Pilipa’a Volleyball Courtesy: AAU Sports

Hilo Club Volleyball Team, Pilipa’a competed in the 52nd AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships in Orlando, Florida this week.

Pilipa’a competing in the 18 Club Division and showed out in a big way.

The squad defeated San Diego beach Volleyball on Thursday to take home the Division Championship.

During this tournament, Pilipa’a had an impressive 12-1 record and only lost 4 sets in the entire tournament.

FOR FINAL RESULTS, click here.

The Kaimana Volleyball Club from O’ahu also competed in the tournament, as they were in the 18 Select Gold Division.

Kaimana Volleyball club finished 2nd in the tournament with a record of 10-3.

Afghans and Americans bump, set and spike during weekly rounds of volleyball at this forward operating base in eastern Afghanistan, providing an opportunity for the local citizens to see U.S. airmen and soldiers in a setting different from that outside the wire.

“They get to come here on the base and see us relaxed and in our (physical training) uniforms, a lot different than how we look when we are out on convoy,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class Frank Comer, a civil affairs specialist with the Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team, who attends every game held in a sand pit here. “They get to see that we, too, enjoy a good game of volleyball.”

The airmen and soldiers are part of the Laghman PRT, which serves as an administrative unit of international aid to the area via reconstruction projects, humanitarian aid delivery, and security backed by national and coalition forces. The PRT engages with key government, military, village and religious leaders while monitoring important political, military and reconstruction development. Team members also make efforts to provide outreach to the citizens they’re helping.

Hence, the volleyball games, the brainchild of Army Staff Sgt. James Miller, another civil affairs specialist with the PRT. During the many convoys through various villages, Miller noticed a familiar trend: the youth were playing volleyball.

“It wasn’t uncommon to see nets strung between two trees or two poles stuck in the ground and kids playing,” Miller said. “It got me thinking that maybe one way we could connect with the locals was to invite them onto the FOB and get some friendly competition going between the Americans and Afghans.”

He approached the airmen running the morale, recreation and welfare programs at the FOB and asked if he could incorporate the Afghan and American game into the base’s volleyball season. The airmen were enthusiastic.

“It wasn’t a problem to include these games in our season,” said Senior Airman Eliceo Dejesus, a services airman for the PRT deployed from Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. “Volleyball keeps everyone happy, and including the Afghans is even better because it allows for us to interact with them, too.”

Even though the Afghan students rotate from different villages each week, the Americans have yet to actually claim victory against any of them on the court.

Yet, they insist they are winners every time.

“Sure, they beat us severely every week,” Comer admitted, “but we come out winners because we’re establishing relationships. Sometimes the local elders attend the games, too, and we’re able to talk about construction updates and potential projects.”

Miller said he likes to approach the young men who play and ask what they would build first if they were governor of the province?

“Their answers provide insight into the communities’ needs,” he said. “They say they want schools, roads and medical clinics. Just recently, we were asked for a library. That was a first, but it’s good to know what they want and need.”

The volleyball games will continue until winter, but will most likely start up again once the weather warms up in the spring, which is a good thing, according to Jahedi, director of the Laghman Youth Society.

“When the Americans come out into the villages in their armor and with their guns, the people can’t really look at them and know them,” he said through an interpreter. “The villagers don’t know who (the Americans) are, what they are doing, why they are in that village. But since we play volleyball, the Afghans are happy to come here. They are happy to see that the Americans are here to serve Afghanistan and to help the country. That is what they are doing.”

(Staff Sgt. Julie Weckerlein is assigned to U.S. Central Command Air Forces Public Affairs.)

Story by Staff Sgt. Julie Weckerlein, USAF, Special to American Forces Press Service

After Texas’s first Final Four appearance in 22 years, head coach Vic Schaefer got back to work days after its April 4 loss to South Carolina.

The Longhorns signed five new players to strengthen their roster. Texas lost key players in seniors Shay Holle and Taylor Jones, but one new addition isn’t as fresh on Texas’s side of the portal.

Breya Cunningham spent the last two seasons at Arizona before entering the transfer portal on March 25. Less than a month later, she committed to Texas — but Cunningham had considered a career at the Forty Acres before. Coming out of high school, Texas was her second offer and among her top choices. Schaefer’s familiarity with the 6-foot-4-inch forward turned out to be instrumental the second time around.

“I’ve always had a great relationship with Coach,” Cunningham said. “This time after leaving Arizona, I just wanted to go somewhere where I obviously knew the coach, knew how he coached, knew what the team ran, how the team would perform … so it felt natural to pivot back to a school I already kind of knew.”

Last season, Cunningham was a Big 12 All-Conference honorable mention, having her best season yet, shooting 56% from the field, while averaging 11 points and seven rebounds. Coach Schaefer expects that the transfer will pick up right where she left off.

“I recruited her two years ago out of high school when she was the No. 2 ranked player in the country in the 2023 class,” Schaefer stated in a press release. “Breya will bring experience and inside presence, as well as the ability to impact our program immediately.”

