SANTA MONICA, Calif.  —  The Pepperdine beach volleyball team finished the 2025 campaign at the West Coast Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon.
 
With injuries hitting the Waves at an inopportune time, Pepperdine was forced to play with a different lineup than usual on courts three and five.
 
The Waves (19-15) fell to #4 LMU (35-6) in the winners bracket semifinal before battling it out and ultimately dropping a 3-2 heartbreaker to Santa Clara (18-18) in the losers bracket semifinal.
 
#4 LMU RECAP
Playing to a clinch, LMU took a quick 2-0 advantage as the Lions swept courts five and four with respective scores of 21-9, 21-10 and 21-12, 21-14. Needing to win just one more court to move on to the championship, LMU won 21-15, 21-13 in slot No. 3 to seal the match and earn a spot in the title game.
 
Courts one and two were unfinished, while the Lions had won the first set on both courts and held an advantage in the second set at the time of the clinch.
 
SANTA CLARA RECAP
The Broncos jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a 21-12, 21-8 win on court five. However, Emma Eden (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Ella Foti (Madison, Wis.) evened the duel with a dominant 21-15, 21-14 win in slot No. 2. From there, Kate Clermont (Burlington, Ontario, Canada) and McKenna Thomas (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) gave Pepperdine a 2-1 lead with their own two-set win on court one (21-16, 21-15).
 
Santa Clara then tied the duel 2-all with a 21-14, 21-18 triumph in slot No. 3. With the duel knotted up, Santa Clara held a one set lead on court four, but the Waves were up 17-13 in the second set. However, the Broncos battled back and won the set 21-18 to win the court and the match.
 
RESULTS
#4 LMU def. Pepperdine 3-0
No. 1. Kate Clermont/McKenna Thomas (PEPP) vs. Chloe Hooker/Vilhelmiina Prihti (LMU) 16-21, 7-14 – Unfinished
No. 2  Emma Eden/Ella Foti (PEPP) vs. Michelle Shaffer/Anna Pelloia (LMU) 17-21, 10-14 – Unfinished
No. 3. Abbey Thorup/Lisa Luini (LMU) def. Bella Avelar/Madison Oriskovich (PEPP) 21-15, 21-13
No. 4. Isabelle Reffel/Magdalena Rabitsch (LMU) def. Emi Erickson/Marley Johnson (PEPP) 21-12, 21-14
No. 5. Tanon Rosenthal/Gi Poletti Corrales (LMU) def. Kenzi McSpadden/Deanie Woodruff (PEPP) 21-9, 21-10
 
Order of finish: 5, 4, 3*
 
Santa Clara def. Pepperdine 3-2
No. 1. Kate Clermont/McKenna Thomas (PEPP) def. Holland Jackson/Noelle Niederman (SCU) 21-16, 21-15
No. 2  Emma Eden/Ella Foti (PEPP) def. Sadie Snipes/Sammy Wood (SCU) 21-15, 21-14
No. 3. Alexandra Urbina/Ciara Cantlen (SCU) def. Bella Avelar/Madison Oriskovich (PEPP) 21-16, 21-16
No. 4. Kawena Chillingworth/Teagan Wilson (SCU) def. Emi Erickson/Marley Johnson (PEPP) 21-14, 21-18
No. 5. Callie Loughran/Ava Stoddard (SCU) def. Kenzi McSpadden/Deanie Woodruff (PEPP) 21-12, 21-8
 
Order of finish: 5, 2, 1, 4, 3*
 
FOLLOW
Follow @WavesBeachVB on Facebook and X for immediate updates, results and more.  Go to PepperdineWaves.com for all information, releases and schedules. Find the Waves on Instagram @peppbeachvolley.

By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The 2025 season officially came to a close for the Tennessee Tech beach volleyball team on Friday at the Ohio Valley Conference Championship in Chattanooga, but not without a fight from the Cookeville crew. The No. 5 purple and gold split a pair of tilts at the UTC Beach Volleyball Courts, topping No. 6-seeded Eastern Illinois before falling in a rematch with No. 4 Lindenwood.

