GULF SHORES, Ala. (AP) — TCU’s Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno came from behind to win the final match on Sunday as the second-seeded Horned Frogs wrapped up their first NCAA women’s beach volleyball championship with a 3-2 victory over No. 4 seed Loyola Marymount.
TCU (32-5) is the first school other than USC and UCLA to win the title. The Trojans won the first two and the previous four, while the Bruins won two straight in 2018-19.
Alvarez and Moreno, who took a year off to play in the Olympics, returned to finish unbeaten in four years as a duo. Alvarez and Moreno dropped the first game 18-21 to LMU’s Michelle Shaffer and Anna Pelloia before rallying to win the final two 21-15 and 15-6.
The Lions (38-7) eliminated No. 5 seed USC in the quarterfinals and top-seed UCLA in the semifinals.
TCU threes pair Sofia Izuzquizal and Allanis Navas earned a point with a 21-16, 21-13 sweep.
Fours pair Anhelina Khmil and Ana Vergara also swept their way to a point with 21-14 and 21-19 wins. The duo finished 21-0 this season.
The Olympians finished off the championship as the Horned Frogs won 12 straight to end the season.
LMU twos pair Chloe Hooker and Vilhelmiina Prihti earned a point with a 21-16, 21-17 sweep. Fives pair Tanon Rosenthal and Giuliana Poletti Corrales had the other point with a pair of 21-16 wins.
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
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LONGVIEW – Division II champion Cedar Park earned both top superlatives with the release of the Blue Bell/Texas Sports Writers Association Class 5A All-State Volleyball Team.
Voting was conducted by TSWA members based on nominations from coaches and media members from around the state.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – North Dakota State wrestling placed four wrestlers into the Southern Scuffle semifinals on the opening day on Saturday at McKenzie Arena at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. 125 Ezekiel Witt, 149 Max Petersen, 174 Max Magayna and 184 Aidan Brenot all went undefeated to earning a spot in the semis Sunday morning.
In the team competition, the Bison sit in second overall out of 28 teams with 79 points. NDSU trails Penn State (82.5) by just 3.5 points headed into the final day.
NDSU has 10 total wrestlers remaining in the event, with six Bison in consolation bracket matches to begin Sunday. 141 Devon Harrison, 157 Gavin Drexler, 165 Boeden Greenley, 184 Andrew McMonagle, 197 Devin Wasley and 285 Drew Blackburn-Forst are all one win from reaching the placing rounds in the consolation bracket.
Brenot led the Bison with three bonus-point victories on Saturday, beginning with a major decision over NC State’s Rylan Breen, before a tech fall against Bellarmine’s Tristin Green and another major decision over Greyson Meak of Penn. In the quarterfinals, Brenot had the only takedown in a win over Dylan Newsome of Virginia to reach the semis.
Witt, Petersen and Magayna also started off with multiple bonus-point victories. Witt started off with a tech fall over Morgan State’s Julian Dawson, before a pin of The Citadel’s Gylon Sims. Witt then recorded a 4-0 win over Chattanooga’s Ty Tice to reach the quarterfinals. The redshirt freshman reached the semis with a win over Navy’s Andrew Binni, but Witt needed sudden victory. In the extra period, Witt recorded a takedown and nearly got the slap of the mat before time expired, recording an 8-1 win.
Magayna also recorded a pin against Colt Campbell of Appalachian State in the quarterfinals. The redshirt freshman started the day with a 13-0 major decision over Chattanooga’s Brody Murray. In the quarterfinal, Magayna picked up another shutout with a 3-0 win over Davidson’s Tyson Sherlock. Magayna did not allow a point from his opposition, outscoring them 19-0 on Saturday.
Petersen started his day with a major decision over Kelly Dunnigan of Penn, before securing a tech fall over Little Rock’s Kyle Lew. Petersen fell behind in the quarterfinal, but stormed back and defeated The Citadel’s Carson DesRosier 14-8 to reach the semis.
