STOCKTON, Calif. – University of the Pacific is adding STUNT as a varsity sport, making it the university’s 21st NCAA Division I program.

“We are thrilled to create more opportunities for student-athletes to excel in ways that few other schools are doing,” said Pacific President Christopher Callahan. “Athletics Director Adam Tschuor is at the forefront of identifying creative new ways to grow , that not only benefits athletics but also elevates the entire university community.”

The rapidly growing sport of STUNT is a head-to-head, four-quarter sport in which two teams perform the same routines of partner stunts, pyramids and tosses, jumps and tumbling, and team routines. Judges score the competition based on execution, technique and synchronization.

“The addition of STUNT places Pacific at the cutting edge of one of the fastest-growing women’s sports in the country,” Tschuor said. “The program not only expands competitive opportunities for women but also aligns perfectly with our department’s commitment to innovation, equity and community engagement. STUNT brings an exciting, high-energy sport to our campus, and we are proud to invest in a program that reflects the strength and ambition of Pacific Athletics.”

STUNT was developed by USA Cheer as a distinct competitive sport that emphasizes athleticism, technique and head-to-head competition.

“We applaud University of the Pacific for investing in women’s athletics with the addition of STUNT at the Division I level,” said Executive Director of USA Cheer Lauri Harris. “As the sport advances toward NCAA Championship status and continues its nationwide growth, Pacific’s decision reinforces the importance of creating competitive, meaningful pathways for female athletes. We are excited to welcome Pacific into this transformative moment for STUNT.”

Amy Haney, director of College and High School STUNT at USA Cheer, said STUNT will connect Pacific with “a strong pipeline of student-athletes while strengthening campus spirit and community engagement. This addition reflects the university’s commitment to providing impactful, competitive opportunities for female student-athletes, and we are proud to welcome Pacific to the STUNT community.”

The program will begin in the 2026-27 academic year and will begin to compete in spring 2027. More than 70 NCAA institutions currently offer STUNT programs.

Pacific also recently announced the reinstatement of men’s volleyball after a 13-year hiatus. Tschuor said the momentum behind both sports reflects strong community support, a growing

national landscape and the university’s commitment to expansion during a period when Division I programs are being cut nationwide.

“The return of men’s volleyball and the launch of STUNT reflect Pacific’s continued belief in expanding opportunities for student-athletes, not reducing them,” Tschuor said. “At a time when many institutions are contracting, Pacific is choosing to invest, grow and build programs that match the energy and passion of our community. These additions strengthen our department, broaden our reach nationally and create pathways for students to compete at the highest level.”

The new programs follow Pacific’s recent additions of men’s cross-country and men’s track and field as well as the addition of diving to both women’s and men’s swimming programs .With the addition of STUNT, Pacific will now offer 21 Division I athletics programs.

Prospective STUNT student-athletes can learn more about the program by contacting Director of Spirit and Community Engagement Andrea Sanchez-Johnson at asjohnson@pacific.edu.

#PacificProud

 

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky is hosting the 2025 NCAA Volleyball Lexington Regional. Matches will be played Thursday and Saturday at Memorial Coliseum.

Top-seeded Kentucky opens play Thursday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. ET against Cal Poly, who beat the No. 4 seed USC in five sets Friday to advance. In the regional’s opening match, second-seeded Arizona State will play third-seeded Creighton at 1 p.m. ET. ESPN2 will have live coverage of the matches Thursday, with both also shown live on the ESPN app. The two winners of Thursday’s matches will meet Saturday afternoon in the regional final, with the winner advancing to the NCAA Final Four the following weekend in Kansas City, Missouri. The Lexington Regional final on Saturday will be aired live on the ESPN networks, with a time to be announced Thursday.

All-session tickets for the 2025 Lexington Regional go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. ET through UK Athletics by calling the ticket office at 859-257-3838 or visiting the ticket office in the Joe Craft Center. Fans interested in purchasing single-session tickets can acquire those tickets beginning at 10 a.m. ET Tuesday. One ticket will get fans into both regional semifinal matches Thursday.

