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'Poker Face' Has Gone Full Murder

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7 months ago

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'Poker Face' Has Gone Full Murder


The fifth episode of Poker Face season two brings Natasha Lyonne‘s Charlie Cale to the dugout of a minor league baseball team, where she investigates suspected foul play in the death of a player who was killed by a fast ball to the head from a faulty old pitching machine.

Tony Tost, who took over as showrunner for the second season, wrote the episode, “Hometown Hero,” and says it was a world that creator Rian Johnson wanted to play in for the Peacock murder-mystery’s return. The episode also solidifies Poker Face as a true week-to-week offering. After resolving the lingering plot from season one in the third episode (the first three episodes released together at launch), the fourth episode took Charlie down to the Florida Panhandle — for a death involving cocaine and an alligator (starring Gaby Hoffmann and Kumail Nanjiani) — before landing her in this week’s predicament with a suspicious baseball player (Simon Rex). Next week’s episode will shift tone again when she travels to an elementary school.

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“I had conversations in order to get the [showrunner] job and in making my case, I was pretty honest with Rian to say there’s nothing I want to course correct on,” Tost tells The Hollywood Reporter of leaning into the show’s standalone format even further with season two. “I love that the show is a mystery of the week. I wanted to protect that and double down. The show lives in these blue-collar pockets of ‘flyover America,’ but doesn’t make a big deal about it or pat itself on the back. Charlie’s just with the underdog or the work-a-day people, as opposed to the high-status people.”

Below, Tost chats further with THR about what to expect as the Peacock series settles into its sophomore season, including why viewers won’t be learning more about Charlie’s backstory (unless it’s shared with her CB radio buddy, voiced by Steve Buscemi) and how the 12-episode season delivers an unexpected ending amid the “grab-bag chaos” of recasting the show every week with A-list guest stars.

***

When you took over as showrunner for season two [from Nora and Lilla Zuckerman], did you get handed any sort of show bible?

I got handed better than that. I got a really great first season of a TV show for reference. The Zucks did such a great job, as did everyone involved in season one. When I did find myself sometimes saying, “How do we tell this story?,” I would just fire up an episode from season one. I had conversations [with Rian Johnson] in order to get the job and I think the show’s great. It works. I love that it’s a mystery of the week. I wanted to protect that.

When I spoke with Nora and Lilla and Rian Johnson at the end of the first season, they said they had many places they could take Charlie Cale for season two — they could bring back characters in different roles; we even joked about a prison spinoff. They said they loved the format but also wanted to surprise viewers. Can you go inside that process of what you considered and why you landed where you did, solidifying the murder-of-the-week format?

The day before we started the writers room, we had boards for each episode up. Rian was like, “Can you just take that down? I don’t want the room to come in thinking about the episodes in the season. Let’s come in and crack a really good Poker Face episode that could land potentially anywhere.” The first one we broke was the fourth episode, the alligator one, which is one of the wackier ones. The thing that the show does really well is that it puts Charlie Cale in some new part of America with an interesting murder to solve. We wanted to focus on that for these first couple episodes, and then in the process of that, we said we’ll talk about the Beatrix Hasp [the villain played by Rhea Perlman] of it all and find the shape to the season organically.

I also came in saying, “Can we bring back Simon Helberg is FBI Agent Luca?” I love that character and thought there was more to explore. There are some characters I would have loved to bring back, like Hong Chau’s trucker character from season one, but we didn’t find the proper world. There were characters and worlds that were up on the board — I knew Rian wanted to do an episode in minor league baseball and I wanted to pitch Charlie getting a CB radio buddy, someone to talk to. But some stuff we didn’t get to; I wanted to have a Bob Seger impersonator character. There was a potpourri of ideas and then the writers came in and pitched more ideas.

Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale with Simon Rex, as minor league ball player Russ Waddell, in episode five’s “Hometown Hero.”

Sarah Shatz/PEACOCK

Episode three closed the book on the season one plot of a mob boss chasing Charlie; in this case, freeing Charlie of Beatrix Hasp (Perlman). Now with episode five, you are full steam ahead on being a week-to-week show that viewers can drop into at any time. Did you debate putting episode three later in the season?

There weren’t debates. It was a discovery. We started off cracking individual episodes and at some point, we needed to talk about how the Beatrix Hasp thing plays out over season two. Rian was like, “Do we have to have it play it out over the whole season? We kind of did that in season one. Wouldn’t it be more interesting if it resolved itself earlier than we’re expecting? And then it frees us up to do something else with the character.” Rian and I were much more excited about what we ended up doing than trying to find a new spin on something that season one did quite well.