Harrison and Drexler also reached quarterfinal matches for the Bison on Saturday. Harrison started off with a tech fall over Presbyterian’s Ryan Luna and then advanced after #8 Aaron Nagao of Penn State medically forfeited out. Harrison recorded the opening takedown in the quarters, but fell to #19 Haiden Drury of Utah Valley 7-3.
Drexler allowed just one point before the quarterfinal, recording a shutout decision over Virginia’s Nate Richards before a 10-1 major decision over Chattanooga’s Alex Hutchcraft. Drexler then won a 2-0 decision over Brown’s Ethan Mojena.
Greenley, McMonagle, Wasley and Blackburn-Forst all dropped their second match of the day but survived and advanced to Sunday with a pair of wins on the back side of the bracket. All four wrestlers responded to defeat with a bonus-point decision, as Greenley and McMonagle had major decisions and Wasley and Blackburn-Forst recorded tech falls. Wasley and Blackburn-Forst also had major decisions in their opening matches.
133 Tristan Daugherty and 141 Michael Olson each recorded two wins before being eliminated, while 285 Shilo Jones had one victory with a pin in his opening match.
125 Ostin Blanchard, 141 Peyton Moore, and 197 Adam Cherne led eight wrestlers who competed at the Soldier Salute in Coralville, Iowa on Saturday. The trio each picked up a victory.
The Bison will be back in action on Sunday, as the Southern Scuffle gets back underway at 9 a.m. CT. The Soldier Salute is set to get underway at 11 a.m. with Bison wrestlers in action, moving to the Silver bracket.
Southern Scuffle Championship Bracket Wrestlers 125 | Ezekiel Witt | 4-0
W over Julian Dawson (Morgan State); TF 20-5
W over Gylon Sims (The Citadel); Fall 6:44
W over Ty Tice (Chattanooga); Dec 4-0 W over Andrew Binni (Navy); SV 8-1
Greg Diakomihalis (Cornell)
149 | Max Petersen | 3-0
W over Kelly Dunnigan (Penn); MD 12-1
W over Kyle Lew (Little Rock); TF 17-1 W over Carson DesRosier (The Citadel); Dec 14-8
Connor Pierce (Penn State)
174 | Max Magayna | 3-0
W over Brody Murray (Chattanooga); MD 13-0
W over Colt Campbell (Appalachian State); Fall 1:15 W over Tyson Sherlock (Davidson); Dec 3-0
Caden Bellis (Penn)
184 | Aidan Brenot | 4-0
W over Rylan Breen (NC State); MD 18-6
W over Tristin Greene (Bellarmine); TF 20-4
W over Greyson Meak (Penn); MD 15-2 W over Dylan Newsome (Virginia); Dec 4-2
#25 Caleb Campos (American)
Southern Scuffle Consolation Bracket Wrestlers 141 | Devon Harrison | 2-1
W over Ryan Luna (Presbyterian); TF 16-1
W over #8 Aaron Nagao (Penn State); MFF L to #19 Haiden Drury (Utah Valley); Dec 7-3
Kyren Butler (Virginia)
157 | Gavin Drexler | 3-1
W over Nate Rickards (Virginia); Dec 7-0
W over Alex Hutchcraft (Chattanooga); MD 10-1
W over Ethan Mojena (Brown); Dec 2-0 L to Jonathan Ley (Navy); Dec 5-2
Tanner Peake (Davidson)
165 | Boeden Greenley | 3-1
W over Tavian Camper (Chattanooga); Dec 11-6
L to Dylan Elmore (Navy); Dec 8-2
W over Jack Conley (Michigan State); MD 17-4 W over Mason Steffanelli (Virginia); Dec 9-5
Nick Sanko (Virginia)
184 | Andrew McMonagle | 3-1
W over Brant Cracraft (Campbell); SV 10-7
L to #22 Jaden Bullock (Virginia Tech); SV 4-1
