueled by the conviction to achieve its goals with strong core values of integrity, respect, collaboration, innovation, and inclusiveness that create a holistic student-athlete experience. The conference sponsors 16 sports with a three-state footprint that includes Gonzaga, LMU, Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary’s, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Clara. Seattle will become the West Coast Conference’s newest member on July 1, 2025. We Create Champions on the field of competition and leaders in life. For more information, visit WCCsports.com and follow the West Coast Conference on X, Instagram, and Facebook @WCCsports.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Brooklyn College Director of Athletics Erik Smiles announced the appointment of Lauren Caiaccia as Head Coach of the Brooklyn College Women’s Volleyball program, following her highly successful tenure as Interim Head Coach during the final stretch of the 2025 season.
Taking over at the helm of the program as the Bulldogs were on a four-match skid, Caiaccia was victorious in her first match coached at Brooklyn as BC defeated CCNY, 3-1, on October 14. Brooklyn would then win their second straight match under Caiaccia’s guidance at St. Elizabeth five days later.
Caiaccia’s immediate impact continued as she led Brooklyn to their first CUNYAC Championship match since 2022 following a quarterfinal win over Lehman and a dramatic 3-2 semifinal victory at Baruch. Brooklyn finished the final 13 matches with a winning record under her leadership. Three Bulldogs would go on to earn Second Team All-CUNYAC honors.
“I am thrilled to welcome Lauren to Brooklyn as our next Women’s Volleyball Head Coach, Smiles would comment. “Her knowledge of the game, coaching and development abilities in practice, and her local ties made her a perfect fit to move our program forward.”
Well-known in CUNYAC volleyball, Caiaccia had a successful tenure at Hunter College where she led the women’s volleyball program to four straight conference titles (1999-2002). She would be named CUNYAC Coach of the Year following the 2001 conference championship run. Her success was not limited to the women’s game as she guided the Hunter men’s volleyball team to CUNYAC Championships in 1999 and 2003, and was named CUNYAC Coach of the Year following both seasons. She would go on to earn regional recognition in 2003 by being named the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) Coach of the Year. Caiaccia has the historic distinction of being the first woman to lead a collegiate men’s volleyball program to 100 wins. In addition to her coaching duties, Caiaccia served as Assistant Director of Athletics at Hunter.
“She brought together a great mix of college and high school coaching success and spent time as an administrator as well, she understands what it takes to build a program from all of the different angles involved,” Smiles would add.
Following her success at Hunter, Caiaccia took over as Head Coach of the women’s and men’s volleyball teams at another CUNYAC member, CCNY. There, she coached the 2006 CUNYAC Women’s Volleyball Player of the Year while finishing up her second bachelor’s degree in Physical Education.
Since 2007, Caiaccia has taught Physical Education at Townsend Harris High School. In addition to teaching, she served as the school’s Director of Athletics for eight years, overseeing 31 teams. Caiaccia is in her 19th season as Head Coach of the girls’ varsity basketball team, guiding the program to a pair of PSAL semifinal appearances, three quarterfinal appearances, and multiple divisional titles. She has also coached the boys’ varsity volleyball team to its only divisional championship in six years at the helm of the program.
“I’m excited to be back coaching college volleyball and beyond grateful to have this opportunity specifically at Brooklyn College,” Coach Caiaccia commented on her appointment.
A highly decorated student-athlete at Binghamton University, Caiaccia was a member of the women’s volleyball, women’s basketball, and track and field teams. Starring as an outside hitter in volleyball, Caiaccia served as team captain as a senior and graduated with six school records while helping the program to their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, SUNYAC, and state crowns. Caiaccia has the distinct honor of being a two-time Hall of Fame inductee at Binghamton. First, as an individual in 2004 and most recently in 2025 as a member of the 1995 women’s volleyball team.
Also an accomplished academic, Caiaccia holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychobiology and Master of Business Administration from Binghamton University and a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from Queens College. She has gone on to earn an advanced degree in Educational Leadership and holds New York State Licenses as a School Building Leader as well as a School District Leader. Caiaccia has also served as an adjunct professor in the City University of New York (CUNY) system.