I also spoke with Rian and Natasha about casting season one with such a heavy-hitting roster and how they would approach casting season two. How did it work when you were coming up with episodes? Were you writing with actors in mind?

It’s a little bit of a grab bag. When [writer] Wyatt Cain pitched the third episode, he pitched “a John Mulaney-type.” Natasha was like, “I was just texting with him, let me ask him.” So it can come that way, or sometimes we’ll be thinking about character and I’m just like, “Who actually would be good for this? Who of Rian and Natasha’s many cool friends might want to come and hang out for a couple weeks?” And then sometimes it’s a more traditional thing where we go through our casting director and see who’s available and make some offers. There’s this grab-bag chaos because every 10 days we’re starting over again. We have to recast and repopulate the whole show.

Sometimes we would cast someone overqualified for the role, so we’d race back through the script and ask the writer to do another pass so we’re not wasting them. All of a sudden, we’ve got this performer doing some funny bits that were inspired by their casting as opposed to the other way around.

Was there one guest star who really surprised you?

There’s a later episode at a weightlifting gym that was a “John Cena- or Dave Bautista-type” and we ended up casting Method Man. I don’t know anybody else now who could have played that role. He’s fucking amazing. He brought so much to it. He wasn’t on the tip of our tongues, but going forward now he’s going to be for anything I write. It’s also fun to take somebody who does comedic stuff and have them play the killer or victim, like Kumail [Nanjiani], who I don’t think gets offered many Florida Panhandle types of roles. He brought so much sweetness but also excitement, which feeds into the joy of that [fourth] episode. I think that’s part of the draw — getting to play something different than the normal roles they are offered.

How often were you tempted to go back to the deep well of your guest actors from season one?

There were discussions. We did bring back Simon Helberg and Rhea, and Clea Duvall, who plays Charlie’s sister in season one, came back to direct in season two, and she’s amazing on all fronts. We were like, “Do we fit Clea in here?” But it just never quite worked. There are lots of people we’re fans of, but sometimes it would feel like we were shoehorning them in. And we said: Let’s focus on this episode, on this mystery. There’s also something about adding to the roster of Poker Face guest stars.

Lyonne with Cynthia Erivo, as one of her quintuplets, in the season two premiere, “The Game is a Foot.”

Sarah Shatz/PEACOCK

Since she’s not in this life-and-death chase anymore, Charlie has a more existential journey the rest of the season. What challenged you about still finding emotional depth for Charlie?

Charlie’s looking for a community. That gave us a handle for the episodes. But Natasha’s such a strong voice on all aspects of the show. There’s not a lot of guiding Natasha about what she’s supposed to do. It’s more like: Here’s what’s on the page. Here’s what we’ve done. Now, let’s see what Natasha brings to it. And what she brings is not necessarily what you’re expecting, but it’s what you are wanting it to be. Let’s try to not go to the same well all the time. Let’s explore different shadings and step back and see what Natasha does with it.

The one overarching plot device you do have is Steve Buscemi in the CB radio voice role. What pupose does he serve for Charlie?

The origin of that is that I like trucker movies. I was raised on Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood movies. Every Which Way But Loose, Convoys, stuff like that. My parents, especially my stepfather, was a very avid CB radio guy. You don’t see that in the culture anymore, and it felt very Charlie. I pitched that to Rian and we realized that, almost like Agent Cooper in Twin Peaks, it’s a way to, in an old school fashion, get to what’s on Charlie’s mind and it just became a friendly companion. We liked how it was retro, like a show from the 1980s like Hardcastle and McCormick or Magnum P.I. or the A-Team would have some confidant who was a recognizable actor’s voice on the radio.

What is your rule book about how many times Charlie can almost die? There’s no show without Charlie, but she gets herself in pretty precarious situations.

It’s more like, how can we surprise ourselves and surprise the viewer? “Wait, did Charlie just get shoved out of a 12th floor window?” You know Charlie’s not dead, but she paints herself into some dangerous corners. So how can we be playful with that at the same time?

Rian said this show is structured so it really could go on forever. Is that what you guys want to do?