The Golden Eagles (5-19) opened the day with a decisive victory over the Panthers (1-12), controlling the tilt for a 3-1 win. In the duel with Eastern Illinois, three straight-set victories provided the necessary damage to stay alive in the league’s postseason event, with the unfinished pairing at No. 2 boasting a lead as well.

Leading the purple and gold to an early 1-0 lead, the No. 5 tandem of seniors Jazmine Yamilkoski and McKenna Young rolled to a pair of wins over EIU’s Lilli Amettis and Julia Udell. The Tech veterans opened things with a 21-12 triumph in set one before closing things out with a 21-16 decision in the second set.

The Panthers bounced back with a match-tying win out of the No. 4 slot with Kaitlyn Flynn and Ariadna Pereles, picking up wins of 21-14 and 21-16 over the Golden Eagle team of seniors Emma Pabon and Elena Wallace. Tech responded with another win in straight sets, this time behind the tenacity of the No. 3 spot.

Sophomore MK Roberts and senior Aleeya Jones teamed up to take down Eastern Illinois’ Tori Mohesky and Sylvia Hasz, edging the pair in a close battle in the opening set, 22-20. Roberts and Jones followed it by with a more decisive showing in set two, rocking a 21-17 victory for a 2-1 lead.

Closing out the key victory for the Cookeville crew, redshirt sophomore Jordan Karlen and senior Bella Powell joined forces at the No. 1 position for the clinching decision, topping the Panthers’ Catalina Rochaix and Destiny Walker. Tech’s top tandem turned in two titanic tallies in the win column, besting their EIU counterparts 21-13 and 21-12.

Not far from earning a win of their own, senior Brooke Amann and freshman Alayna Pierce controlled the battle at the No. 2 slot from the get-go. After claiming a 21-13 victory in the first set, the Tech partners ended the match unfinished with an 18-14 lead over EIU’s Laura Paniagua and Emma Schroeder.

For the second day in a row, the Golden Eagles found themselves squaring off with the Lions in an eventual 3-2 win by Lindenwood. The St. Charles, Mo. squad turned in a comeback win this time around, as Tech made it a roller-coaster affair.

Finishing first in the tilt, the Lions’ No. 4 team of Gabby Belcher and Aubrey Sheppard topped the Golden Eagles’ Emma Pabon and Elena Wallace in straight sets by scores of 21-14 and 21-8, giving Lindenwood a 1-0 lead.

Tech answered back with a gutsy victory in the No. 5 slot, as seniors Jazmine Yamilkoski and McKenna Young claimed a marathon of a first set, 25-23. The veterans of the Cookeville crew deadlocked the affair at 1-1, avenging a loss to Lindenwood’s Myah Hough and Sienna King with a 21-14 triumph in set two.

The purple and gold took their first lead of the duel behind a strong showing in straight sets by the No. 3 tandem of senior Aleeya Jones and sophomore MK Roberts. The Tech combo provided a 2-1 lead behind wins of 21-16 and 21-17 over the Lions’ Abby VanBuskirk and Taylor Gentemann.

Lindenwood’s Abby Jacobs and Annalie McWhorter forced another tie at 2-2 while representing the No. 1 spot, topping Tech redshirt sophomore Jordan Karlen and senior Bella Powell by scores of 21-13 and 21-19.

With the match on the line, it seemed only fitting that the decisive pairing at the No. 2 position would require all three sets. Golden Eagle senior Brooke Amann and freshman Alayna Pierce took control with a first-set triumph of 21-12, but the Lions’ Nyah Wilson and Katie Bockhorst responded with tight victories of 22-20 and 15-12 to secure the Lindenwood win.

