The UNC volleyball team’s fall season ended a little more than a month ago, and the Bears are already moving on toward 2026

In a rare occurrence, two freshmen will join UNC this month with the start of the spring semester. The program also said good-bye to associate head coach Pi’i Aiu, who announced his retirement in December.

Freshmen Gillian Walton and Riley Taylor were among six players to sign for 2026, the program announced in November. Walton and Taylor are expected to be on campus for the start of the spring semester Monday with both athletes opting to graduate a semester early from high school.

UNC has since announced the signing of three transfer students in setter Emily Bruss, middle blocker Summer Snead and outside hitter Kylie Cackovic.

Walton was an outside hitter, defensive specialist and opposite hitter at Overland Park High School in Overland Park, Kansas. Taylor was a right-side outside hitter at Green Level High School in Apex, North Carolina.

UNC, 17-16 overall in 2025, turned in one of its most successful seasons under head coach Lyndsey Oates.

After starting their nonconference season with a 3-9 record, the Bears turned things around during the Big Sky Conference season.

UNC won the conference tournament title on its home court, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. UNC then pushed nationally ranked Creighton to five sets in a first-round match on the Bluejays’ home floor in Omaha, Nebraska.

The match was the final one for Aiu, who’d been with Oates for seven years.

Aiu came to UNC before the 2019 season after 12 years at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He was promoted to associate head coach in January 2020, and was really a right-hand man for Oates.

She said this week the search for a successor will soon begin. Oates was aware of Aiu’s plans to retire long before the end of the season. She said she heard from several people on her coaching connection with Aiu as news of his retirement became public.

“I don’t know that I took that for granted,” Oates said of Aiu as a coaching colleague. “It is maybe true how much success the two of us had together in the last seven years.”

Oates said she previously had the same camaraderie with assistants Jenny Glenn and Tom Hunter, both of whom spent close to a decade in the program.

In the last seven years, UNC’s record is 150-64 with four Big Sky Conference Tournament titles leading to four NCAA Tournament appearances. In the same span, UNC also won a Big Sky Conference regular-season championship (2024). Also in 2024, UNC qualified for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship after a runner-up finish at the Big Sky tournament.

“It just shows you how valuable assistant coaches are,” Oates said. “I mean, they are doing a bulk of the recruiting and their training, and they create our culture as much as a head coach does.”

Four weeks ago, it was made public that Jackie Carle and Italia Bernal were both hitting the transfer portal. At the time, this left the Cougars with Livia Ward as the only setter on the team.

On Wednesday, the Cougs fixed at least part of the setter shortage by signing setter Audrey Hollis. Hollis will be a true junior in the fall and is a transfer from the University of Hawai’i. Before playing in Hawaii, she played at UC San Diego in 2024.

As a sophomore at Hawai’i, she recorded 125 assists and 49 digs. However, she only played in 16 out of 29 matches and 38 total sets.

At UC San Diego, however, she produced. As a freshman, while playing both setter and opposite, she logged 921 assists, 8.86 assists per set (fifth-most in the Big West Conference in 2024), 188 digs, 48 blocks, 57 kills and 17 service aces. She played in 27 out of 30 matches, starting in 25 of them, and helped the Tritons achieve an overall record of 17–13, which allowed them to qualify for the Big West Championship in the team’s first year of eligibility.

For her freshman-year efforts, she made the Big West All-Freshman team.

Hollis even has championship-level DNA after she helped lead her club volleyball team to win the USA Volleyball 18s National Championship in the National Division in 2022.

Despite her statistically underwhelming season at Hawai’i this past year, head coach Korey Schroeder and company will look to tap into the upside she showed in her freshman year.

“Audrey brings a lot of [experience] and [success] for us at the setter position. Her freshman season she ran a 5-1 for a very successful UC-San Diego team while she was still 17 years old,” Schroeder said about her in a statement posted on the WSU Athletics website upon signing her.

WOODROW — Like the rest of the Lubbock-Cooper freshmen three years ago, Campbell Beeler faced one of the first major decisions of her life.

Should she stay at her high school, or enter a new frontier as part of the first contingent to attend Lubbock-Cooper Liberty?

There were plenty of factors to consider, including the athletics landscape. What would sports at a new school look like?

Here is the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s volleyball Super Team for the 2025 season. Players are listed in alphabetical order in their respective tiers.

Read about our player of the year, Lubbock-Cooper Liberty senior Campbell Beeler.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Emma Clawson, Sr., OH, Shallowater

Clawson, a New Mexico State signee, notched 511 kills (.303 hitting percentage), 157 digs, 36 aces, 13 blocks and eight assists. She was District 2-3A MVP and Texas Girls Coaches Association all-state.

ETBU beach volleyball team serves Honduras communities on mission trip

Published 5:45 am Monday, January 12, 2026

East Texas Baptist University’s beach volleyball team recently returned from a trip to Roatan , an island part of Honduras, as part of ETBU’s Tiger Athletic Mission Experience. Students partnered with International Sports Federation and Roatan Mission Fellowship for ministry and service for a week.

It was the 24th trip for the ETBU Athletic Department TAME initiative and the first for the ETBU beach volleyball team.

When players arrived at the home of their host family, they were greeted with friendly faces, dinner, smores, and fresh coconuts, according to a statement from ETBU.

“Through all the chaos of traveling, it was exciting to watch the Lord force us to slow down and be patient and wait on His timing,” sophomore Sierra Wendt said. “When things could have caused us to lose joy or excitement, we spent the time having team Bible studies and fellowship. Never once did the team lose fire for the Lord or eagerness to share His word.”

The first full day in Roatan began with a traditional Honduran breakfast before players started a beach volleyball camp for local children. The 50 children ranging in age from 6 to 17 who attended the camp enjoyed games, learning about beach volleyball, and listening to devotionals about trusting in Jesus, ETBU said.

