By: Michael Love


Sunday, May 25, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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When the Gateway boys volleyball team defeated Fox Chapel on May 8 to wrap up an 8-2 Section 4-3A slate and clinch the section championship outright, players, coaches, administrators and many others at the school were excited and expected to see the Gators presented with a first-round home game when the WPIAL playoff brackets were revealed the next day.

But Gateway was tabbed as the No. 9 seed and had to make the trip out to No. 8 Mt. Lebanon, another section champion, for a first-round matchup May 13. The Gators were the only section champion in either Class 3A or Class 2A to travel in the first round.

“If I tried to tell you that it didn’t have an effect on our confidence, I’d be lying,” Gateway coach Phil Randolph said. “I can parrot all the talking points about ‘embracing the role of the underdog,’ but these are smart kids who were raised by smart parents and guardians, so they saw the same thing that I was seeing.

“It was a tough pill to swallow, and it was difficult to find our footing when we abruptly and unexpectedly realized that we would have to turn on a dime. It was frustrating and disappointing to say the very least.”

While the Gators brought a fight to the Blue Devils, they were not able to advance. Mt. Lebanon scored a 3-1 win with set scores of 25-19, 16-25, 25-14 and 26-14.

“It was a ‘hold your head high” postmatch speech, and I truly meant those words,” Randolph said. “There were certainly nerves and emotions, both the visible and the repressed types, but our guys worked their tails off and played a heck of a match. Up until the closing point of the fourth set, these guys gave it everything they had.”

With the adversity of having to travel in the first place, the Gators were put behind the 8-ball with the Game 1 loss, but Randolph said he knew his players would not fold their tents, and they rebounded with a solid Game 2 victory.

“For me, I think that a big part of the night was making sure that we are the ones who were putting our opponent into situations where they are creating unforced errors,” he said. “As noted, there were a lot of nerves heading into the first set, and once we got that out of our system a bit and were able to dictate the pace, we looked like the team that I had come to know and love.

“In that second set, we did what we had to do to put Lebo in a position to adjust to us. We were careful yet calculated in our serving, we had high points of contact on our swings, and we were able to take advantage of a height differential that emerged after they stacked all of their bigger guys into three side-by-side spots on the court. It’s a fickle game though, and momentum swings easily.”

Gateway capped its season at 10-4 overall and will be able to put a ‘2025’ on the section-championship banner.

“Despite the abrupt end, we had a great season, particularly considering the move up to Triple-A,” Randolph said. “Prior to our last section championship in 2022, there was something along the lines of a 36-year gap on that banner. The gap is now three years, and we’ll look to trim that time down even further from here as we turn our eyes to the 2026 season.”

Gateway will enter the 2026 season without this year’s senior group that included four-year team members Owen Echegaray, Darious Farrar, Ethan Nguyen and Tom Nikou.

“Given the manner in which this loss marked the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another, it was also really easy to take pride in seeing how Owen, Darious, Ethan and Tom had grown so much as athletes, leaders and young men,” Randolph said.

“On and off the court, I’ll miss them tremendously, as will their teammates. The boys who are graduating, however, are ones who have taken pride in helping build this program into what it is today.”

Randolph said it was equally satisfying to see how the underclassmen who constituted the rest of the starting lineup — middles Chase Lewandowski and Donovan Shaffer, outside hitter Dan Bozicevic, oppositional side hitter Aiden Coughran and middle hitter/outside hitter Toktobek Kubanychbekov — have taken big steps this season.

“They can have organic, earned ownership of calling this ‘their team’ from here on out,” he said. “This is a great bunch of young men, and it is easy to root for them.”

Gateway was well-represented on the Section 4 all-star team with Bozicevic, Echegaray, Farrar and Nikou voted to the first team. Coughran and Kubanychbekov are second-team selections.

“Volleyball is the ultimate team sport, and it was a team-oriented approach that led us here,” Randolph said. “We have a competitive group of guys, and I encourage them to challenge one another every day in practice to really earn it and call it their own. That challenging attitude extended into attendance at open gyms in the offseason. I think that it’s healthy to be accountable to your brothers on the court in that manner, and I loved to see that these guys felt the same way.