W over Jakob Gilfoil (Army); MD 14-5 W over Ryan Boucher (Michigan State); Dec 4-2
Caleb Uhlenhopp (Utah Valley)
197 | Devin Wasley | 3-1
W over Martin Cosgrove (Penn); MD 9-1
L to Payton Thomas (Navy); Dec 4-2
W over Teage Calvin (American); TF 17-1 W over #29 Wolfgang Frable (Army); Dec 5-0
#31 Kael Wisler (Michigan State)
285 | Drew Blackburn-Forst | 3-1
W over Oscar Williams (Maryland); MD 14-2
L to #18 Brady Colbert (Army); MD 12-1
W over John Pardo (Penn); TF 15-0 W over #30 Alex Semenenko (Brown); MFF
Lucas Stoddard (Army)
Southern Scuffle Eliminated Wrestlers 133 | Tristan Daugherty | 2-2
L to Max Leete (American); Dec 8-2
W over Fernando Dominguez (Presbyterian); TF 16-1
W over Kyle Montaperto (Virginia); Dec 4-3
L to Geronimo Rivera (Utah Valley); SV 8-2
141 | Michal Olson | 2-2
L to #22 Tom Crook (Virginia Tech); MD 8-0
W over Joe Fongaro (Appalachian State); SV 4-1
W over Will Anderson (Chattanooga); Dec 4-2
L to Gable Porter (Virginia); MD 8-0
165 | Porter Craig | 0-2
L to Dakota Morris (Army); Dec 10-4
L to Tavian Camper (Chattanooga); Dec 7-5
285 | Shilo Jones | 1-2
W over John Pardo (Penn); Fall 2:35
L to #24 Connor Barket (Duke); SV 9-6
L to Oscar Williams (Maryland); Dec 4-3
Soldier Salute Gold Bracket Results 125 | Ostin Blanchard | 1-2
W over Cameron Stinson (North Carolina); Dec 11-9
L to Mack Mauger (Missouri); MD 8-0
L to Joey Cruz (Iowa); Dec 4-2
125 | Kody Tanimoto | 0-2
L to Hank Benter (Missouri); Dec 7-0
L to Carson Dupill (South Dakota State); MD 13-4
141 | Lawson Eller | 0-2
L to Dyson Dunham (VMI); MD 10-1
L to Jace Roller (Missouri); MD 13-0
141 | Peyton Moore | 1-2
L to Nick O`Neill (North Carolina); Fall 3:29
W over Sam Sutton (Tarleton State); Fall 2:04
L to David Saenz (Wyoming); Dec 9-3
149 | Zytavius Williams | 0-2
L to Scott Robertson (Nebraska); Dec 6-3
L to Kael Voinovich (Iowa); MD 20-7
165 | Dante Hutchings | 0-2
L to CJ Torres (Iowa); Dec 8-4
L to Kyler Knaack (Northern Iowa); Dec 4-2
174 | Luke Hoag | 0-2
L to Leister Bowling (Iowa); Dec 4-2
L to Melton Powe (Iowa State); MD 11-2
197 | Adam Cherne | 1-2
L to Anthony Harris (Oklahoma); MD 12-3
W over Grant Anderson (Bellarmine); MD 11-3
L to Gunner Henry (Wyoming); Dec 2-1
The second event of 2026 at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center brought a crowd and a vibe not seen or heard since the last time Hawaii men’s volleyball took center stage.
The second-ranked Rainbow Warriors opened the season in front of a raucous crowd of 5,685 that still sounded like it was celebrating the new year as they watched Hawaii sweep New Jersey Institute of Technology 25-11, 25-16, 25-14 on Friday night.
Nine months after beating Long Beach State for the Big West championship, which is the last time the arena drew a crowd this big for a UH sporting event, Hawaii returned to its home floor with five of its seven starters back from a run to the national semifinals.
Sophomore Kristian Titriyski, who missed the final eight matches of his freshman season with an ankle injury, led Hawaii with 12 kills.
All five starting pins and middles hit .455 or better for the match as UH hit .517 as a team and had 13 1/2 blocks.
