Donley, Sherman Named AVCA First Team All-American

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.