Who knows what the world and the entertainment industry will allow. But I think there’s potentially a world where Charlie is solving murders in perpetuity. Her interest in people is not going away, her caring about people and her heart is not going away. Her bullshit detector is not going away. It might be hard for her to keep her nose out of people’s business. Later in season two, you’ll see that she tries to not be in a murder-of-the-week show. That’s an interesting tension to play with.

How many ideas did you have that you couldn’t fit in? Do you already have enough for a season three?

We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. But there’s a stack of murder ideas, story arenas, character ideas that we just never got around to in season two. So there’s a good start, even if it’s not something we’re actively talking about just yet.

Eva Jade Halford with Lyonne in next week’s elementary school-set episode, “Sloppy Joseph.”

Ralph Bavaro/Peacock

Do you plan to unpeel the onion that is Charlie Cale more in the future, in terms of bringing back Clea Duvall and more of her family story?

I’d be surprised. There’s almost a perverse joy in refusing that contemporary television tendency to really dive into the trauma or the backstory or the mythology of a character. That’s something that Rian and I both just delight in, and I think Natasha agrees. You can imagine some aspects of her past and you get little pieces, but we’re never going to explore it like that. People from her past can show up. But I don’t think it’s that kind of show. Other shows do that very well. Let’s focus on this thing that that we do, where we just follow her from adventure to adventure.

Is there one episode that felt like it was the biggest swing?

The season two premiere was a big swing, in terms of the Cynthia Erivo playing the multiple Kasinski sisters. There’s a reason why we moved that up. Once writer Laura Deeley pitched that and then wrote a great script, we wanted to start the season with that. I’m pretty excited for people to see the elementary school episode and the episode with John Cho and Melanie Lynskey, which is a little bit of a different variation on the Poker Face experience. And then the last couple episodes will maybe sneak up on people and play some cards that people aren’t really expecting. I’ll be excited and curious to see how people respond to the last few.

Does the finale set up a third season in a cliffhanger way?

The finale will work in different ways. You don’t want to be presumptuous — the world doesn’t owe us a season three. I think if there is a season three, it sets it up quite well. If there isn’t, I’m pretty satisfied with the finale. You have to see how things pay off. But hopefully, either way, it’s a satisfying end of the season.

***

Poker Face season two episodes are now streaming on Peacock, with new episodes releasing weekly. Read THR’s season two chat with Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne.

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BYU women’s volleyball has a new head coach — and a key return from portal

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December 24, 2025

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PROVO — BYU women’s volleyball is turning to a familiar name as the seventh head coach in program history.

The Cougars hired former BYU men’s volleyball assistant and one-time interim head coach Rob Neilson on Tuesday, returning to Provo after a historic six-year career at Utah State.

Neilson replaces Heather Olmstead, who led the Cougars through one of the best stretches in program history before stepping down two weeks ago.

The former BYU starting setter who went 91-31 as a player, including the 2004 national championship, Neilson ranked fifth in the Cougars’ rally-scoring era with 2,790 career assists to go with a top-10 finish in solo blocks with 28.

“Coaching at BYU is a dream come true,” Neilson said in a statement. “This is a distinguished university with storied volleyball programs, built by amazing student-athletes, incredible coaches and a community that’s all in. I’m honored to continue that legacy with our women’s team.”

Neilson returns to his alma mater after a legendary six-season run at Utah State, leading the Aggies to a 112-59 record that included a program-best 24-8 mark and an 18-0 finish in Mountain West play in 2025.

The Aggies also won the Mountain West Tournament title to secure their second NCAA Tournament appearance in four years, and upset seventh-seeded Tennessee in the tournament opener to snap a losing skid on that national stage that dated back to 2001.

Under Neilson’s tutelage, Utah State also captured three Mountain West regular-season championships, two tournament titles, 12 all-conference honorees, three all-region selections and one All-American status. He was named the Mountain West coach of the year in 2021, 2023 and 2025 and earned AVCA Pacific North Region coach of the year honors in 2023.

“I’m grateful for Rob’s leadership in our volleyball program, including multiple conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances,” Utah State athletic director Cam Walker said in a statement. “The profile of Utah State volleyball has been elevated, and we expected that standard to continue under new leadership. We will be efficient and aggressive in our pursuit of the next leader of Utah State volleyball and will begin an immediate national search.”

Neilson, who also earned an MBA from BYU while coaching in 2014 prior to spending time with the U.S. men’s national team, replaces Olmstead, who went 279-55 in 11 seasons as head coach after taking over for her brother Shawn.