“We didn’t get to practice in here until today. You could tell the guys had a lot of extra energy,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “This is something that we will never take for granted. So appreciative when (the fans) are taking the time and spending the money to come out and here and support us and we are doing everything we can to put on a good show and win matches.”
Sophomore Adrien Roure, who was an AVCA first-team All-American as a freshman, hit .538 with eight kills in two swings.
Louis Sakanoko, one of two third-year starters, had four kills in eight swings and sophomore middle transfer Trevell Jordan also had four kills with six blocks.
Justin Todd, who has played both in the middle and on the outside, switched back to middle during practice this week and put down all three of his kill attempts before resting in the third set.
Junior setter Tread Rosenthal, the floor captain, tied a career high with eight blocks and had 26 assists, three digs and two kills, including the match-ender after 95 minutes.
“It was impressive,” Wade said. “Two hitting errors in two sets and four errors total will get it done. Overall pretty efficient dominant performance and stoked to see the guys play that well.”
Rosenthal had two aces during Hawaii’s 5-0 run to start the match, setting the tone for what would be a quick night.
Hawaii hit .556 in the opening set with only one error and had three aces, with one from Titriyski that was initially ruled out but called in after a challenge that last about 15 seconds.
Hawaii continued its offensive efficiency in the second set, again hitting over .500 to control the set.
A triple block by Titriyski, Sakanoko and Todd ended the set and was the 10th for Hawaii, while the Highlanders had yet to record a block and were hitting .059.
UH made changes to the lineup in the third set, bringing in sophomores Ofeck Hazan in the middle and Finn Kearney on the outside.
Hawaii showed little drop-off and had a chance to hit over .500 in all three sets until it needed four swings to end match point.
“They were playing smart, staying high, not letting the ball go down to their level, and even when it was a bad set, they kept it in play and just kept playing,” Rosenthal said of his teammates. “I think our guys showed that they could play smart and pretty efficient.”
The Rainbow Warriors played without sophomore opposite Kainoa Wade and freshman middle Roman Payne, who are both injured.
Andre Aleixo had 10 kills to lead the Highlanders, who finished the match without a block.
SAN ANTONIO, Tx. – HCU women’s basketball team battled with a late comeback, but UIW held to secure a 56–52 Southland Conference win Saturday afternoon at the McDermott Center.
UIW (6-6, 4-1 SLC) opened the game with an early advantage, but the Huskies answered with points from Jordan Jackson and Grace Booth to keep the score tight early. A three-pointer from Sidney Carr midway through the first quarter brought HCU within one, and the Huskies closed the quarter trailing just 14–12.
The Huskies (4-8, 2-3 SLC) opened the second quarter with Jo Oly scoring twice, while Kamryn McLaurin added a pair of free throws following a drive to the basket. A three-pointer from Tove Caesar late in the half cut the deficit to one possession, but UIW responded to take a 29–25 lead into the break.
The Cardinals gained separation in the third quarter, opening with a pair of baskets and a three-pointer to build momentum. McLaurin scored on a layup early in the period and later added a free throw, but UIW stretched its lead to 43–33 entering the fourth quarter.
HCU responded with its strongest stretch of the game in the final quarter. Dasia Hyams scored on a fast-break layup to open the quarter, and McLaurin followed with consecutive baskets and a free throw to trim the margin. Jackson added a layup in transition and converted two free throws with under two minutes remaining, pulling the Huskies within one point.
With 50 seconds left, Hyams scored inside and converted the ensuing free throw to tie the game at 51–51. UIW answered with a three-pointer on the next possession, then closed the game at the free-throw line to maintain the lead in the final seconds.
McLaurin led the Huskies with 11 points, five rebounds, and five steals. Jackson finished with 10 points and six rebounds, while Caesar added seven points. Hyams and Oly each scored six off the bench, and Booth pulled down four rebounds. Houston Christian totaled 32 rebounds and scored 30 points in the paint.
Huskies continues Southland Conference play on Thursday traveling to Beaumont to face Lamar at 6:30 p.m.
Like the Great Awakenings of years gone by, a religious revival is emanating from Ohio State’s campus.
