Sports
Beach Volleyball Has Three Named to 2025 All-Big West Team
Story Links IRVINE, Calif. – CSUN Beach Volleyball had three student-athletes named to the 2025 All-Big West Beach Volleyball Team as announced by the conference office on Thursday, May 1. Senior Tia Mendiola, freshman Dylan Hall, and fellow freshman Hannah Heflin were each named Honorable Mention All-Big West. Both Hall and Heflin were also […]
IRVINE, Calif. – CSUN Beach Volleyball had three student-athletes named to the 2025 All-Big West Beach Volleyball Team as announced by the conference office on Thursday, May 1. Senior Tia Mendiola, freshman Dylan Hall, and fellow freshman Hannah Heflin were each named Honorable Mention All-Big West. Both Hall and Heflin were also named to the six-member All-Freshman Team.
New in 2025, the All-Big West Teams are composed of individual players rather than pairs, with 20 student-athletes on the first and second teams and a six-member All-Freshman team. All seven programs have at least one honoree dotting the listings. Big West Champion Long Beach State swept the individual awards.
After pairing up for the first time against Utah on Mar. 7, Hall and Heflin went on to lead all CSUN pairs with an 18-7 overall record. The duo finished 5-5 playing at the No. 3 position, 9-2 at No. 5, and 4-0 at No. 5. After debuting with a straight-set win over the Utes on the No. 4 court, Hall and Heflin went on the win their first nine matches. The pair ultimately went on to win 15 of their first 17 matches before finishing the season 18-7. With 18 wins, the duo ranks tied for third for most wins in a single season in program history.
After an injury-shortened 2024 season, Mendiola came back to win 19 times during her senior season. Paired with Julia Bazylevych, the duo won 16 times, which ranked third on the Matadors. Mendiola finished the season 9-14 playing on the No. 2 court, 7-1 at No. 3, 1-1 at No. 4, and 2-0 at No. 5. In addition to her 16-13 record with Bazylevych, Mendiola finished 3-3 with Ainsley Patrick (0-2 at No. 2, 3-1 at No. 3).
“Always stoked when we receive All-Big West honors,” said CSUN head coach Ari Homayun. “I think the addition of the All-Freshman Team has been great. Coming into a program and immediately making an impact is beyond impressive, and I’m glad Hannah and Dylan were recognized for the hard work they put in this season.”
CSUN has now had 27 beach volleyball players earn All-Big West honors since 2016, the first season the conference began sponsoring beach volleyball.
The Matadors have had multiple pairs earn All-Big West honors in two of the last three seasons. In 2024, Gabriela Griego and MayaMay Brown earned second-team honors. In 2023, Griego and Abbey Sweeting earned second-team honors, while Lauren Eknoian and Tasha Mae were named honorable mention. The pairs of Kailey Klein and Victoria Rogers and Eknoian and Emily Sparks each earned honorable mention honors in 2022.
Darbi Honeycutt and Mikaela Maughan earned honorable mention honors in 2021, while Taylor Brydon and Lauren McMurray (honorable mention) joined Honeycutt and Maughan on the 2020 All-Big West Team. Katie Sato and Aeryn Owens earned second-team honors in 2018, while Sato also earned honorable mention honors with Lauren Conati in 2016. Maddie Leiphardt and Nicki Williams also picked up second-team accolades in 2017, while Leiphardt and Julie Haake were the Matadors’ first-ever second-team recipients in 2016.
CSUN finished the 2025 season with a program record 18 wins, reaching the semifinals of the 2025 Big West Beach Championship, where the Matadors fell to Cal Poly to cap an 18-17 season.
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