It’s never easy to end a great season with a first-round playoff loss, but decades of experience have taught Bryant women’s volleyball Head Coach Theresa Garlacy how to take the long view.  

“We went from not making the tournament to being co-champs,” she says of the team’s recently concluded 2025-26 campaign. 

“We went from not making the tournament to being co-champs.”

In just their fourth season in the competitive America East conference, the Bulldogs went 16-12 to tie with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County for the regular season title. The team also went 7-3 in America East play, an all-time best record for Bryant and up from a 4-6 mark in 2023-24.  

RELATED ARTICLE: Women’s volleyball clinches co-America East title with sweep over NJIT 

To claim its first America East regular season title, the team notched signature wins against Boston College, University of Rhode Island, Providence College, and Fairfield University before falling to the University of Albany in the America East tournament semifinals.  

Garlacy said the 2025 season, which included a 50th anniversary celebration of Bryant women’s volleyball, will go down as one of the most memorable in her 30-year career as the Bulldogs’ coach.  

“This was definitely a legacy team,” Garlacy says. 

A 3-1 win over the University of New Hampshire on the same weekend that current and former players gathered to mark the program reaching the half-century mark was another high point in the season, says Garlacy. 

“This year’s athletes really felt the sisterhood with the alumni, and that’s something that we tried to take with us throughout the season,” she says. “It’s not just about the six or seven people on the court, or the 18 people on the roster. You have a whole history of hundreds of women who came before you, and you have that strength from them every time you step on the court.” 

“This year’s athletes really felt the sisterhood with the alumni, and that’s something that we tried to take with us throughout the season.”

While Bryant went 18-10 overall last season, their weak conference record denied the team a postseason spot, so 2024-24 was a big step up despite the team’s early exit from the America East tournament, says Garlacy. 

“This was such a great team: we’ve never won the American East regular season title before. Every time we jumped a level, such as from NCAA D2 to D1, or from the Northeast Conference to America East, my team has found a way to level up,” Garlacy says.  

“For them to go from not making the tournament last year to being co-champs this year, and with our best ever record in the conference, demonstrated the leadership they showed and the respect they had for each other,” she adds. “For me, the biggest win is to see the players in each position supporting each other.” 

Looking forward to next season, Bryant will have to adjust to the departure of America East Player of the Year and team leader Arianna Ugolini ‘26, but Garlacy rejects the idea that 2026 will be any kind of rebuilding year. 

“We had two first-year students who played significant time on this team, so I’m feeling good about that. We have a solid base of returners and, with the recruiting class we have coming in, will continue to grow the program,” she says. “Last year we graduated four outstanding athletes, three of whom were starters. Well, we got even better.” 

 

OMAHA, Neb. — The Creighton Volleyball team was ranked a season-best No. 10 in the year-end poll by the American Volleyball Coaches Association announced on Monday, Dec. 22nd. It’s the 11th appearance in the year-end poll in program history, with the 2024 squad earning the best mark at No. 6.

Creighton is one of eight schools (Creighton, Kentucky, Louisville, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Stanford, Wisconsin) to be in the Top 10 of the year-end poll in both 2024 and 2025.

This is the 11th season that Creighton has been ranked in the year-end poll — all since 2012 — and fifth straight campaign. The only nine programs to be in the year-end AVCA poll each of the past five seasons are Baylor, Creighton, Kentucky, Louisville, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Stanford and Texas.

The Bluejays are one of 10 schools (along with Baylor, Kentucky, Louisville, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Stanford, Texas and Wisconsin) to have been ranked each of the last 78 polls. The streak began on Sept. 6, 2021 and is a program-record. This year also marks the seventh time that Creighton has been ranked in all 16 polls of a season, joining 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024. It is also the 36th week overall the Bluejays have been in the Top 10.

Creighton has been ranked in all but six of the past 147 weeks the AVCA has put out a Top 25 poll and 155 times in program history, which ranks 37th-most all-time. Creighton is 261-54 all-time when playing as a ranked team in the AVCA poll. This was the 14th straight campaign that Creighton has spent at least one week in the Top 25.

