Sports

No. 21 Pacific Water Polo Opens GCC Tournament vs. Azusa Pacific

Published

3 weeks ago

April 25, 2025

No. 21 Pacific women’s water polo begins its postseason today against Azusa Pacific in the Golden Coast Conference Tournament. The match kicks off at 10 a.m. at LMU’s Burns Aquatics Center. Pacific enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed with a record of 12-9, while APU is seeded 6th at 16-14. The Tigers are favored, having won three of their last four matches, including a narrow victory over APU earlier in the season. Junior Dora Alaksza leads the team, recently earning First-Team All-Conference honors.

By the Numbers

Pacific’s current record: 12 wins, 9 losses (5-2 in GCC)
APU’s current record: 16 wins, 14 losses (2-5 in GCC)
Dora Alaksza has 232 career goals, ranking 3rd all-time in program history

Yes, But

Despite a strong performance in the regular season, Pacific will need to maintain focus against APU, who features standout Jessie Nelson, the GCC Newcomer of the Year, who previously dominated but failed to score in their first matchup.

State of Play

The Tigers are historically strong against APU, holding a 16-1 all-time record.
Pacific has the opportunity to eliminate APU from the tournament for the third consecutive year.

What’s Next

The winning team will progress to the semifinals on Saturday at 2 p.m. The championship match will take place on Sunday at 1 p.m., with the victor earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Bottom Line

Pacific’s success hinges on their ability to replicate their regular-season performance against APU, leveraging strong individual performances and maintaining defensive focus to advance in the postseason.

Sports

Azusa Pacific Women’s Volleyball Releases 2025 Season Schedule

Story Links AZUSA, Calif. — Azusa Pacific University’s women’s volleyball team has officially released its 2025 schedule, featuring 27 regular season matches, a pair of high-profile tournaments, and 14 contests at the Felix Event Center. The Cougars will look to build on a strong tradition of competitiveness in the PacWest Conference as […]

Published

12 minutes ago

May 17, 2025

Your Sports Nation

AZUSA, Calif. — Azusa Pacific University’s women’s volleyball team has officially released its 2025 schedule, featuring 27 regular season matches, a pair of high-profile tournaments, and 14 contests at the Felix Event Center. The Cougars will look to build on a strong tradition of competitiveness in the PacWest Conference as they begin their campaign on September 4th.

The season kicks off with the APU/CUI Tournament, hosted at home in Azusa, where the Cougars will face Montana State Billings, Texas Woman’s, Regis, and Western Oregon. Following that, the squad heads into a tough Biola-hosted tournament featuring top regional opponents like Cal State Dominguez Hills and Texas Permian Basin.

“This year’s schedule gives us a great mix of early challenges and key home matches,” said Head Coach Chris Keife. “We’re excited to compete in front of our fans and take our program to new heights.”

A key stretch includes the team’s annual trip to Hawai’i in early October and pivotal conference battles against rivals Biola, Point Loma, and Concordia. The season wraps up at home on November 15 against Dominican.

Below is the complete schedule for the 2025 season:

2025 APU Women’s Volleyball Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Location	Notes
Sept. 4 (Thu)	6:00 PM	Montana State Billings	Azusa, CA	APU/CUI Tournament
Sept. 5 (Fri)	10:00 AM	Texas Woman’s	Azusa, CA	APU/CUI Tournament
Sept. 5 (Fri)	2:00 PM	Regis	Azusa, CA	APU/CUI Tournament
Sept. 6 (Sat)	11:00 AM	Western Oregon	Azusa, CA	APU/CUI Tournament
Sept. 11 (Thu)	6:00 PM	Cal State Dominguez Hills	La Mirada, CA	Biola Tournament
Sept. 12 (Fri)	10:00 AM	Stanislaus State	Costa Mesa, CA	Biola Tournament
Sept. 12 (Fri)	4:00 PM	Texas Permian Basin	La Mirada, CA	Biola Tournament
Sept. 13 (Sat)	10:00 AM	Cal State Monterey Bay	La Mirada, CA	Biola Tournament
Sept. 17 (Wed)	6:00 PM	Menlo	Azusa, CA	—
Sept. 20 (Sat)	1:00 PM	Point Loma	Azusa, CA	—
Sept. 24 (Wed)	6:00 PM	Hawai’i Hilo	Azusa, CA	—
Sept. 26 (Fri)	1:00 PM	Chaminade	Azusa, CA	—
Oct. 2 (Thu)	TBA	Biola	La Mirada, CA	—
Oct. 3 (Fri)	6:00 PM	Vanguard	Azusa, CA	—
Oct. 8 (Wed)	TBA	Hawai’i Hilo	Hilo, HI	—
Oct. 9 (Thu)	TBA	Hawaii Pacific	Honolulu, HI	—
Oct. 14 (Tue)	TBA	Point Loma	San Diego, CA	—
Oct. 16 (Thu)	6:00 PM	Fresno Pacific	Azusa, CA	—
Oct. 23 (Thu)	TBA	Dominican	San Rafael, CA	—
Oct. 24 (Fri)	TBA	Jessup	Rocklin, CA	—
Oct. 29 (Wed)	6:00 PM	Westmont	Azusa, CA	—
Oct. 31 (Fri)	TBA	Concordia	Irvine, CA	—
Nov. 1 (Sat)	TBA	Vanguard	Costa Mesa, CA	—
Nov. 5 (Wed)	TBA	Westmont	Santa Barbara, CA	—
Nov. 7 (Fri)	6:00 PM	Biola	Azusa, CA	—
Nov. 12 (Wed)	6:00 PM	Concordia	Azusa, CA	—
Nov. 15 (Sat)	1:00 PM	Dominican	Azusa, CA	—

