No. 10 Cal Topped By No. 7 Texas At NCAA Championship

BVB5/2/2025 2:03 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Sherman, Donley Break Single Season Pair Wins Record

GULF SHORES, Ala. – The No. 10 California beach volleyball team was defeated in heartbreaking fashion by seventh-seeded Texas in the first round of the NCAA Championship on Friday in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
 
The Golden Bears’ court-one duo of junior Portia Sherman and sophomore Emma Donley picked up its 28th victory of the year to break the program’s single-season pair wins record. All 28 wins came in the top spot of the lineup for the pair that earned the AVCA Top Flight award earlier this morning, which is given to the top pairs who compete in at least 15 matches at a specific court and win at least 75% of their matches. Sherman and Donley are the first pair in Cal history to win the award in the top spot.
 
Texas (28-9) got on the board first winning handily on court three but Cal (27-10) evened the dual at 1-1 with a win a straight-set win by junior Jenna Colligan and senior Ella Dreibholz on court five. Dreibholz, the program’s all-time wins leader, ends her career with a record of 105-38.
 
Sherman and Donley put the Bears up 2-1, bringing the match down to courts two and four, which both went to a third set. Graduate student Maile Somera and Marilu Pally led on court four and held dual point, but the Longhorns battled back to win it in extras.
 
Tied at 2-2 the dual came down to court two where the team-captain pair of graduate student Sierra Caffo and junior Gia Fisher held an 8-4 lead, but once again UT battled back and tied it at 13 apiece. The Bears staved off two dual points but an ace for the Longhorns granted them their first NCAA Championship win.
 
This concludes a historic 2025 season for the Bears who broke several program records including 14 ranked wins, a 12-match win streak, 16 sweeps, and a .781 regular-season win percentage.
 
#7 Texas – 3, #10 Cal – 2
1. Emma Donley/Portia Sherman (Cal) def. Chloe Charles/Eva Liisa Kuivonen (UT) 21-17, 21-15
2. Emma Grace Robertson/Katie Hashman (UT) def. Gia Fisher/Sierra Caffo (Cal) 20-22, 21-17, 17-15
3. Karin Zolnercikova/Maddison Parmelly (UT) def. Ella Sears/Alexandria Young-Gomez (Cal) 22-20, 21-9
4. Macey Butler/Noa Sonneville (UT) def. Marilu Pally/Maile Somera (Cal) 21-18, 19-21, 17-15
5. Jenna Colligan/Ella Dreibholz (Cal) def. Ava Patton/Vivian Johnson (UT) 21-18, 21-19
Order of finish: 3, 5, 1, 4, 2