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SERIES HISTORY – MOUNT OLIVE • Penn State and Mount Olive will meet for the 12th time in the series history. • The Nittany Lions won the most recent meeting by a 3-1 score to open the 2018 season. That match was also played at Rec Hall. Calvin Mende hit .667 with 15 kills and three blocks in the win. Jalen Penrose hit .615 with 10 kills, two blocks, and four aces. • Every match in the series was played at Rec Hall. Penn State swept the first 10 before losing the one set in 2018.
Year
Winner
Score
Location
2005
Penn State
3-0
Rec Hall
2008
Penn State
3-0
Rec Hall
2009
Penn State
3-0
Rec Hall
2011
Penn State
3-0
Rec Hall
2012
Penn State
3-0
Rec Hall
2013
Penn State
3-0
Rec Hall
2014
Penn State
3-0
Rec Hall
2015
Penn State
3-0
Rec Hall
2016
Penn State
3-0
Rec Hall
2017
Penn State
3-0
Rec Hall
2018
Penn State
3-1
Rec Hall
PENN STATE VS. CONFERENCE CAROLINAS • Penn State is unbeaten at 19-0 all-time against current members of the Conference Carolinas. • The Nittany Lions have played six of the eight teams — Mount Olive (11-0), Lees-McRae (3-0), Erskine (2-0), Belmont Abbey (1-0), King (1-0), and North Greenville (1-0). • Penn State last played Conference Carolinas teams in 2024 when it swept both King and Lees-McRae.
HONOLULU – The second-ranked University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team continued its run of sweeps after a straight-set win over No. 7 Loyola Chicago Thursday in the first of two non-conference matches at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-18, 25-19, 25-15.
The Rainbow Warriors (3-0) made it three consecutive sweeps to start the season with another dominant showing. UH hit .426 for the match against one of the nation’s top teams and did not allow a service ace while recording seven of its own. Hawai’i held LUC to .172 hitting.
For the third straight match, Kristian Titriyski led the way with a team-high 11 kills, hitting .368. Adrien Roure added eight kills and Louis Sakanoko had six kills, four digs, and two blocks. Justin Todd had a career-high three aces – all during Set 2 – while Kainoa Wade came off the bench and served two aces during a late Set 3 run to close out the match.
Setter Tread Rosenthal dished out 26 assists with five kills of his own and three blocks. Trevell Jordan had four kills and a team-high four blocks.
The Ramblers (0-1) were led by Daniel Fabikovic’s 11 kills.
In Set 1, UH reeled off three straight for a 16-11 lead behind the tough serving by Todd. The lead was 19-13 after a Sakanoko ace. Hawai’i went on to hit .650 in the set despite committing an uncharacteristic seven service errors.
Todd’s three aces during a 6-0 run gave Hawai’i an 8-2 lead in Set 2. The Ramblers pulled within one at 15-14 but UH stretched its lead to four at 21-17. A pair of Loyola attack errors gave the Warriors set point at 24-18 and Titriyski’s 10th kill closed out the set.
UH took a 10-7 lead in Set 3 after back-to-back LUC errors. The Warriors extended their lead to 17-12 after a 6-2 run that included five Rambler errors. In all, LUC committed 10 attack errors in the third set and hit .000 and UH only needed eight kills to pull out the set.
The teams play again on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at Bankoh Arena. Prior to the match, UH’s alumni will hold an all-alumni match at 4:00 p.m. Scheduled to participate are UH associate coach Kūpono Fey and Loyola Chicago assistant coach Dalton Solbrig.
PROVO, Utah — BYU women’s volleyball head coach Rob Neilson announced the hiring of assistant coach Chloe Hirst on Thursday afternoon.
Serving as the Aggies’ associate head coach for the last three seasons, Hirst was also an assistant coach during Neilson’s first three years in Logan. She helped USU to four Mountain West regular season titles and two Mountain West tournament titles.
