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.  

Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum was all smiles after the Redhawks won the 2009 Class 4A Benedictine University supersectional softball championship in Lisle, 2-0 over Bartlett.
DAILY HERALD FILE PHOTO

When asked about major milestones, veteran coaches have a stock answer.

Naperville Central’s Andy Nussbaum was ready.

“First of all, it means I’m old,” said Nussbaum, who by beating Plainfield Central in an April 8 softball game earned his 1,500th victory spanning Redhawks softball and girls basketball.

His 758 softball wins entering Wednesday rank eighth all-time on Illinois High School Association records. His 746 basketball wins also rank eighth.

Like coaches always do, Nussbaum thought more about it.

“Honestly, it’s pretty gratifying,” he said. “It just gives me the opportunity to remember all the players we’ve ever had who have played here, both softball and basketball,” Nussbaum said Tuesday on the team bus bound for St. Charles East.

“I just hope that I’ve been a positive influence not only as far as softball and basketball are concerned but as an educator, that I’ve been a good example. At least that’s what I hope,” he said.

If he weren’t, the first baseman on his first softball team in 1984, Mary Baumgartner, wouldn’t have come up to say hello at a recent game.

And Naperville Central principal Jackie Thornton and athletic director Jeff Plackett likely wouldn’t have bothered to watch Nussbaum get win No. 1,500 last month.

“The relationships, really, are what endure,” said Nussbaum, also an assistant Redhawks football coach since 1981.

His back-to-back Class AA girls basketball titles in 2003 and 2004 are memorable, too, with arguably the best female player ever, Candace Parker.

Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum celebrates a 65-63 triple-overtime win over Naperville North at the 2018 Class 4A Naperville Central regional championship.
DAILY HERALD FILE PHOTO

He has yet to hoist the big trophy in softball, but his 1989 team finished second in Class AA and his 2009 team was fourth in Class 4A.

Nussbaum coaches a third team, too, his seven children: Christian, Joe, Carly, Jessica, Amy and the twins, who will graduate from Naperville Central on May 18, Aaron and Daniel.

All of them played one or more sport all four years in high school, and Daniel is a 12-season athlete. Except for Joe, who is in the Air Force, all the older Nussbaum children are teachers and/or coaches.

They keep their dad young. So does being around high school students, which is why Nussbaum hopes to continue coaching at Naperville Cental after his scheduled retirement as a teacher in 2028.

“We’ll take that bridge when we come to it, I guess,” he said. “I love doing what I’m doing. I love teaching statistics, I love coaching. Just walking through our hallways … there’s life in our hallways.”

Way up there

Megan Brownley also achieved a coaching milestone — 300 victories as Hersey’s girls water polo coach.

Up to 310 entering Wednesday’s match against Libertyville, that stands as No. 5 all-time on IHSA records.

At 15-4-1, the Huskies are ranked No. 6 in the state by illpolo.com. (Stevenson is No. 1, Naperville North No. 2, York No. 5.) Sectional champions each of the last four seasons, Hersey placed fourth at the state tournament in 2021 and 2023.

The secret of Brownley’s success: “Working with the girls and building your program, your family, team-first. The wins come after that,” she said.

“At the end of the day, I’ve been really lucky in my 17 years of coaching, I’ve just had real nice groups of girls. Talent and winning has come kind of secondary to that.”

One sign of a quality coach and that family atmosphere is when former players stay in the game. Brownley has 2018 graduate Madison Burkhalter as an assistant. After volunteering at Hersey last season, Claire Lutz is now assisting at Prospect.

Hersey practices and plays its home games at Prospect. Brownley’s 310 wins have come without a pool at Hersey.

“People don’t believe me,” said Brownley, married to Hersey baseball coach Walter Brownley.

It’s not the pool that makes it happen.

“It’s all of them in the pool and putting it all together,” she said. “Kudos to them and the great groups of kids I’ve been able to have. It doesn’t come without that. They come first.”

Dig route

Judson University in Elgin is breaking ground this Saturday on the Scislowski Family Football Facility, a complex next to the university’s Lindner Fitness Center.

The Scislowski Facility will replace Judson’s original football offices and provide locker rooms, position meeting rooms, a team film room and player lounges.

“This is a game-changer for our program,” Judson coach Quintin Demps said in a release.

Beforehand, Judson will dedicate the Flynn Football Offices, inside its university building. Named in honor of alumnus and university trustee Shawn Flynn, these new offices will be the headquarters of Eagles football.

Also, at 1 p.m. the Eagles will play their spring football game at Judson’s own Dawson Field. Judson plays its regular-season games on Saturdays at Streamwood High School’s Millennium Field.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com