BVB4/30/2025 1:01 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Bears’ Top Pair Makes History

BERKELEY – Junior Portia Sherman and sophomore Emma Donley of the California beach volleyball team were named AVCA First Team All-Americans, the organization announced Wednesday.
 
The accolades continue to roll in for the Golden Bears’ court-one pair, which was named to the inaugural MPSF All-Tournament team Monday.
 
Sherman and Donley are the first Bears in program history to earn a first team All-America nod.
 
Sherman and Donley have played every single match together in the top spot of Cal’s lineup this season and have compiled a 27-7 record. They broke the all-time court-one wins record of 21 and did so in a single season. Their 27 wins ties the program’s single-season pairs record set by Grace Campbell and Maddie Micheletti in 2018, and they will get a chance to break the mark at this weekend’s NCAA Championship in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
 
The pair has 16 ranked wins on the season, which includes three top-five wins and five top-ten wins. They enter the postseason having won 17 of their last 20 matches, including an 11-match win streak that spanned from March 21 – April 13.
 
Individually, Sherman reached a major milestone by earning her 50th career win on April 13 against GCU and is now up to 54. She boasts a 54-12 career record with a .818 win percentage which is the highest in program history.
 
Donley is just one win away from her 50th career victory and leads the active roster with 34 court-one wins.
 
Sherman and Donley began playing together for the first time last fall where they earned a fifth-place finish at the prestigious AVCA Pairs National Championship in Huntsville, Alabama. The duo followed that up by winning the BNTDP Jr. Pan Am trials in January, which earned them a spot on the USA Volleyball Collegiate Beach National Team. They will represent the United States this summer in tournaments held in Paraguay and Dominican Republic.
 
This marks the third straight year that Cal has had multiple All-Americans. While this is the first postseason accolade for Sherman, Donley was given a pair of nods last year, being named Second Team All-Pac-12 and to the Pac-12 All-Freshman team.
 
 

Hello and welcome to Golden Nuggets! In this weekly write up, we try our best to cover all things Cal, Berkeley, Bearkeley UC Berkeley, University of Cal Berkeley, University of Berkeley at Cal, BerkeleyInspire, and California Berkeley University that happened more or less in the last week! Let’s dig in!

This past Friday, the San Francisco Giants held Cal Day at “It’s Still AT&T Park To Me” Oracle Park against Marcus Semien and the Texas Rangers. Cal Band and Dance Team held a rally at China Basin Park. Ron Rivera and Chancellor Lyons held a panel with fans before the game. Jim Knowlton was present. Cal Band played the National Anthem. Chancellor Lyons threw a high strike first pitch. Cal Women’s Basketball lead with the “Play Ball!” Watch the recap video of it all below!

Cal Band also put together a nice video of their time around the park!

Aaaaaand we won’t talk about that blown call to end the game, but sounds like a great time! Go Bears!

It was Senior Day this past weekend for Cal Softball up at the soon-to-be-improved Levine-Frick Field. Congrats to seniors Mika Lee, Acacia Anders, Anna Reimers, and Annabel Teperson!

Cal Football is crowdfunding some monies for Ron Rivera and Justin Wilcox to supe up the car that is Cal Football (after all Ron has the keys now!) They already passed the goal, but every dollar counts! We blew through the goal and others have stepped up! The match is now an additional $500,000 for Cal Football, meaning that we have another shot at raising $2 Million dollars (THROUGH TAX DEDUCTIBLE MEANS) for Cal Football in 1 week! Get to it!

Someone tried to make Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania Bear Territory, but the politest bear I’ve ever met was shown the gate in what is probably one of the wildest bear encounter videos I’ve ever seen. He’ll need some polishing on aggressiveness but I still think he’ll help out on the defensive line and get a few snaps next year.

• Beach Volleyball beat Grand Canyon, lost to UCLA, and then beat Grand Canyon again, but lost to USC in the inaugural MPSF Championship

• Men’s Golf finished Day 1 in 6th place in the ACC Championship and improved to tie for 4th place on Day 2, and fell back to a tie for 6th place on Day 3 before falling to Florida State in the ACC Quarterfinals

• Women’s Water Polo beat San Jose State, narrowly lost to UCLA, and beat USC in the Third Place Game of the MPSF Championships

• Softball went 1-2 against Virginia Tech (3-11, 0-9, 4-0) including this absolute moonshot

• Baseball got swept by Notre Dame (1-8, 0-10, 5-6) and lost to USF (9-10)

• Track and Field competed in the Payton Jordan Invitational (Day 1)

• Men’s and Women’s Rowing both lost in the Cal-UW Dual Meet

• NBA

  • Jaylen Brown and the Celtics lead the Orlando Magic in the first round of the NBA Playoffs in the Eastern Conference –

  • Jaylon Tyson and the Cavaliers swept the Miami heat in the first round of the NBA Playoffs in the Eastern Conference. They’ll await the winner of the Pacers/Bucks series.