Photo by Trevor Jolley

IRVINE, Calif. — The No. 6 seed UC Santa Barbara Women’s Water Polo team (16-13, 2-5 Big West) gave hosts and No. 3 seed UC Irvine (15-12, 5-2 Big West) everything the Anteaters could handle in Friday’s Big West Championship Quarterfinal, but the Gauchos’ late rally came up just a goal shy of sending things to overtime as Santa Barbara fell, 12-11. Christina Mullane recorded a hat-trick, while Juju Amaral tallied five assists and Ava Donleavy made 14 saves.
 
FROM INTERIM HEAD COACH EMMA MYALL
“We came in with a strong gameplan, we were really excited about our after-goal defense that we ran, and it worked pretty well for a good amount of the game,” Myall said. “In general, I’m so proud of the season this year. It was a very unexpected season for us, and the girls went through a lot of hardship and difficult times of change, and they started adjusting really well to me and to my staff, and we all realized we had each other’s backs and we wanted to win.”
 
“Our culture, that was the one thing I really wanted to focus on when I first came in as interim (head coach). I brought the girls together and we talked about love, and we talked about confidence and loyalty and accountability, and those things led us through the season. The number one of those was love, right? With love you have respect, you have all the things, and the celebration, the goals, the blocks, everything we’re doing, that’s all out of love for each other, and we’re a family at the end of the day.”
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos were all over the Anteaters early, with Mullane drawing and converting a penalty shot on Santa Barbara’s first possession. Amaral added her first of two goals on the day to double the Gauchos’ advantage to 2-0 inside two minutes. Irvine responded and tied the game before the second quarter, but Bella Mady scored the first goal of the second to put Santa Barbara back on top.
 
The second quarter went back and forth, with Irvine next to score, then Amaral putting the Gauchos ahead again. The Anteaters answered, but again Santa Barbara re-took the lead, this time through Imani Clemons. The Gauchos held that lead, a 5-4 edge, at halftime.
 
Irvine took their first lead of the day with the first two goals of the third quarter, but Santa Barbara again grabbed their lead back with goals from Mullane and Molly Souza, going up, 7-6. After another Anteater goal tied things, Annie Kuester gave the Gauchos the lead yet again, 8-7, heading into the fourth quarter.
 
For the first time all day, Irvine took a two-goal lead in the fourth, going in front by three, 11-8, with four and a half minutes left to play. Mullane’s third goal of the day reduced the arrears to two, then Isabel Valaika scored less than 20 seconds later to bring Santa Barbara back into the game, with the score 11-10. Irvine’s final goal of the day came just inside the three-minute mark, and Kuester kept the comeback dream alive with her second goal of the day, with a minute and 45 seconds left. The Gauchos got a chance to tie the game in the final ticks of the clock, but could not convert.
 

• A state agency said the courts sit on environmentally sensitive land.
• Volleyball advocates say there are no adequate alternative sites.
• Ventura Harbor leaders want to keep the beach as it is.

Long-standing volleyball courts on a Ventura Harbor beach sit unpermitted on dune land that was flattened and stripped of vegetation, according to California Coastal Commission staff allegations.

BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 8 Florida State beach volleyball team split the opening day of the CCSA Tournament in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Friday. The Seminoles topped No. 11 LSU 3-1 in the first round before falling to No. 7 Texas 3-0 in the winner’s bracket.

FSU opened the day with a strong 3-1 win over LSU. The Seminoles jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead as Gella Andrew/Maddie Trusty and Makenna Wolfe/Myriah Massey earned three-set victories on courts two and four. LSU responded with a win on court five, but Carra Sassack and Bailey Higgins clinched the dual for the Noles on court three, 21-16, 21-17.

In their second match, the Seminoles fell 3-0 to Texas in the winner’s bracket. The Longhorns took early control with wins on courts two and four. FSU battled on court five, but Texas held on to complete the sweep and advance in the CCSA Championship.

FSU will be back in action tomorrow against LSU at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The winner will play Texas in the CCSA championship at 2:00 p.m. Live stats will be available on Seminoles.com.

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).