After a break for lunch, the team started its afternoon volleyball camp session with another group of children.

“Despite the language barrier, it was evident that God’s love knows no barrier,” freshman Emmaley Matz said. “For our group devotional we discussed the story of Jesus calming the storm. After sharing trials where we felt God in our own lives, the kids shared their own stories.  It was amazing to hear how God has worked in their lives and how important it is to have trust and faith in God’s plan.”

The team’s third day in Roatan included a Christmas celebration with the local children who live and work near the landfill, according to ETBU. The children and their families earn money by picking through acres of garbage to find plastic, cans, and metal to sell for a few dollars.

In 2025, Roatan Mission Fellowship was able to send 180 children living near the landfill to school with everything they need, including school uniforms and supplies.

“The team handed out Christmas presents to these children and spread Christ’s love through many hugs and gifts,” ETBU said

On their final day in Roatan, team members had another session of playing volleyball with local children and young adults. After lunch, the team served at one of Roatan Mission Fellowship’s partner ministries called Little Sprouts, which offers spiritual, medical, and food support to the neediest families in and around Roatan’s largest city. The team donated soccer balls and volleyballs to the ministry.

“As soon as our bus pulled onto the gravel road in front of their building, the kids swarmed our bus with smiles and waves,” sophomore Paige Dickson said. “As each one of us stepped off the bus, we couldn’t even get down the stairs before we were greeted with massive hugs. The kids had massive smiles, and there were so many giggles and voices flooding the yard. Everyone was happy and relaxed, and all the kids felt seen and safe. They jumped into our arms, and we held them and talked with them as long as we could.”

Head ETBU Beach Volleyball Coach Allison Kuster reflected on the experience and expressed her pride in her team during their week in Roatan.

“Before we left, they all came up with individual goals that they wanted to meet while we were there,” Kuster said. “Some of the goals included getting outside their comfort zone, praying for a stranger, and asking someone if they know who Jesus is. Every single one of my girls met their goals and more. I have never seen a team more on fire for the Lord and wanting to share their faith with everyone they meet, and as a coach, that is one of the most incredible things you could ever ask for.”

After the 2025 season ended for Cougar volleyball, a question mark arose about who would be signed to replace outside hitters Taryn Vrieling and Melina Christodoulou. They will not be returning due to graduation.

That question has been, at least partially, answered as of Wednesday, when Cougar volleyball officially announced they signed transfers Madyn Cervellera and Emerson Matthews.

This gets the Cougs back up to five outside hitters going into the 2026 season, as Eliana Ti’a, Haumea Marumoto and Mary Healy are all set to return.

Nonetheless, with two new pins coming to the Palouse, let us take a look at who they are.

Madyn Cervellera:

Cervellera is an incoming transfer from Seattle University, which is one of the Cougars’ West Coast Conference rivals. Before that, Cervellera played at Cal Poly-Humboldt in 2024. She will be a true junior in her first season at WSU this fall.

In the two matches Cervellera played against the Cougs this past season, she tallied 20 total kills, 12 digs and five blocks. She was one of Seattle U’s most productive players in those matches.

Overall, in her one season with the Redhawks, she led the team with 378 kills, which was 98 more kills than Lucie Blažková, 165 more than her next-closest teammate and the fourth-most in the WCC. She also had 116 kills at Poly-Humboldt in the 17 matches she played.

She is also a strong defensive player. She logged 41 total blocks last season, which was more than both Vrieling and Christodoulou. She also tallied 261 digs (15th-most in the WCC), which was 133 more than Ti’a, the outside hitter on WSU with the most digs. At Poly-Humboldt, she had 186 digs and 32 total blocks.

However, historically, she has not been the most accurate. She hit .148 in 2025 and .093 in 2024. Her .148 would have been the second-lowest for an outside hitter on the Cougars if she played for WSU in 2025.

Nonetheless, she was still one of the most productive outside hitters in the WCC last season, earning her an All-WCC honorable mention.

Head coach Korey Schroeder has been high on Cervellera since playing her twice this past season.

“Between playing against her twice and scouting for other WCC matches, we watched Madyn compete a lot last season. She is a great athlete [who] impacts matches both offensively and defensively, and that showed with the numbers she put up at Seattle,” Schroeder said in a statement posted on the WSU Athletics website.

Emerson Matthews:

Matthews will be a true sophomore when she takes the court for the Cougars next fall. This past season, as a freshman, she played in all 27 matches for the University of Buffalo and started in 26.

At Buffalo, offensively, she led the Bulls with 366 kills (fourth-most in the Mid-American Conference) and also had 25 aces. Her 366 kills were 86 more than Blažková had this past season, and the 25 aces would have been fourth-most on the Cougars. She was also accurate and efficient, hitting .177 for the Bulls. For reference, outside hitter Mary Healy hit .178 for the Cougars this past season.

Defensively, Matthews had 41 total blocks and 190 digs. In total, she logged 419 points, which was third-most in the MAC. 

Her efforts this season got her named to the All-MAC second team and the MAC All-Freshman team.

Before playing at the University of Buffalo, Matthews was selected to Canada’s National Excellence Program to play volleyball. She also played in the BioSteel All-Canadian Games for Team Canada in 16U and 17U, and was named the Sask Volleyball 17U Female Athlete of the Year in 2024. Additionally, she represented the 19U Team Canada at the Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation Pan American Cup.

Schroeder was impressed with what Matthews accomplished as a freshman.“What Emerson accomplished last fall in her first collegiate season is impressive. Being a freshman is hard, but she not only contributed but led her team offensively while playing a six-rotation role,” he said about her in a statement released on the WSU Athletics website.