Women’s college volleyball continues to be a solid growth property for ESPN.

The network announced earlier this week that this year’s NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament was the most-watched on record, averaging 666,000 viewers across 15 matches on the ESPN family of networks, up 13% year-over-year.

This year’s tournament was capped off with Texas A&M’s straight-set win over Kentucky in the championship, which averaged 1.4 million viewers on ABC opposite the Week 16 Sunday afternoon NFL slate. The championship was the second most-watched in history behind only the 2023 title match between Texas and Nebraska, which averaged 1.69 million viewers. Texas A&M’s win saw an 8% year-over-year viewership increase compared to the Penn State-Louisville matchup in 2024.

While the title game fell short of a viewership record, both the regional finals and regional semifinals were the most-watched in history. The semis averaged 402,000 viewers while the finals averaged 753,000 viewers. In addition to record-setting regional semifinal and final rounds, the women’s college volleyball regular season also set a new high on ESPN, averaging 190,000 viewers, up 36% from 2024.

Overall, it was the most-consumed NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament on record according to ESPN, with 1.3 billion minutes consumed across the entire competition. Four matches averaged over one million viewers: the championship, national semifinals, and a regional match between Texas A&M and Nebraska, which averaged 1.2 million viewers.

Networks are rightfully investing more into women’s college volleyball, and the audiences are following. Will the sport ever reach the same heights of women’s college basketball? Unlikely. But the sport is solidifying itself as quite a valuable property, similar to college softball, during its postseason run. And the more ESPN leans into promoting the event, the closer the gap could become between volleyball and other more popular sports.

MHS names new track and softball head coaches

Published 2:51 pm Wednesday, December 31, 2025

Madras High School recently announced the hiring of new head coaches for two spring sports programs. Mario Mendoza will head up track and field operations, and Bailey Daniels is the new head coach of the MHS softball team.

Mario Mendoza

Mendoza has been a volunteer coach for MHS track the past several years and has helped young runners as a leader in the Madras Runners Club as well. A world-class ultra-distance runner in his own right, Mendoza has for several years been sponsored by Brooks running shoes.

In November, Mendoza won the 100-kilometer Ultramarathon Guatemala, which he indicated may be his final major race.

Mendoza replaces Mike Dove, who retired following the end of the 2025 season.

Growing up in California, Mendoza became a standout distance runner after an injury kept him from playing soccer and prompted him to the track to rehab the injury. He fell in love with running and became a standout distance runner in college, graduating from St. Mary’s College of California.

“My first goal is always that we become better people and better athletes,” he said. “We can win districts, and we can take the whole team to state, so I have a goal of that. I know that with patience and trust and discipline, I just think there’s a lot of talent in this team and in the coaches, and I think a lot of cool stuff can happen.”

Bailey Daniels

Bailey Daniels 

Daniels, a physical education health teacher at the Jefferson County Middle School, replaces Shawna McConnell, who retired following last season as well. McConnell had led the program for 17 years. Daniels was the lead assistant and junior varsity coach last year.

Growing up in Roseburg, Daniels played high school and travel softball. She became a Division 1 athlete as a member of the rowing team at Oregon State University.

Daniels praised McConnell for her long dedication to the program and all that she shared with her that has helped Daniels prepare to take over. Daniels is also eager to put her own stamp on the program.

“I’m looking forward to bringing fresh ideas, a competitive mindset and a clear vision for what Madras softball can become,” said Daniels.

Information for this story was provided by 509J School District Communications Director Joey Pretchl.

The Long Beach State men’s volleyball program lives by the slogan “expect greatness.” So when they took the court against UCLA in the NCAA Men’s Volleyball National Championship, they expected nothing less.

Featuring two of the top teams in the nation in a rematch of last year’s national championship, the match was expected to be intense and tightly contested. But the Beach put on a performance nothing short of greatness, avenging their championship loss with a commanding sweep over the Bruins at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio. The Beach won 25-17, 25-23, 25-21.

It marks a fourth national championship in program history and the first since the Beach went back-to-back in 2018-2019. Head coach Alan Knipe has been a part of each national championship with the program, one as a player in 1991 and now his third as a coach here in 2025. Knipe later announced his retirement in 2025, finishing his legendary career on top.

“It’s incredible. The feeling absolutely never gets old,” Knipe said. “I’m so proud of the guys and everything they did all season long. With what we went through with our lineups and our roster, and pretty much a brand new team at the beginning of the year, losing three starters along the way, and changing guys’ positions. [These guys] handled it so well and I’m so proud of them.”

The match started and ended in the same way, and it’s the same way it’s been all season: Moni Nikolov. The National Player of the Year opened the match with his first of four aces and swung on an overpass for a kill at match point to seal the win. He finished the match with six kills on .300 hitting and had a match-high 27 assists.

“It’s such a relief. I wanted this win more than anything else,” Nikolov said. “I’m so glad that I got to share these emotions with our coaches in the whole team. It was the first time I actually started crying tears of joy so it truly meant so much to me.”

The fourth NCAA Men’s Volleyball National Championship comes in the Beach’s 11th championship appearance in program history, in what was a dominant season through and through. The Beach was ranked No. 1 in the nation for the last 14 weeks. It’s their third men’s volleyball championship in the last seven years, but it’s the first for Bobby Smitheran as athletic director.

“I’m so happy for the young men in our program because they’ve represented Long Beach and Long Beach State,” said Smitheran. “They’ve done it with heart and with class I’m just so proud of the way they’ve competed. To be the number one ranked team for as long as they have, that’s difficult to give that kind of bullseye on your back and to finish it off the way they did I’m just so happy for them.”

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PEUERBACH, Austria – Sophomore Aneta Kucerova of the UNC Asheville cross country/track and field programs represented Asheville and Czechia by competing in the Run of the Aces International Road Race. 

The Run of the Aces originated as the “Run of Champions” at the New Year’s Eve Run in the summer of 1989. Olympic champions, world champions, European and African champions, as well as countless national champions from more than 30 nations, have attended the International Raiffeisen New Year’s Eve Run ever since. The “Run of Champions” is the sporting showdown of the international stars of the running scene – world-class running up close.

Kucerova ran the 5,100m race in 17:50.23 and finished in 14th. 

The official results are available here. 

Kucerova and the Bulldogs officially open indoor track and field season on Saturday, Jan. 10, in the UNC Asheville Collegiate Opener at Tryon International.