A graduate of Utah State, Olmstead became the fastest coach to reach 200 Division I wins, doing so in just 225 matches, and was the third-fastest to 100 wins just 111 matches while transitioning the Cougars from the West Coast Conference to the Big 12.

The former AVCA national coach of the year in 2018 helped develop 14 All-Americans, 23 all-region honorees, and 22 all-conference awards in the two leagues.

With Neilson’s hire, each of Utah’s three largest Division I universities will have a first-year head coach in 2026. In addition to Neilson and Olmstead’s departures, Beth Launiere retired after 31 seasons at the University of Utah and was immediately replaced by associate head coach Alyssa D’Errico.

With the changes, the Cougars already lost a pair of departures to the NCAA transfer portal: star outside hitter Suli Davis committed to SMU, while reserve opposite Blaykli Bobik committed to TCU.

But Neilson’s hire brought good news from another portal departure: BYU All-American setter Alex Bower, who announced Tuesday evening that she was returning to the program where her mother Caroline and sisters Whitney and Morgan both graduated.

The rising junior dished out 1,265 assists last year as a sophomore, helping the Cougars to a 22-9 campaign that included a 14th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

“I’m so excited to play and learn from coach Neilson, a BYU legendary setter,” she wrote on Instagram. “I’m grateful for my teammates’ support. I know this has been a difficult couple of weeks for them. I love them and can’t wait to be with them soon.”

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.



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FDU deputy AD says new UND coach David Nguyen is ‘an incredible volleyball mind’ – Grand Forks Herald

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December 24, 2025

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GRAND FORKS — David Nguyen was in his mid-20s when Fairleigh Dickinson University hired him as head volleyball coach.

“He was the youngest coach in Division I,” FDU deputy athletic director Jason Young said.

Nguyen took over a program that had gone 10-70 in the Northeast Conference the previous six seasons. But things quickly changed. The Knights went 43-15 in the NEC during Nguyen’s four-year tenure.

“What he was able to do with our volleyball program…,” Young said, “we had never made the NCAA tournament, we hadn’t made the playoffs in years. In Year 1, he takes us to the NCAA tournament. In Years 2 and 3, we’re in the championship game. It was just an incredible four-year run. He deserves all the accolades coming his way.”

Nguyen is the new head coach at UND, where he will be tasked with resurrecting another program that’s fallen on hard times.

The Fighting Hawks haven’t had a winning season since reaching the NCAA tournament in 2017, and they’ve never won a match at the Summit League tournament since joining the conference in 2018.

But Nguyen has directed a major turnaround before.

“I think it’s one of the biggest (turnarounds) in Division I,” Young said. “I think he’s a little beyond his years. He’ll go toe-to-toe with anyone in that conference. I think his volleyball mind is exceptional and his ability to develop is, too.

“His demeanor is going to be unique. He’s a silent assassin in a lot of ways. He’s not a yeller and screamer. He’s very calm, cool and collected. His players carry it through in how they play volleyball. They’re steady throughout. He was able to instill a winning culture. He’ll be able to do that there, too.”

UND is planning to introduce Nguyen at a press conference at a later date.

Young said he expects Nguyen to be involved in the community.

“It will be great for that volleyball community,” Young said. “He’ll know how to make sure camps and clinics are getting done and kids get connected to the program. It will be pretty special.”

Young said Fairleigh Dickinson is happy for Nguyen’s new opportunity and happy that he “put FDU volleyball back on the map.”

“I loved my time with him,” Young said. “He’s a wonderful person with a wonderful family and an incredible volleyball mind. I’m really happy for him and his family. I think he’s going to do great things.”

Brad Elliott Schlossman

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Brad Elliott Schlossman

Schlossman has covered college hockey for the Grand Forks Herald since 2005. He has been recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the top beat writer for the Herald’s circulation division four times and the North Dakota sportswriter of the year twice. He resides in Grand Forks. Reach him at bschlossman@gfherald.com.





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2025 StarNews All Area Volleyball teams

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December 24, 2025

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Dec. 24, 2025, 4:01 a.m. ET

It took Norah Davis just one season in a Vikings uniform to cement her place among Wilmington’s elite.

The junior outside hitter made a seamless transition to Hoggard this season after transferring from Coastal Christian, where she established herself as one of the area’s most dominant attackers. Davis had 287 kills in her breakout campaign for the Centurians in 2024.

She brought that same firepower with her to Hoggard and immediately elevated a Vikings team hungry to reclaim its spot atop the Carolina Coast Conference.