Cunningham has already built chemistry with the 2025 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, Madison Booker. Their friendship dates back to the 2023 McDonald’s All-American game and the 2023 FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup, in which Cunningham and Booker both took home gold medals.

“I think Madison is a great passer inside,” Cunningham said. “She’s a great shooter, so I think that’ll be great for us. She’ll pass it to me, and if I’m doubled or I can’t make the shot, I know exactly where Madison is and I know I trust her to shoot those.”

Texas loses a production of 263 rebounds from Jones, 87 rebounds from Aaliyah Moore, who will miss the upcoming season due to injury, and 108 rebounds from Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda, who transferred to Vanderbilt. Luckily for Cunningham, she wasn’t the only reinforcement Texas brought in for this upcoming season.

Teya Sidberry transfers to Texas for her senior season after spending time at Boston College and Utah. During her time in the ACC, she was in the top 15 in offensive and defensive rebounding. The forward also scored 20 or more points in nine games.

“When addressing our needs, we really felt Teya could bring grittiness, a knack for rebounding and an ability to finish and score in multiple ways,” Schaefer announced when Sidberry signed to Texas on April 28.

Additionally, Texas snagged a player from a conference foe. Ashton Judd, a Missouri native, comes to Texas after three seasons in her home state playing for the Tigers. Judd is expected to play a combination of guard and forward this season. The Longhorns also added international players to the roster in freshman guard Grace Prenter from Ireland, and FAU sophomore transfer from Sweden, Lovisa Asbrink Hose, who will play center.

What a last day of wave 1.  18s, 16s, 13s, 12s champions were crowned but not before some drama unfolded.  

Volleyball Mag Championship Bracket Pick-em  (join us in trying to pick winners of 2025 16 and 18 open championship brackets) was interestin  

16 Open – challonge.com/nt05vizt
18 Open – challonge.com/zp0yfzha

18 Open – Results | Standings

#1 MB Surf won the national championship after a dominating Day 4 run in which they did not drop a single set and did not give up more than 21 points in any set.  In quarterfinals they beat #5 SCVC 2-0 and in a very similar fashion then went on to beat #3 Bay to Bay in the semi finals.  In the final, they beat #2 Balboa Bay in the final in a comfortable fashion (2-0) (25-18, 25-15) 

Match of the day was the quarterfinal match of #2 Balboa Bay vs. #5 WPVC with Balboa winning 2-1 (25-27, 25-19, 19-17) in a crazy finish featuring some nervous play by both teams.   Balboa then went on to beat #3 SPVB 2-0 (25-18, 25-22), who earlier beat #5 Adversity South in the all Illinois battle.  

16 Open – Results

While 18s went mostly according to the script, 16s Open was completely unpredictable

In Quarterfinals, MOD B16 Blue beat AZ Fear 2-0, avenging an earlier loss in the tournament.  Aspire 16 Spiderman beat HPSTL B16 Royal 2-0 while Pulse 16-G beat SASVBC B 16 Jayce and so the Cinderella story finally ended for the Hawaiian team.  In the last quarterfinal, Bay to Bay 16-1 beat GVA Boys 16u Dark Blue.  

In the semis, MOD B16 Blue finally ran out of gas and Aspire used their size to win 2-0 and Pulse continued their great play by defeating Bay to Bay 16-1 2-0.

In the final we got to witness a great match that went to overtime in all three sets as Pulse 16-G prevailed 16-14 in the 3rd set after Aspire missed a serve on a championship point with a 14-13 lead.  Pulse was seeded 10th in the tournament coming in and not many people had them going all the way but they proved everyone wrong (including everybody who voted in our bracket pick-em).  As recently as 2 weeks ago at the SoCal Cup Showcase they made it to gold only to lose to to Coast 16s and interestingly their only loss at nationals was to Coast who unfortunately did not make the Gold bracket.  Pulse played amazing over the last 3 days and deserved every bit of this victory!

Thats it for now, we will have a lot more Nationals coverage over the next few days and list out some players of the tournament, etc… but wanted to thank you all and congrats to all the Wave 1 Winners!

12 Club – GVA Boys 11u Dark Blue (PU)

12 Open – MB Surf ASICS 12’s 1 (SC)

13 Club – PREVA 13-1 Carlos Rivera (PU)

13 Open – Bay to Bay 13-1 (NC)

16 Club – Balboa Bay 16Red (SC)

16 Select – SMBC Shack 16 Molten (SC)

16 Elite – OCVC 16-1 (SC)

16 Premier – LVC 16BLACK (WE)

16 Open – Pulse 16-G (SC)

18 Club – Pilipa’a 18’s (MK)

18 Select – SPVB B18 Bravo (GL)

18 Elite – PEVA Boys 18 Elite (KE)

18 Premier – Niagara Frontier 18 Gold (WE)

18 Open – MB Surf ASICS 18’s 1 (SC)

Follow the nationals here!

AAU Nationals Wave 1 – Orlando, Florida – Schedule | Watch 

For more data on boys’ nationals please take a look at this spreadsheet: 

Boys National Championships DataSheet