The mouthpieces of revival aren’t buttoned-up pastors yelling about fire and brimstone. And they aren’t speaking under tents or at church pulpits.
They are Ohio State football players. Often, their platform is on the field and on social media. And it stays the same, even when they falter on the field, as they did in the College Football Playoff. Their message?
“JESUS WON.”
Mass baptisms spark ‘Buckeye Revival’
The “Buckeye Revival” caught fire on a warm August night in 2024 as hundreds gathered to listen to Ohio State football players TreyVeyon Henderson, Emeka Egbuka and Gee Scott Jr. share their Christian faith.
Judson Overmyer, a northwest Ohio native, made the last-minute decision to drive to Columbus for the event.
He heard Scott, a senior tight end, read the story of the Prodigal Son aloud to the crowd. The Luke 15 parable describes the story of the child of a wealthy man who squanders his inheritance and doesn’t feel worthy to return home.
The son is then welcomed home with open arms.
“He got towards the end, and they started the altar call and it kind of went silent,” Overmyer said. “And then he said, ‘It only takes one.'”
Overmyer doesn’t remember being the first to stand up and walk to the front of the crowd. But that’s what he did, and when he turned around, he saw dozens of people walking up behind him.
Then he was baptized.
“It was the most surreal feeling. The second I hit the water and came back up, I felt weightless. Like the feeling of all the burdens on me that felt like they were physically weighing me down were taken away in that just outward profession of my faith,” he said.
Buckeyes build ‘Jesus hype’
Led by Henderson, Scott, Egbuka, J.T. Tuimoloau and Kamryn Babb, among others, the football team’s spiritual movement became defined by the players sporting T-Shirt bearing the words “JESUS WON,” holding a moment of prayer before each game and voicing outspoken declarations of faith in media interviews and on social media.
“What has taken place in my life and the lives of other people on this team — and I know I’m here to talk about football — but it’s a true testament of the Lord that I serve,” Scott told reporters during a January 2025 press conference.
Through the team’s 2024 national championship run, its march through the 2025 regular season and the first victory against Michigan since 2019, the players created what one Columbus faith leader called “Jesus hype.”
Nick Nye, the executive director of For Columbus, said he heard from a friend on staff at 614 Church that a congregant’s roommate started coming to church out of curiosity driven by the players’ faith.
“When my pastor friend, David, shared this story, he said it in a sense of, ‘Man, I just feel like I’ve heard stories like this happening several times,'” Nye said. “It’s been more than once.”
Even before the movement came into the public eye at the 2024 fall kickoff, the Buckeye Revival was catching fire behind the scenes: off the screens and off the field.
Months prior to Overmyer starting the altar call and being baptized, Scott baptized his teammates, the men who would later lead the movement, in front of his religious home, Gahanna’s One Church.
The reach of the ‘Buckeye Revival’
The revival that has taken over the Ohio State University campus has spread beyond the stadium, the Ohio Union and the Oval.
And it extended beyond the 2024 season and into the 2025 squad.
On Sept. 8, 2025, a panel of Buckeyes told their stories of faith and football for a crowd of nearly 2,000 people. A social media account that shares testimonies from the team’s Christian players said around 75 people were baptized that night.
“Jesus won. I’m good; I’m great. I can lose this game, and I’m still great. I still won. I think that was the biggest thing for me last year. I lost so much anxiety as the season went on. I started playing with peace, started playing for the Lord and just playing anxiety-free,” Styles said at the event, according to a video shared by The Courageous Athlete account.
Social media platforms (not to mention their visibility during nationally televised games) have helped the football-players-turned-evangelists extend their reach.
At the forefront of the movement is a digital platform, The Walk Foundation, led by podcaster and Christian content creator, Kevin Walsh.
Using his personal platform of sports content and Christian ministry, Walsh and his co-host, Jacob Byrd, began interviewing Buckeyes about their faith journeys on the series, “Buckeye Revival,” after the success of the 2024 fall kickoff.