“More than anything, it was a lot of ‘invisible hours’ that went into the program. While the season runs from March to May, we are unofficially a year-round program, and our summer open gyms will begin in about two weeks from now. Nothing worth anything is ever earned easily, so we’ll continue to come together as one and come together often so that when March 2026 rolls around, we’ll be more than ready to roll.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Gateway

The Middlebury women’s track and field team closed out competition at the NCAA Championships on Saturday. Audrey MacLean was the sole Panther to take part in the day, hitting the track in the 5,000 meters at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• MacLean settled into the middle of the pack for the first half of the race, climbing 10 spots by the midway point.
• The sophomore maintained 10th place until the final 400 where she passed a pair of competitors to finish in eighth place with a time of 16:42.81. 

NOTES

• MacLean earned runner-up honors in the steeplechase on Thursday to secure a pair of All-American honors.
• This marked MacLean’s fourth appearance at a national meet, competing at the NCAA Championships in cross country each of the last two years, while placing sixth in the steeple a year ago.
• This season, MacLean rewrote the record books for Middlebury, setting clockings in steeplechase (10:21.15) and the 5,000 (16:26.94).

The official list of All-American honorees will be shared in the coming days.

Published May 25, 2025 8:21pm

Updated May 25, 2025 8:21pm

There will be a new champion in NCAA men’s volleyball soon.

On Sunday, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde defeated the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA, 24-26, 25-22, 30-28, 25-17, to eliminate the ALTAs from playoff contention in the NCAA Season 100 men’s volleyball tournament and end the Las Piñas crew’s hopes for a fifth straight crown.

The two teams were neck-and-neck early in the fourth set as they were tied at 8 before the Blazers pulled away and took a 14-10 lead. Perpetual caught up as it trailed 16-14, but Benilde pulled away anew with the likes of Raymark Betco and James Marasigan leading in the rally.

With Benilde leading 20-16, Jeff Marapoc tried to put Perpetual closer, but Marasigan, Mike Balbacal, Jacob Herrera, scored three straight for the Blazers. A service ace from Marasigan put Benilde at match point before Rocky Roy Motol sealed the victory.

Motol led the Blazers with 28 points from 25 attacks and three blocks, to go with 17 receptions and nine digs, while Jacob Agassi Herrera added 19 points. Marasigan had his own triple-double of 14 points, 23 receptions, and 12 digs, while 13 points.

Kobe Brian Taguba’s 29 points and Marapoc’s 16-point output for the ALTAs went to naught as Perpetual fell short in the end game.

Benilde, now at the top spot with 14-3, will still play Lyceum of the Philippines University on Friday. Perpetual, who slipped to 9-8, will wrap its season on Wednesday against San Beda University.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Isaiah Preuitt had quite a freshman year for the Long Beach State volleyball team. He played sparingly for Long Beach State before hearing his number called in the Big West championship against Hawaii.

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He then saw playing time in both the NCAA semis and the national championship.

“Whenever I looked out at the audience I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is reality, like, we’re here,’” said Preuitt of the national championship game.

“I just had to stay ready,” said Preuitt of the time he spent off the court. “I knew the opportunity would come. My coaches prepped me pretty well. When it came, I was ready, and I went out there, and we had fun. We took the natty.”

LBSU is a national power in volleyball but came up short the last few years in the NCAA tournament.

Preuitt and company won the program’s first championship since 2019 when they swept UCLA on May 12.

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“So honored,” said the former #4-ranked boys high school volleyball player in the country. “To play for Alan Knipe and that coaching staff is such a blessing. I love those people so much. To win that for them and all of our fans, the LB Nation, it was a lot of fun.”

The question begs, what’s next? After all, Isaiah won a national championship in his first year playing.

Preuitt thinks LBSU can win a second straight title.

“I think so,” he said. “I think with our Long Beach system and how we play the game of volleyball, if we can work hard and do our jobs, I think we can potentially see the result we want.”

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The MIAC came away with two national champions, 29 First Team All-Americans (event finishers 1-8), and eight Second Team All-Americans (individual finishers 9-16; relay finishers 9-12). Bethel’s Grant Nelson helped account for both national titles, winning the men’s 400 meters in a photo-finish time of 46.678 seconds before joining teammates Jacob Parent, Josh Thompsen, and Victor Lelinga as the Royals’ 4×400 relay team successfully defended their NCAA championship with a Division III record time of 3:06.52.