Davis finished the fall with a conference-best 317 kills as the Vikings rolled to a 26-4 record. Her production, consistency and ability to deliver in big moments earned her StarNews All-Area Girls Volleyball Player of the Year honors, the first of her career and the first for a Hoggard player since 2021.

Hoggard's #3 Norah Davis spikes the ball as Hoggard took on Broughton in the 2nd round of the playoffs Oct .21, 2025 2025 at Hoggard High School. KEN BLEVINS/STARNEWS

Hoggard capped its season with a second-round playoff appearance, a run fueled in part by its dominance over rival Topsail. The Vikings defeated the Pirates three times, reclaiming the conference crown from their Hampstead neighbors and asserting control over the league.

Davis saved some of her best performances for those matchups. All three of her top outings in 2025 came against Topsail, including a 20-kill effort in the Vikings’ Sept. 4 win, a season-high 23 kills on Sept. 30, and another 19-kill performance in the conference tournament championship on Oct. 15.



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Coming home: Neilson tabbed as new BYU women’s volleyball coach | News, Sports, Jobs

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December 24, 2025

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PROVO, Utah — BYU Director of Athletics Brian Santiago has announced the hiring of Rob Neilson as the seventh head women’s volleyball coach in BYU history.

“We are thrilled to welcome Rob Neilson back to BYU as our head women’s volleyball coach,” Santiago said. “Rob has been a part of a rich history at BYU, both as a player and coach on the men’s side, highlighted by winning a national championship. He is a proven winner, as evidenced by his experience as a head coach at Utah State and as an assistant coach for the USA National Team. We are excited to have Rob lead our BYU women’s volleyball program and exceptional student-athletes into the future.”

A setter at BYU from 2003-06, Neilson was part of the Cougars’ 2004 national championship team. He compiled a 91-31 record in his collegiate career. He tallied 2,790 assists, ranking fifth in BYU’s rally-scoring era record book upon graduation, and finished eighth in solo blocks with 28.

“Coaching at BYU is a dream come true,” Neilson said. “This is a distinguished university, with storied volleyball programs, built by amazing student-athletes, incredible coaches and a community that’s all in. I’m honored to continue that legacy with our women’s team. Thank you to the board of trustees, President Reese, Brian Santiago, Chad Lewis and the search committee. I’m excited to get to work preparing for great things as we hurl our challenge to all foes. Rise and shout. Let’s go.”

Neilson has spent the past six seasons as head coach at Utah State, posting a 112-59 (.655) record in Logan. Most recently, he led the Aggies to a historic 2025 campaign, finishing 24-8 overall with an 18-0 mark in Mountain West Conference play, winning the Mountain West Tournament title and recording a first-round upset of No. 7 seed Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament, Utah State’s first tournament win since 2001.

During his tenure, the Aggies captured three Mountain West regular-season championships (2021, 2023, 2025) and two Mountain West Tournament titles (2022, 2025). Neilson was named Mountain West Coach of the Year three times (2021, 2023, 2025) and earned AVCA Pacific North Region Coach of the Year honors in 2023.

Neilson coached 12 all-conference honorees, three all-region selections and one All-American, while guiding Utah State to winning records in five of his six seasons and three NCAA Tournament appearances. He is just the third coach in program history to reach the 100-win milestone and the first to do so since 1978.

Prior to his time in Logan, Neilson served as the first assistant coach with the U.S. Men’s National Team, helping Team USA earn a bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships and a silver medal at the 2019 Volleyball Nations League.

Before joining USA Volleyball, Neilson spent 10 seasons on the BYU men’s volleyball staff. He served as an assistant coach from 2006-10, acting as recruiting coordinator and overseeing player development. Neilson was BYU’s interim head coach in 2011, returned as an assistant in 2012 and was named associate head coach in 2014. During that span, he helped lead the Cougars to two conference championships and a national runner-up finish in 2013.

Neilson earned a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from BYU in 2006 and completed an MBA in 2013. He and his wife, Sarah, have five children.

The Rob Nielson File

  • Played setter for BYU men’s volleyball team (2003-06)
  • Assistant coach, BYU men’s volleyball (2006-2010, 2012-2014)
  • Interim head coach, BYU men’s volleyball (2011)
  • First Assistant, USA Men’s National Team (2014-2019)
  • Head coach of Utah State women’s volleyball team (2020-2025)

Copyright © 2025 Ogden Newspapers of Utah, LLC | www.heraldextra.com | 1200 Towne Centre Blvd. STE 1058, Provo, UT 84601



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Slidell’s Danny Tullis is headed to Mandeville | St. Tammany community news

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December 24, 2025

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Danny Tullis is quick to talk about the importance of three things in his life: God, family and volleyball.