The Walk Foundation, or “accessthewalk,” had more than 54,000 followers on TikTok and 43,000 followers on Instagram as of mid-December.
Clips from his interviews with Scott and Montgomery have 1.8 million and 3.2 million views on Instagram alone, with videos consistently reaching hundreds of thousands of views.
Walsh said the celebrity of the athletes helps spread the Christian message.
“Athletes are idolized so much that it actually points people to what these athletes really care about and where they’re rooted, which is in their faith in Jesus,” Walsh said.
Changing the next generation of athletes
Walsh has been most surprised by the depth of faith of the athletes.
“Football players or athletes get a little bit of a stereotype that they just hit heads on the field and may not be so down to earth or so vulnerable. You look at these guys and they’d be big, masculine, angry guys, but then you see how soft their hearts are,” Walsh said.
The vulnerability is likewise reaching younger generations, both on and off the field.
Like the Buckeyes, a group of players from Bishop Watterson High School pray before they take the field.
Nye recounted a player’s father pointing to the Ohio State athletes’ faith influence as the high school team took home the state title for the second year in a row on Dec. 5.
He said when pastors are intentional about reaching Generation Z or college-aged students, they are seeing upticks in attendance.
“Gen Z and Gen Alpha are now more likely to attend church more regularly than even the boomer generation, and are more interested in Christianity than Gen X, Boomers and Millennials,” he said. “It’s kind of creating this wave, and I think the football players are just the spotlighted version of that.”
Opponents-turned-brothers in faith
Walsh and Byrd now are interviewing athletes from universities around the country with The Walk Podcast’s College Football Series.
They have talked with athletes from Alabama, LSU, Notre Dame and even Michigan. But Walsh said it all started with the Ohio State football team.
“[The other athletes] saw these Ohio State football players sharing about their faith, and they’re like, ‘Wait, we can do that, too,'” Walsh said.
“The catalyst has been here in Columbus. That’s what’s been really cool. From there, it’s actually spreading out, and other athletes are just being encouraged by these Ohio State guys. Then they can build it up and feel confident doing that in their own communities.”
After Ohio State beat Penn State, Montgomery and injured Penn State quarterback Drew Allar prayed together on the field.
“JESUS WON, for both teams,” The Courageous Athlete posted following the game.
In an interview with Michael Taaffe, a Texas Longhorns defensive back, Byrd asked about challenges in Taaffe’s faith and football career.
“You miss a play in front of 10 million fans, and you’re getting humiliated on all social media platforms. It’s like, ‘Why is this happening. This is not what I asked for,” Taaffe said on the Nov. 25 podcast episode.
“. . . I always get reminded that I can’t do this alone. I think the pressure that we get put in as college athletes, the adversity I’ve had to face in my life, nobody can do it alone.”
Walsh said through gaining a peek behind the curtain of the athletes’ lives while leading the storytelling series, he learned that the athletes are “normal people.”
“These are normal guys just like me. They go through the same struggles that I might go through,” Walsh said. “The impact is, ‘I’m not alone.’ And athletes who you might think are on cloud nine, they’re so similar.”
Finding victory in loss: What happens next?
The Buckeyes’ lost twice in the 2024 season: an early conference season road game against Oregon, and a regular season-ending heartbreaker against archrival Michigan.
The 2025 season looked different, as the Buckeyes took down Texas in the season opener and cruised through Big Ten play, defeating Michigan in Ann Arbor on Nov. 29 for the first time since 2019.
Then came the Big Ten championship game. The No. 1 Buckeyes, favorites to win the conference title, fell 13-10 to the Indiana Hoosiers, in a game with eerie similarities to last year’s Michigan loss.
While they entered the College Football Playoff as a No. 2 seed with aspirations for a national championship repeat, the loss to Miami was a big blow to a team considered the country’s best for much of the year.
Still, in the wake of the loss, the Courageous Athlete Instagram page shared a simple message:
“JESUS WON.”
Kindness and religion reporter Sophia Veneziano may be reached at sveneziano@dispatch.com.