The year-end top five in the poll consisted of Texas A&M, Kentucky, Nebraska, Pittsburgh and Wisconsin.

Over the last 18 seasons from 2008-2025, 333-of-450 teams (74.0 percent) of teams have been in both the preseason and final polls. Of the teams ranked in the preseason poll released in August, all but preseason No. 2 Penn State, No. 16 Florida, No. 17 Missouri, No. 18 UCLA, No. 22 Georgia Tech, No. 23 Utah and No. 24 Dayton were also ranked in the final poll. Creighton started the 2025 season ranked 12th in the preseason.

In those same 18 seasons from 2008-2025, 408-of-450 teams (90.7 percent) in the preseason top-25 polls would go on to reach the NCAA Tournament, as all but preseason No. 17 Missouri and No. 24 Dayton reached the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

In the year-end version of the official NCAA RPI, Creighton finished No. 7.

Creighton’s Year-End AVCA Rankings

Ranking	Year
24th	2012
19th	2015
9th	2016
16th	2017
13th	2018
16th	2019
22nd	2021
21st	2022
15th	2023
6th	2024
10th	2025

Dec. 22 AVCA/TARAFLEX Division I Final WVB Poll

Rank	School (First-Place Votes Adjusted)	Total Points Adjusted	Record	Previous Week
1	Texas A&M [61]	1,525	29-4	6
2	Kentucky	1,452	30-3	2
3	Nebraska	1,385	33-1	1
4	Pittsburgh	1,338	30-5	4
5	Wisconsin	1,310	28-5	10
6	Texas	1,192	26-4	3
7	Stanford	1,072	29-5	5
8	Purdue	1,052	27-7	12
9	Louisville	1,037	26-7	9
10	Creighton	1,012	28-6	11
11	SMU	904	27-6	7
12	Arizona State	879	28-4	8
13	Indiana	732	25-8	15
14	Kansas	708	24-11	16
15	Minnesota	685	24-10	17
16	Miami (FL)	596	27-6	13
17	Southern California	478	25-7	14
18	TCU	424	21-11	20
19	North Carolina	362	22-9	19
20	Baylor	343	18-10	21
21	Cal Poly	256	27-8	NR
T-22	Colorado	232	23-9	24
T-22	Iowa State	232	23-8	23
24	Tennessee	178	20-8	18
25	BYU	107	22-9	22

ATHENS, Ga. – University of Georgia volleyball has signed 6-3 outside hitter Marin Collins for the 2026 season, head coach Tom Black announced Saturday.
 
“We’re very excited to add Marin to our program,” Black said. “She has a tremendously high ceiling as a player, and we can’t wait to begin working with her.”
 
Collins signs with Georgia from Penn State as a redshirt-freshman. She did not play in 2025 due to injury and will have four years of eligibility as a Bulldog.
 
In 2024, Collins eclipsed 1,750 career kills at Frontier Central High School in the suburbs of Buffalo, New York, and earned JVA Class of 2025 All‑National Team honors. She was invited to the Under Armour NEXT Series Camp Elite, named First Team AA All‑State in New York, selected First Team All-Western New York by The Buffalo News, and garnered All‑ECIC First Team recognition.
 
In 2023, Collins appeared on the AVCA Phenom Watchlist and the JVA Watch List (OH, Class of 2025). She received Second Team AA All-State honors in New York, was named The Buffalo News All-Western New York First Team, and earned All‑ECIC First Team distinction, along with an invitation to the Under Armour NEXT Series Camp Elite.
 
Her freshman season in 2022 saw Collins on the AVCA Phenom Watchlist and the JVA All‑National Team, plus the JVA Watch List. She collected Second Team AA All‑State in New York, The Buffalo News All-Western New York First Team, Coach’s All-Western New York First Team, and All‑ECIC First Team. Academically, she was part of the USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award and recognized as a Scholar Athlete at Frontier Central.
 
Outside of volleyball, Collins competed on Frontier’s bowling team from her freshman through junior years and was involved with the Girls in Sports Organization.
 