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Sports

VOLLEYBALL: Four years – Yale Daily News

Yale Athletics The Yale women’s volleyball team won their third straight Ivy League title this season. They cruised past their conference opponents during the regular season, only falling to Princeton in four sets and Cornell in five — both teams that they later crushed in the Ivy League Tournament. In the past four years, the […]

Published

36 minutes ago

May 17, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Yale Athletics

The Yale women’s volleyball team won their third straight Ivy League title this season. They cruised past their conference opponents during the regular season, only falling to Princeton in four sets and Cornell in five — both teams that they later crushed in the Ivy League Tournament.

In the past four years, the squad has accumulated an impressive 48–8 Ivy League record and three NCAA Tournament appearances under Head Coach Erin Appleman, who was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year in 2022 and 2023.

This season, the Bulldogs fell to North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Although they won the first set 25-18 with contributions from all hitters and a great service run from senior Cara Shultz ’25, known for her unique serve, they dropped the next three sets to the talented Tar Heels.

The five players in the class of 2025 — Shultz, Fatima Samb ’25, Bella Chan ’25, Mila Yarich ’25 and Carly Diehl ’25 — have earned American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Region, All-Ivy and All-Eastern College Athletic Conference accolades between them.

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Roseville track and field athlete Jayda Wilson looks to Minnesota record books

“I can watch back, even when I PR, and I’m like, ‘Wow, it was a good jump, but there’s still so much room for improvement,’ ” Wilson said. In addition to a fifth-place Class 3A finish in pole vault as a freshman and first place last year, Wilson placed second in long jump as a […]

Published

53 minutes ago

May 17, 2025

Your Sports Nation

“I can watch back, even when I PR, and I’m like, ‘Wow, it was a good jump, but there’s still so much room for improvement,’ ” Wilson said.

In addition to a fifth-place Class 3A finish in pole vault as a freshman and first place last year, Wilson placed second in long jump as a sophomore with a personal-best of 18-5½. Her track and field success has caught the eye of multiple Big Ten schools, including Minnesota, which has offered her a scholarship.

“I think what sets Jayda apart is she’s just fearless,” Ueland said. When Wilson is asked to make changes, “she’s willing to throw it all out for the big picture, which is really hard for a high school kid to do, hard for us adults to do.”

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High school volleyball: Southern Section boys’ playoff results

SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS FRIDAY’S RESULTS FINALS At Cerritos College DIVISION 1 Mira Costa d. Huntington Beach, 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 29-31, 15-11 At Mater Dei DIVISION 2 Mater Dei d. Peninsula, 20-25, 25-17, 25-13, 25-19 At Crossroads DIVISION 8 Wildwood d. Katella, 3-0 SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE FINALS At Cerritos College DIVISION 3 Orange Lutheran vs. […]

Published

1 hour ago

May 17, 2025

Your Sports Nation

SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

FINALS

At Cerritos College

DIVISION 1

Mira Costa d. Huntington Beach, 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 29-31, 15-11

At Mater Dei

DIVISION 2

Mater Dei d. Peninsula, 20-25, 25-17, 25-13, 25-19

At Crossroads

DIVISION 8

Wildwood d. Katella, 3-0

SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE

FINALS

At Cerritos College

DIVISION 3

Orange Lutheran vs. Tesoro, 10 a.m.