In the men’s team standings, UW-La Crosse won its second straight national title with 84 points, followed by UW-Eau Claire with 56, Rowan with 44.5, Saint John’s with 39.5, UW-Oshkosh with 39, and Bethel with 35. Concordia also scored for the MIAC, collecting eight points to tie for 30th as a team.

On the women’s side, MIT took home the team title with 56 points in a fairly close competition. Last year’s national champ, WashU, finished in second with 47 points, followed by UW-La Crosse with 38, UW-Eau Claire with 34, and Augustana with 31. Bethel led all MIAC teams with seven points and a 38th-place finish, while Macalester tied for 48th with five points, and St. Olaf landed in 65th place with two points.

MIAC student-athletes finished with a total of 37 All-America honors, including 29 top-eight finishers. A complete list of All-Americans from the MIAC is listed below.

CHULA VISTA — One of the hardest things to do in sports is repeat as champions.

Mater Dei Catholic High School’s boys volleyball team knew the challenge that awaited it after winning a CIF title last year, and yet the Crusaders then went out and repeated last weekend.

On Saturday, they reached heights beyond their wildest dreams.

Top-seeded Mater Dei Catholic used a relentless approach and a well-rounded attack to beat visiting Los Angeles Wildwood, 25-22, 25-27, 25-13, 25-17, in Saturday’s Division 4 Southern California Regionals.

The Crusaders (32-10) advance to next Saturday’s State Final against Livingston (36-6) at 11 a.m. at Fresno City College. It’s the sport’s first-ever California state championship; previous seasons ended after the regional championship.

Mater Dei was one of three teams to play Saturday. Francis Parker fell to top-seeded (Division 2) Santa Ana Mater Dei 25-12, 26-24, 19-25, 27-25, and third-seeded (Division 3) Clairemont lost at top-seeded Newport Beach Sage Hill 25-16, 25-22, 25-22.

After a first-set win, Mater Dei Catholic gave up two set points and faced the real possibility of ending their season at home.

That’s when Crusaders coach Marissa Ritchie moved outside hitter Oskar Manguy-Meza to the middle.

“We’re a team that builds off energy, and I told him, ‘You’ve got to go in there and put a fire inside us’, ” Ritchiesaid. “Energy. Energy got that driving.”

The Crusaders are also now a team with back-to-back section championships and the first regional title in program history with a chance to hang a state banner among the 11 inside Bosco Gym.

“I’m just so proud of them,” Ritchie said. “They’re worked their tails off. They want it so much and they just deserve it.”

Manguy-Meza had a team-high 16 kills with two stuff blocks and two aces. It was his move to the middle that helped refocus the offense.

“I confidently knew I was the best choice,” Manguy-Meza said. “Being able to watch film on them for hours, we were able to pick up some of their tendencies. To be able to put a double block up there and have a great team backing you up, that made the difference.”

The visiting Wolves (17-13) had won 15 in a row, including a semifinal win over Fallbrook. But Mater Dei Catholic was able to withstand a match-high 28 kills from Matthew Matuszak.

The first set was tied at 19 before the Crusaders sideout game came up clutch. Manguy-Meza put a ball away on the outside then middle Emiliano Rodriguez had a stuff block. Aaron Wood’s dump gave the hosts some cushion, then Manguy-Meza got a kill from the outside in transition for the set win.

The Crusaders held the lead the entire second set until one of two late center line violations resulted in a 23-22 deficit. The hosts did have two set points at 24 and 25 but gave up three straight to lose 27-25.

Set three saw a complete turnaround as the Crusaders jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back, notching four aces in the set. In fact, Manguy-Meza and Adrian Trevino each followed up a kill with two consecutive aces for an early 8-3 lead.

The fourth set was never in question after a 7-0 run midway through. Liam Kingston, who had 11 kills on the night, capped it with a kill on the outside in serve receive for the win.

Trevino added seven kills, three stuff blocks and two aces, and setter Wood had four stuff blocks, three kills and an ace. Libero Ethan Bundang had 14 digs.

“We’re overjoyed that we’ve got the chance to be able to compete at this level,” Manguy-Meza said. “We’re going in with all of our confidence and all our strength and just give it our all.”

Originally Published: May 24, 2025 at 8:32 PM PDT