On the club circuit, Collins played for Niagara Frontier Volleyball from 2014–2024.
 
The Lake View, New York native is the daughter of Kimberly and Ryan Collins.
 
Collins joins fellow transfer signee Alyssa Worden, an outside hitter from Iowa.
 
 

Four Hamilton College student-athletes have been recognized on the 2025 Academic All-District® Women’s Volleyball Team, which is selected by the College Sports Communicators (CSC).

Academic All-District Women’s Volleyball Team release

The team honors the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom.

Caitlin Allen ’27, Kathryn Fox ’27, Maggie Nichols ’26 and Ayzlinn Trefren ’28 were each named to the CSC Academic All-District® Team for Division III.

The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes women’s volleyball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.

Allen appeared in 18 matches with 16 starts, and was first on the team in total blocks with 15 solo blocks and 56 block assists.  She was second in the NESCAC with 1.25 blocks per set. Allen also compiled 86 kills and 14 service aces with a .235 hitting percentage.

Fox played in all 19 matches with 11 starts. The junior was one of four players on the team with over 100 kills, registering a career-best 111 on the year. She was also second on the team in blocks with seven solo blocks and 39 block assists.

Nichols played in all 19 matches with 17 starts during her senior season with the Continentals. She produced 54 kills, and was third on the team in blocks with nine solo blocks and 23 block assists.

Trefren appeared in all 19 matches this season with 18 starts. She totaled a team-high 143 kills and a team-high 195 digs. She also contributed 23 service aces, three solo blocks and 13 block assists.

 

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary announced today the hiring of Kellie Catanach Johnson to be the Tribe’s 11th head volleyball coach. She is currently the associate head coach of the Duke Blue Devil women’s volleyball team.
 

“I’m thrilled that Kellie is joining the Tribe as our head volleyball coach,” said Brian D. Mann, director of athletics.  “We very quickly identified her as the person we wanted to lead our program.  She had an extraordinary All-American career as a student-athlete at Duke and that, plus her experience as a standout coach at her alma mater and her lifelong passion for volleyball, made her the right choice for William & Mary.” 
 

“William & Mary is an incredible place that offers the best of all worlds, whether it’s athletics, academics or alumni support,” says Catanach Johnson.  “I want to build a program that everyone will be proud of while we give our student-athletes a great experience.  Everyone I’ve met is so wonderful that I can’t wait to get started!” 
 
Catanach Johnson joined the Blue Devil staff as an assistant in 2019 and was promoted to associate head coach in 2022.  She was the recruiting coordinator and responsible for training and program administration.  In 2021, she was honored as a member of AVCA’s Thirty Under 30 list. 
 
Prior to Duke, Catanach Johnson was Director of Education Services in the Student-Athlete Academic Services department at Florida State University.  She was responsible for day to day operations of educational services and was a liaison to advisors. 
 
During her playing career at Duke, Catanach Johnson was a four-year letterwinner and three-time All-American who starred on a team that made four NCAA appearances and won two ACC Championships.  She was the 2010 ACC Player of the Year and she finished her career ranked ninth in assists in the ACC.  She had at least 1,000 assists in her four seasons on the team and she was the team captain during her last two years at Duke. 
 
Catanach Johnson’s love of volleyball started early.  Her dad, Chris Catanach, coached volleyball at the University of Tampa and in his 42-year illustrious career won four National Championships and was named AVCA National Coach of the Year five times.  “My sister and I basically grew up in the gym,” she said.  “First we were chasing balls and when I got older I got to do some things with the team.”
 
Catanach Johnson is taking over a program that finished 12-15 this fall, with a conference record of 7-9. The team just announced the signing of its incoming 2026 freshman class, and current players Kaitlyn Dunnigan, Katherine Arnason and Audrey Brcka were just named to the CSC Academic All-District team.

Catanach Johnson graduated from Duke in 2012 with a Bachelor of Art’s degree and she earned a Master of Science degree in Sport Management from Florida State in 2015.  She will be joined in Williamsburg by her husband Dezmond Johnson, eight-month-old daughter Evie and their dog Bentley.