Hirst was named a 2022 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Thirty Under 30 award winner. Utah State had 10 all-conference honorees, with one conference player of the year, during her tenure.
Prior to her time with the Aggies, Hirst was the director of operations at both Utah and Weber State, and she served as a head coach with Club V. An outside hitter at Idaho State from 2013-17, she earned All-Big Sky honors as a junior and senior.
Originally from Bountiful, Utah, Hirst prepped at Woods Cross High School. She has bachelor’s (2016) and master’s (2017) degrees in physical education from Idaho State as well as an MBA from Utah State (2023).
The St. Augustine Record selects its annual All-County team for the top high school volleyball players in St. Augustine and St. Johns County.
Beachside senior Adriana Jeanpierre is the Record’s player of the year for volleyball. Although her natural position is setter, she lined up as outside hitter for four years and led the Barracudas in attacking statistics on the way to the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 5A regional finals. She has signed with Mississippi State University for college volleyball.
FIRST TEAM
S Erica Duffy, Sr., Beachside
Old Dominion commit displayed versatility with 352 assists, 162 kills, 227 digs.
MB Molly Fitzpatrick, Sr., Bartram Trail
Led Bears with 256 kills, adding 53 aces and 39 blocks; committed to Georgia College and State.
S Haydin Froehlich, Sr., Ponte Vedra
Prolific setter delivered 748 assists, plus 163 digs, 39 blocks, 43 aces, 51 kills; committed to North Florida.
OH Adriana Jeanpierre, Sr., Beachside
Delivered thunderous kills (367, .255 hitting percentage) with 275 digs, 31 blocks; headed to Mississippi State as setter.
MB Lily Keeley, Jr., Ponte Vedra
Wofford commit is a force at the net, with 202 kills (.347 hitting percentage) and 45 blocks.
L Isabella Taveras Seda, Jr., Beachside
Active libero finished with 495 digs, 63 assists; committed to Tampa.
S Mollie VanDeusen, Jr., Beachside
Florida State commit may be area’s most versatile player; 419 assists, 205 kills, 332 digs and 52 aces for Barracudas.
L Avery Webb, Sr., Ponte Vedra
Among Northeast Florida’s best in the back row with 350 digs, 47 assists, 50 aces; committed to Virginia Tech.
SECOND TEAM
S Jordan Gilbreath, Sr., Bartram Trail
OH Gracie Gorman, Sr., Tocoi Creek
OH Sophia Hayes, Sr., Nease
S Emi Mejia, Jr., St. Augustine
L Avery Misora, Sr., Bartram Trail
OH Amra Mulalic, Jr., Menendez
OH Jayden Roberts, Sr., Beachside
RS Vivi Woodbury, So., Ponte Vedra
Honorable mention
OH Parker Bradley, Fr., Bartram Trail; L Mel Carey, Jr., Tocoi Creek; MB Ellie Decker, Sr., Ponte Vedra; MB Tahlya Joyner, So., Bartram Trail; MB Keani Murray, Sr., Beachside; OH Jessie Rot, Sr., Menendez; S Brielle Rivers, Jr., Bartram Trail; OH Emma Campbell Strickland, Sr., St. Joseph; S Suzi Valbuena, Jr., St. Joseph; MB Neyzza Vega, Sr., St. Joseph; S Madie Wengert, Jr., Tocoi Creek.
It was another quick night of work for the No. 2 Hawaii men’s volleyball team, which swept No. 7 Loyola Chicago 25-18, 25-19, 25-15 tonight at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 4,488 watched Hawaii (3-0) overwhelm the Ramblers (0-1) from start to finish.
Kristian Titriyski had a match-high 11 kills and Adrien Roure added eight kills for the Rainbow Warriors, who hit .426 as a team.
Middle blocker Justin Todd had three aces and sophomore Kainoa Wade had two aces late in the third set making his season debut.
Hawaii closed out the match on a 7-1 run.
The teams will play again on Friday night at 7.
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