The list includes 30 players from 20 different schools, featuring some of the best talent in the nation. The names will be revealed in groups of 10 over three days, from June 22-24. 

A 2024 third-team All-American, Shelton had a breakout junior season as she led the team with 455 kills and 4.38 kills/set. She ranked second on the team in digs with 204 and in blocks with 93.

The junior tallied double-digit kills in every meet of the season, including a season-best 27 against Texas. She recorded 20-plus kills on nine occasions and notched eight double-doubles on the year.

Shelton reached the 1,000-kill mark in 2024, the 15th Sooner to achieve the feat. Her 1,118 career kills are good for 14th all-time. Her 455 kills in 2024 place her second all-time for kills in a single season.

The list will be narrowed down to semifinalists in November, after a midseason addition in October. The names of the finalists will be released in December, with the AVCA Player of the Year announcement occurring on Dec. 19 at the AVCA Awards Banquet in Kansas City.

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WASHINGTON – Georgetown University’s volleyball team was recognized with the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award sponsored by INTENT, as announced by the governing body this week.

“I’m incredibly proud of our team’s accomplishments in the classroom this past year.” said Head Coach AJ Bonetti. “Earning the AVCA Team Academic Award is something we pursue every year because it reflects the kind of program we are building, one that values excellence on the court and in the classroom.”

The Hoyas have won 13 AVCA Team Academic Awards in program history, including five times in the past seven seasons. This year, ten of the 11 BIG EAST programs were recognized this season.

To earn the accolade, a program must have maintained a year-long grade-point average of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale (or 4.1 on a 5.0 scale), to earn the award for their classroom excellence during the recently completed academic year.

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IRVINE — The warm feelings of friendship and redemption embraced Gavin Conant on a sunny, mid-summer afternoon and drove away a cold and somber fall once and for all.

Conant and North Irvine’s “Beast Boys” lived up to their nickname by defeating two-time defending champion Newport Beach 9-5 in the 18-and-under boys final at the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics on Tuesday.

Before a packed crowd at Woollett Aquatics Center, Conant earned MVP honors with a match-high four goals, two field blocks and two steals.

The USC-bound attacker delivered the performance after missing his senior season at JSerra in the fall because of a back injury.

“This is fate, so it was fun,” Conant said after leading North Irvine’s to its first 18s title. “I was out for about six, seven months and that was really hard. But I got back in January and started training … (and) bounced back.”

Conant said he suffered a stress fracture in his back at the 18-and-under World Championships last summer in Argentina from “over training.”

The injury didn’t require surgery but he missed JSerra’s runner-up finish in the CIF-SS Open Division and title in the SoCal regional.

Conant made up for lost time Tuesday by uniting with an all-star cast of friends to avenge a 12-9 loss to Newport Beach on Monday.

“A lot of these guys (on North Irvine) are national team buddies,” explained Conant, who played at JSerra for two years after transferring from Cathedral Catholic. “We’re all best friends from different clubs and we came together.”

North Irvine’s inspiration, Conant explained, was the Cozy Boys, another “super team” that won the boys 18-and-under crown in 2018.

“I always looked up to the Cozy Boys,” Conant said. “Beast Boys was kind of our thing. It was pretty special. We made the (swim) suits and got the Instagram. It was really fun.”

Beast Boys’ chemistry showed as the No. 5 seed converted all three of its chances on the man-advantage in the first period.

Former JSerra center Colt Bradley (USC) drew two of the exclusions while former Mater Dei left-hander Kyson Becker (UC San Diego) had a goal and assist.

North Irvine finished 5 for 7 with the extra attacker.

“The team came together with some (North Irvine) alumni who just wanted to run in with their friends, and their friends all happened to be really, really good,” North Irvine coach Ed Carrera said.

Former Newport Harbor All-County goalie Luke Harris (USC) made 12 saves to help anchor North Irvine’s defense. Harris and his field blockers held Newport Beach to a 2 for 10 effort on the extra man.

“The game plan (Monday) was just play them straight up and see what they got,” said North Irvine coach Steve Carrera, whose son Jacob (Archie Williams/UC Davis) scored a goal.

“(Newport Beach) played a good game. We just had a little more hustle in us today.”

North Irvine also received two goals from Milan Sumich (Cal) and one from Camden Kocur (Oaks Christian/USC).

Sean Anderson paced Newport Beach with two goals while goalie Connor Clougherty added six saves.

The squad lost Tyler Anderson, an All-County center at JSerra last season, to a game misconduct in the second period.

The ratings for Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game on ABC were down 36 percent from the previous year but still drew the second-most viewers in the showcase’s history.