  • Jason Kidd and the Mavericks just missed the playoffs, but Jason decided to become a part owner of Everton. He joins Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal, and Manchester United.

• NFL

• Men’s and Women’s Tennis compete in the First/Second Rounds & Round of 16 in the NCAA Championships (5/2-5/11)

• Beach Volleyball plays #7 Texas in the NCAA Championship (5/2)

• Softball starts a three game series against Syracuse (5/2, 5/3, 5/4)

• Men’s and Women’s Rowing competes against Stanford in the Big Row (5/3)

• Track and Field take on Stanford in the Big Meet (5/3)

• Rugby takes on Life University in the 2025 D1A National Collegiate Championships (5/3)

• Women’s Golf competes in the NCAA Gold Canyon Regional (5/5-5/7)

• Baseball plays at Pacific (5/6)

Once again, we find ourselves at the end of Golden Nuggets, but fret not dear friends, for I shall return next week with more great Cal content for you. In the meantime, let me know what I forgot in the comments! Now to go find some boba…

TALLAHASSEE – Florida State beach volleyball standouts Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig were named AVCA First-Team All-Americans on Wednesday afternoon, earning recognition as two of the nation’s top players.

This marks Durish’s first AVCA All-America honor, while Koenig previously earned AVCA Third-Team honors for indoor volleyball in 2024. They become the 18th and 19th Seminoles in program history to earn First-Team All-America honors, and the first FSU duo since 2023 to be selected to the top team in the same year.

“AK and Alexis are the embodiment of what it means to be an All-American,” said head coach Brooke Niles. “They’re high-character individuals whose success on the court is matched by their leadership and the example they set as elite teammates.”

Durish and Koenig compiled a 24-8 record on court one in 2025, defeating many of the nation’s top pairs. Their All-America honors add to an already impressive list of accolades, including CCSA Co-Pair of the Year, All-Conference First Team, All-Tournament Team, and Pair of the Week (Feb. 24, 2025).

For more information on the Florida State beach volleyball program, check Seminoles.com and follow us on social media at fsubeachvolleyball (IG) and @FSU_BeachVB (X). 

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FORT WORTH – In the Big 12’s first year of sponsoring the sport, TCU has earned three of the four beach volleyball yearly awards. The undefeated duo of Anhelina Khmil and Ana Vergara garnered the Big 12 Pair of the Year honors, followed by Sofia Izuzquiza as Big 12’s Freshman of the Year. Head coach Hector Gutierrez has been named the Big 12 Coach of the Year.  

In addition, six Horned Frogs took a spot on the conference’s All-Big 12 Team: Daniela Alvarez, Maria Gonzalez, Hailey Hamlett, Khmil, Tania Moreno and Vergara.  

Heading into the NCAA tournament this weekend Khmil and Vergara boast a record of 18-0, with 17 of those wins coming from the No. 4 spot. The two are the only Horned Frog pairing to remain undefeated this season. Additionally, Khmil leads the team in ranked wins, with 20 victories under her belt.  

In her first year at TCU, Izuzquiza earned herself a record of 26-5, and has appeared in the most matches of anyone in her freshmen class. Her 26 wins put her at the third most wins for a Horned Frog this season. Starting with a ranked win over then-No. 5 Stanford, she has earned herself 18 ranked wins on the season. This is the fourth consecutive year for TCU to win Freshman of the Year honors in their respective conference.  

In his ninth year as a head coach for TCU, Gutierrez led the squad to a season record of 28-5. In the last AVCA Coaches poll before the NCAA tournament, the Horned Frogs are ranked No. 1 for the third time this season. The top ranking additionally marked TCU’s six consecutive week ranked in the AVCA Top Two.  

This is the third conference coach of the year award for Gutierrez. In the Gutierrez era he has coached an all-time record of 216-81.