He has coached his two daughters, Ali and Ansley, at Pope John Paul II, while his son, Collin, is a standout player at the club level.

In his past three seasons at Slidell, the 53-year-old amassed a 110-17 record, including back-to-back titles. He guided Slidell to uncharted success, but now the eight-time state champion is on the move again.

Tullis will take over the Mandeville volleyball program from Rachel Schulingkamp, who stepped down after this past season. The move will reunite Tullis with Ansley, who is an assistant coach for the Skippers.

“My family has been talking about moving for a while, and with my daughter being over there, I thought I could come over and teach PE with her. So, I’ll get the chance to work with her all day in the classroom and after school. Then my other daughter (Ali) will be closer to Southeastern, so she can finish up. It just makes sense for us to move this way,” Tullis said.

“From a volleyball standpoint, it’s another challenge. I’m always interested in whether I can do this or that. I think Mandeville has a good base of kids who play club (ball) and who have played for a long time. It’ll be interesting to see what we can do there.”

Tullis boasts a 793-179 career record and has won a total of eight state titles at three schools (Fontainebleau, Pope John Paul II and Slidell).

“I think it is going to be a new, fun experience,” Tullis said. “My family is everything to me, and even though Ali was assisting me at Slidell, she wasn’t working with me at the school. So, it’s just a little bit different. It felt like it was a good move for my family.”

Ali will also serve as an assistant, as will Rachel Battistella, who has been with Tullis at both PJP II and Slidell. Collin Tullis will be the team manager.

“We try to make it a family affair everywhere that we go,” Tullis said.

His first coaching job was at Northshore as an assistant coach under Sandy Blanchard for one season. Then, he was the head coach at Salmen for six years. He moved to Fontainebleau for a seven-year run that included a state title in 2011. Then came the move to Pope John Paul II in 2013 that resulted in five state titles from 2014-19 — a period in which the Jaguars were consistently ranked among the top prep teams in the nation.

Slidell offered solace to Tullis during his greatest adversity as he joined the Tigers after the 2022 season, which was marred by the death of his oldest son, Christian, the night before the 2022 state championship match.

Tullis credited Slidell principal George Herdliska for supporting him this past season, saying the entire school played an important role in winning a second straight state title.

“Me leaving has absolutely nothing to do with Coach Herdliska. He was amazing to me. He did everything that I could ask for. It just came down to the fact that I wanted to work with my daughter,” Tullis said.

Mandeville will be his third stop in the past five years, but Tullis said that is not a reflection on any of those schools.

“I’m not saying there’s not value in staying in the same place for your entire coaching career, but I have enjoyed everywhere I have been,” Tullis said. “I think change is refreshing and kind of rejuvenates you a little bit. My daughter is at Mandeville, so it’s just a special opportunity for me and my family.”

Tullis will finish out the school year teaching PE at Slidell before moving to Mandeville. He said he will continue to coach club volleyball at WD Nation.

Mandeville principal Christian Monson said the choice to hire Tullis was easy.

“We’re excited to announce Danny Tullis as the next volleyball coach,” Monson said. “Rachel Schulingkamp has done a great job, but she approached me right as the season ended and made a decision that was best for her family with three small kids. We hired Ansley Tullis to be an assistant coach this past season, and Danny’s desire to coach with his daughter is a big plus for him.

“We look forward to building a championship-caliber program and are excited for our future Skippers.”

Mandeville won its lone state title in 2005, and the Skippers were state runners-up in 2004, 2006 and 2015. The last time they qualified for the state tournament in Lafayette was in 2022.



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Season in Review: Culture Leads to Special Season for Volleyball

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December 24, 2025

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RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team enjoyed incredible success in the 2025 season. 
 
The Vaqueros won the program’s fourth conference title as they dominated in their second season competing in the Southland Conference (SLC), going 15-1 to claim the regular season championship. They went 22-8 overall, earning the second-most wins in program history. They won 16 consecutive matches, notching a new program best for longest winning streak. They saw a record number of fans fill the UTRGV Fieldhouse to support the squad during its impressive run. 
 