The contest in Indianapolis drew 2.19 million viewers according to Front Office Sports, down from a record 3.44 million last year. It still was the most-watched program of the night across the television landscape, per ESPN.

One glaring reason for the discrepancy is that Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark was on the court for the 2024 All-Star Game and on the bench with a groin injury this year.

Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier scored a record 36 points Saturday to lead her Team Collier to a 151-131 victory over Team Clark.

This is the third straight year ABC aired the All-Star Game in primetime on Saturday. The 2023 game drew 850,000 viewers.

All-Star weekend’s other events were a hit. Friday’s WNBA Skills Challenge and 3-Point Contest drew an average of 1.3 million viewers on ESPN, up a whopping 89 percent over last year.

–Field Level Media

Lexington, KY — The WPI volleyball squad received the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Awards as announced on Monday.

WPI joined a record-breaking 1,450 collegiate and high school volleyball teams that maintained a year-long grade-point average of at least a 3.3 on a 4.0 scale to earn the 2025 AVCA Team Academic Award.

The Crimson and Gray now have claimed the award for the seventh time in program history and the fifth time in the past eight seasons as the Engineers computed a 3.66 team grade-point average.

WPI finished 7-19 in 2024 and look to open the 2025 campaign on Friday, August 29th, versus Wentworth at the Brandeis Invitational.

2025 AVCA Team Academic Award Sponsored By INTENT

Jim Barnes has long had a knack for elevating programs to powerhouse status, and for the fourth-year head coach of Iowa volleyball, the Hawkeyes carry that same potential.

Iowa’s 2023-24 campaign, Barnes’ second with the team, saw the Hawkeyes finish 0-20 in Big Ten contests, but this past season saw Iowa improve to four conference wins, besting Rutgers twice and knocking off Maryland and Indiana along the way.

Barnes, whose past coaching tenures include a Sweet 16 run with Baylor, noted the great potential of last season’s roster and the challenges that came with early injuries, like third-year setter Claire Ammeraal.

“I believe last year we had the team to create a winning record had we not run into some injuries early,” Barnes said in an interview with The Daily Iowan. “I think we had the potential to have a winning season and really get going, but didn’t overcome some of those challenges.”

The McNeese State alum also noted the high quality of both teams from this current and the previous season.
“We had the team to do it, and now we’ve doubled that,” Barnes said. “We’ve doubled the talent, we’ve doubled the depth, and we have more than enough on our roster to create a really strong, winning season.”

A key part of any good program is its setters, which the Hawkeyes maximized last season.

Ammeraal tallied 378 assists, averaging 6.41 assists per set, despite an injury that confined the Central Michigan transfer to only 18 matches on the season.

When Ammeraal was sidelined, first-year Jenna Meitzler stepped up to close the gap, posting 709 assists, 143 digs, 55 blocks, and 37 kills.

Ammeraal credits the team’s focus as a key part of winning games last season, despite both individual and program obstacles.

“It seemed like they were a lot more driven,” Ammeraal said in an interview. “They had a lot more common goals, which I really liked. We lost a couple of people from last season, but I think now, we’re even more focused on one thing. We all want the same things.”

The Madison, Wisconsin, native also praised Barnes’ leadership as a coach who keeps the team moving in the same direction.

“He has a positive attitude that brings everybody up,” Ammeraal said. “With his recruiting process, especially, he’s looking for players with good culture who are going to bring good vibes. That’s huge because having one bad attitude on the team can bring a couple other people down with it, and then you have a divide on your team. That’s what leads to losing records, losing games, having a bad time.”

In addition to retaining key players from last season like Ammeraal, who eclipsed 2,000 career assists in just the second game of the season, the Hawkeyes added some new talent to the program this season, such as fourth-year Milana Moisio, a transfer libero from Miami who appeared in two matches of last season’s NCAA tournament.

Moisio described Barnes and his program as placing a major emphasis on culture, which was a key factor in her move to Iowa City.

“My first phone call with him was very detailed,” Moisio said in an interview. “It felt very wholesome. Their values and the culture that they were building, that they were describing, really fit with what I wanted.”
The Waukegan, Illinois native also noted the contributions she hopes to bring to Iowa, citing a positive attitude and good team morale.

“I really want to focus on having my teammates lean on me, especially when times get challenging,” Moisio said. “It’s so easy to play [well] when things are smooth and everyone’s on the same page, but when things are [chaotic], I really want my teammates to know that they can lean on me.”

Barnes ultimately emphasized the positive attitude this year’s team continues to carry into games, praising their resilience as well as both new and returning talent.

“Things have to go your way, you’ve got to stay healthy, but we’re really optimistic about what we can do this year,” Barnes said. “We’ve got some players that can really play and have some good experiences. [We’re] expecting big things.”