2025 NCAA Volleyball Lexington Regional Memorial Coliseum — Lexington, Ky.

Thursday, Dec. 11

• Match 1: 1 p.m. ET — (2) Arizona State vs. (3) Creighton [ESPN2]
• Match 2: 3:30 p.m. ET — (1) Kentucky vs. Cal Poly [ESPN2]

Saturday, Dec. 13

• Match 3: Time TBA — Winner Match 1 vs. Winner Match 2 [TV TBA] — Winner advances to NCAA Final Four

Eastlake High School volleyball player Giselle Gandara has been named to the MaxPreps Freshman All-American volleyball team.

The 5-9 outside hitter had 427 kills, 378 digs, 66 blocks and 53 aces for the Falcons, who finished 36-5 and won two playoff matches this past season. She is one of five Texas players on the 20-person team.

“Giselle is a fantastic player,” Eastlake coach Roel DeAnda said. “She has a strong work ethic and her future is bright. It’ll be great to see her compete in the next three years.”

Gandara’s sister, Genna, is the setter for Eastlake and is a junior.

“To see Giselle’s growth as player has been amazing,” Genna said. “She’s hard working and plays with confidence,”

Added Giselle: “It was a blessing for the great season we had as a team. Playing alongside my sister Genna helped me so much, I learned a great deal from here. I wanted to make an impact as a freshman. I wanted to prove people wrong this year and that I could play at a high level. We had an amazing team and beating Keller in the playoffs was a special moment.”

For the average junior high student, volleyball can be a counterintuitive and hard-to-learn sport. By partnering with the Calgary Dinos Men’s Volleyball team, Andy Brar, a Teacher at Dr. Gordon Higgins School, hopes to break as many of those barriers as he can.

For a one day camp, players and coaches from the Calgary Dinos Men’s volleyball team visited the Dr. Gordon Higgins junior high school for a three-hour, two section volleyball camp, at no cost to the school or the students.

“It’s the culmination of two individuals coming together and really highlighting the beauty of their two institutions, for example, the University of Calgary and their esteemed athletic program and the beautiful diversity that exists in a northeast school like this,” Brar told LWC.

With attendance set through an open sign up, Brar said he encouraged students who are unfamiliar with volleyball to attend, as volleyball, though the root of the event, was only a piece of the camp.

“The hope for this camp would be to take these skills and apply them to their everyday life, but also to understand the next time I’m faced with the challenge or I haven’t done something before to step up and jump on opportunities,” he said.

Life skills aside, Brar valued a camp of this caliber, having university level athletes and a former Olympian as instructors at over $20,000 per student. The camp offered a unique opportunity to learn from the best, especially for the students who may have less experience with the sport.

“If you give students confidence months in advance of tryouts, you’re exposing them to a new sport. When that individual who’s giving the instruction is a two-time Olympian, it really highlights the importance of the sport and the underlying commitments of teamwork, communication and building togetherness,” Brar said.

The Olympian in question, second-year Dinos’ head coach Graham Vigrass, said the opportunity was equally valuable for the Dinos team, especially at this point in the season.

“I was excited to see how much fun our guys are having. It’s a time of the year that they’re a bit burnt out from all the practices and matches that we have and this is a bit of a refresh and gets back to their love of the game,” said Vigrass, who represented Canada at the Olympics in 2016 and 2020.

“They see kids that are pumped and excited to see them and get their autographs, I hope that it makes them understand why they fell in love with the game when they were this age, because it’s kind of easy to forget it.”

Brar, who recently was honoured with the 2025 Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence, hopes the camps can become a somewhat regular thing for his students, a feeling reciprocated by Vigrass.

“This is the first time we’ve done (a camp like this). I’m a newer coach at U of C, but this is a huge priority of mine, is to get out to community and ideally, to communities like this that don’t necessarily have that same opportunity as some others in Calgary,” he said.

(WFRV) – The UW-Oshkosh women’s volleyball team returned to campus as national champions for the first time in program history, welcomed home by a crowd of celebrating fans.

The Titans capped a dominant postseason run with a 3–0 sweep of No. 5 La Verne in the NCAA Division III title match — completing the tournament without dropping a single set on their way to the crown.

For reaction from the team, click the video above for the full story.