The individual accomplishments were just as numerous as the team ones. Head coach Todd Lowery was named the Katrinka Jo Crawford SLC Coach of the Year – one of four superlatives and 10 total all-conference honors collected by UTRGV this season, leading all teams in the conference in postseason awards for the second consecutive year. Junior Isabella Costantini earned her second SLC Setter of the Year title, while sophomore outside hitter Martina Franco was named the Newcomer of the Year and outside hitter Dimitra Nanou was tabbed Freshman of the Year. 
 
Costantini, Franco and Nanou earned First Team All-Conference recognition while junior libero Celianiz Cabranes, junior outside hitter Nadine Zech and redshirt sophomore middle blocker Julianna Bryant made Second Team All-Conference. 
 
Since the preseason practices in early August, Lowery knew his gym was packed with talent and potential. But the Vaqueros were also starting the 2025 campaign with only three consistent starters from the previous season and nine completely new players on the roster. 
 
The first month of the season was filled with ups and downs as Lowery and his coaching staff put the pieces of the puzzle together. UTRGV mixed up lineups and saw many players get reps in different spots as early bang-ups caused some changes to rotations. 
 
Throughout four non-conference tournaments, Lowery said the Vaqueros were either really good or really bad with not much in between. Seven of UTRGV’s first 11 matches were decided in three sets – if the Vaqueros came out sharp, they swept their way to victory, but when things were bumpy, they got swept just as quickly. They played some competitive matches against future top 50 and tournament teams such as UTEP, James Madison and Texas State. 
 
UTRGV split Week 1 of the SLC season, sweeping Lamar at home before dropping an extremely tight match at Stephen F. Austin, 3-2. Something clicked after that loss in Nacogdoches. The Vaqueros didn’t hang their heads after the match – instead, Lowery said, seeing how close they were that early in the season to knocking off the perennial power showed the team how high their ceiling was. They knew they had things to work on, but they also saw that they were ahead of schedule in terms of their goals for 2025, and they used that as motivation to find another level of play. 
 
“We talked tournament run all year long because that’s where we thought we’d be. Our goal was to be playing our best volleyball at the end of the year, but they were able to mesh together so quickly and things started falling in place after that SFA match,” Lowery said. “We saw flashes, at times, where we were really, really good. The girls were never shaken up by the early losses. They exposed some things to work on and the girls took those things as challenges.” 
 

After starting the year 6-7, the Vaqueros stacked up 16 wins in a row. They closed the regular season with a 14-match winning streak to earn the No. 2 seed in the SLC Tournament. They dominated the first two rounds of the tournament, sweeping Houston Christian and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to set up a championship bout of destiny against SFA. UTRGV came up short in the title match, but they came out of it hungrier than ever. 
 
“We felt like it was a coin toss going into that match. It’s always going to be a battle for us against SFA. I think now that we’ve been in the championship, we’ll be mentally more prepared. I think the moment got to us a little bit this year, but I think having so many pieces back, we’ll take care of that next year,” Lowery said. 
 
In the locker room after the match and in end-of-year meetings with the coaching staff, the Vaqueros players talked about two things: how determined they are to build on the 2025 success and how fun this season was. 
 
That response encapsulates the culture UTRGV established this fall. The Vaqueros had a special season because they truly enjoyed playing together and going to work every day. They were determined to get better for the team more than for their individual goals. Players dutifully stepped up or stepped aside as rotations changed based on the hot hand, and even when someone was on the sideline instead of on the court for a few matches, they cheered for their teammates and continued to compete in practice as if they were the starter. 
 
The selfless play and encouraging environment led to outstanding play. The Vaqueros hit over .400 as a team in five matches, including tabbing two of the most efficient performances in program history as they hit .471 at McNeese and .463 at Nicholls, taking the third and fourth spots in the record books for best single-match hitting percentage. UTRGV had three hitters with 200+ kills and six players who scored 2.24 points per set or better, with senior right side Valentina Sarti Cipriani and junior middle blocker Aaliyah Snead contributing at a high rate along with the four attackers who earned all-conference honors.  
 
The team accomplishments, the individual accolades, the records set; it all amounted to a season UTRGV will look back on with pride. It was fun. It was special. It was program-shifting, but not just because of the success. The culture established in 2025 – one of genuine fun and dedication and support in a team-first environment – was the key to the historic season, and the Vaqueros will hold that key tight and use it to unlock even more potential with a veteran group next season. 

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