DIVISION 5

Esperanza vs. Kennedy, 12:30 p.m.

DIVISION 9

CAMS vs. Downey Calvary Chapel, 3 p.m.

DIVISION 6

Quartz Hill vs. El Toro, 6 p.m.

At Santa Barbara

DIVISION 4

Sage Hill vs. Santa Barbara, 1 p.m.

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MiLB FastCast

Published

1 hour ago

May 17, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Sports

Jefferson boys beat Morristown in NJAC Tournament final

FLORHAM PARK – Allan Czerwinski didn’t want to play in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference volleyball final on Friday night. Czerwinski had a lot on his mind. His father, Bodgan, had died suddenly the previous day at age 50. Czerwinski hadn’t even gone to school. But when the Jefferson volleyball team began walking from head […]

Published

1 hour ago

May 17, 2025

Your Sports Nation

FLORHAM PARK – Allan Czerwinski didn’t want to play in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference volleyball final on Friday night. Czerwinski had a lot on his mind.

His father, Bodgan, had died suddenly the previous day at age 50. Czerwinski hadn’t even gone to school.

But when the Jefferson volleyball team began walking from head coach Gino Rose’s classroom to get on the bus, Czerwinski was there to meet them.

His presence on the court gave the Falcons a much-needed emotional lift in their 25-21, 25-23 victory against Morristown. It is Jefferson’s first boys volleyball title in its third appearance.

After the Falcons (10-12) came from behind to clinch victory, Allan and his older brother Patrick Czerwinski shared a long, tearful hug on the court. Allan’s teammates formed a semicircle around them, applauding quietly.

Each of the Jefferson players had written “B.C.” on their wrists, either on tape or bare skin – and also put the initials on their shoes.

Rose handed Allan the NJAC plaque. Tears mixed with sweat as Czerwinski held it up to the rafters at the FDU-Florham Recreation Center.

“I want to thank my dad for being the man who raised me. I couldn’t do anything without him,” said Czerwinski, a junior outside hitter who had eight kills and eight digs in the final. “This was for him, only for him. I didn’t want to come (to the match) but I wanted to do it for him, to make him proud.”

Allan Czerwinski had only begun playing volleyball when he got to Jefferson, but he’d spent lots of time hitting with his father.

“I’m just so proud of my brother,” said Patrick Czerwinski, 21, who had planned to come to the final with their father. “I know my dad would be so proud.”

Road to the NJAC title

The fourth-seeded Falcons topped Sparta, then upset No. 1 Randolph, 25-23, 26-24 in a semifinal on Wednesday. Morristown (12-11), the second seed, beat Dover and defending champion Vernon en route to the final.

The Morristown girls had reached the Morris County Tournament final in the fall, but lost to Montville in three games. This was the Colonials’ boys first time playing for the NJAC title, after reaching the semifinal in their first two varsity seasons.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Kathy Hormaza, a Morristown alumna who coaches both teams. “It’s exciting to know both programs have been able to come here. It hurts times two. If it didn’t hurt before, it hurts now.”

There were 180 boys and 323 girls volleyball teams in New Jersey in 2023-24, according to National Federation of State High School Associations data. That would place the state’s boys sixth, behind California (1142), Illinois (255), Pennsylvania (252), Florida (246) and New York (245).

New Jersey’s boys volleyball participation has almost tripled since 2002-03, and mushroomed to 229 teams this spring – eight in the NJAC.

The NJAC, which began sponsoring volleyball in 2018, is the ninth conference or county with a boys volleyball tournament, joining the Greater Middlesex Conference and Passaic and Hudson counties. Dover athletic director Sean Bullock originally pitched the tournament to his NJAC colleagues after the 2019 season. It was unanimously approved, but they had to wait out the COVID pandemic to launch it.

The NJSIAA has sanctioned a girls volleyball tournament since 1981, and boys since 1988 – the same year Vernon’s team was born. The boys volleyball tournament will be seeded on May 27, with championships slated for June 11 and 12.

“We weren’t just playing for the title,” Jefferson setter Jack Schild, who had 26 assists, a kill and six digs. “We were playing for something bigger than ourselves. It meant the world to us.”

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