“Receiving any one of these individual awards is such a great honor and very difficult to do,” said Long Beach State Head Coach Alan Knipe. “When you are honored with both in the same year, it’s rare. Moni is a very unique volleyball player and competitor.”

Nikolov, a 6-foot-10 setter, has put together an extraordinary rookie campaign thus far which has earned him All-Big West First Team honors in addition to his two individual awards. With 9.99 assists per set, a mark that ranks him 14th in the country, he has led top-ranked Long Beach State to a nation-leading .396 hitting percentage heading into the NCAA Tournament.

In addition to pacing the Beach offense, the Sofia, Bulgaria native has been phenomenal from the service line. Nikolov’s 94 aces set a new Long Beach State and Big West single-season record, and he is just seven aces shy of setting the NCAA record. His average of 0.94 aces per set is tops in the nation, while the team’s 2.21 aces per set are also good for first in the country. With Nikolov leading the charge, LBSU has tallied a program record 221 aces this season.

An all-around solid player, Nikolov has been a force on all sides of the ball averaging 1.53 kills, 1.48 digs, and 0.77 blocks per set, while hitting .396 on the year. His digs and blocks per set marks rank him in the Top 10 in the conference.

The three-time Big West Setter of the Week and seven-time Freshman of the Week has led the Beach in digs nine times and in blocks on three separate occasions. He also leads the team with three double-doubles this season.

This season, Nikolov distributed a career-high 51 assists at Lewis (1/18) to go along with a career-best 16 digs. His career-high eight service aces against Pepperdine (1/26) rank him second all-time in the Long Beach State single-match record book. Last month, he set new career-highs for himself in kills (10) and blocks (7) against UC Irvine (3/29) and NJIT (3/21), respectively.

Nikolov will lead No. 1 Long Beach State into the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, May 8 when the Beach takes on No. 8 seed Fort Valley State at 2 p.m. (PT). The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

 

Water Polo Australia (WPA) is pleased to confirm its 20&U Men’s team* for the 2025 World Aquatics U20 Men’s Water Polo Championships to be played in Zagreb, Croatia from 14-21 June.

A 15-strong team has been selected to represent Australia at the World Championships, including recent Ord Minnett Aussie Sharks debutants Daniel Magasanik and Zac Izzard.

The team has been selected following the final selection camp held in Sydney, at the conclusion of the 2025 Australian Water Polo League finals.

20&U Men’s Head Coach Dragan Bakic said: “It has been a pleasure to work with this group of athletes up until this point, and I look forward to seeing how this group can grow and develop as we continue to work towards the World Championships.

“The World Championships are the pinnacle event on the calendar for our pathway’s athletes, and the boys should be proud of their selection to represent Australia in Croatia.

“Congratulations to the 15 athletes selected, and our three reserves,” he said.

Water Polo Australia would like to congratulate the following athletes on their selection*.

Ashton Brown (Sydney Uni, NSW)

Cory Webber (Sydney Uni, NSW)

Daniel Magasanik (Phoenix, VIC)

Ethan Payne (Cronulla, NSW)

Harper Stewart (UNSW)

Harry Tucker (UWA, WA)

Jake Martin (Fremantle, SA)

Jamie Sharman (Sydney Uni, NSW)

Lewis Saupin (Sydney Uni, NSW)

Oliver Purcell (UTS Balmain, NSW)

Rex Palazzi (Cronulla, NSW)

Sam Bloomfield (Sydney Uni, NSW)

Sean Bright (Queensland Thunder, QLD)

Thomas Serhan (UTS Balmain, NSW)

Zac Izzard (Sydney Uni, NSW)

Reserve: Charlie Reynolds (UWA, WA)

Reserve: Benjamin Lucas (UTS Balmain, NSW)

Reserve: Nick Mordes (Phoenix, VIC)

Head Coach: Dragan Bakic

* Final list subject to the completion of any appeals process.

Observer-Reporter

The Washington & Jefferson College women’s water polo team will be playing in the USA Water Polo Division III Nationals this weekend at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill.

It will be the first time in the national Final Four for the Presidents.

W&J (14-7) will play Pomona-Pitzer (23-10) on Saturday (5 p.m.) in one of the semifinals. The other semifinal will match Augustana (15-8) against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (19-10). The finals will be held Sunday.

W&J is ranked ninth in the Women’s Varsity Division III Top 10 and third in the Women’s Varsity CWPA Division III Top 5.

This will be W&J’s second trip to Rock Island. The Presidents competed there April 11-13 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Championships, where they advanced to the title match.

In that tournament, W&J defeated Carthage, 16-14, and Macalester, 9-6, before losing to Augustana, 10-7, in the championship match. It was the seventh time W&J had been the runner-up in the CWPA tournament.

However, the title game was a stepping stone as it put W&J in the Division III Final Four.

W&J head coach Nikola Malezanov was named the CWPA Coach of the Year. The Presidents’ Emme Ratcliff was named to the All-CWPA first team in addition to being the CWPA Rookie of the Year. E. Ratcliff set a season-best with 11 goals in a game against Grove City.

Ratcliff was joined on the first team by Emma Halle. The senior from North Allegheny scored 60 goals during the regular season.

Hello to all after an exciting week of spring championships around The Big West! We crowned six champions with one more to come on Tuesday to finish out a whirlwind week. Congratulations to all our student-athlete participants and especially our title winners! 

 

If you were able to attend a Big West Championship to support our student-athletes this week, THANK YOU.  To our campus hosts – thank you for providing a highly positive atmosphere and tremendous experience for our student-athletes.  As I was once told, the Big West Championship is a student-athletes first championship experience, but it can also be their last championship experience.  

To The Big West staff, THANK YOU!  Your preparation has prepared you to provide a first-class experience for our institutions.  

Song of the day is “The Champion” by Carrie Underwood. Good luck to our teams and student-athlete that have advanced to NCAA Championships in the weeks ahead. .  Let’s get to The Bold Type. 

   NCAA BOUND – CONGRATULATIONS!  

• To our two teams and three individuals who punched their tickets to NCAA Women’s Golf Regionals!  Read more >>> 
  

  • Teams: Cal State Fullerton, UC Davis 
  • Individuals: Janae Leovao (Long Beach State), Jasmine Leovao (Long Beach State), Jensen Jalufka (Cal Poly) 

• To Big West champion Long Beach State and Cal Poly who punched their tickets to the 2025 National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship! Read more >>> 
• To Big West men’s volleyball champion Hawai’i and Long Beach State, both poised to represent the conference on the national stage as the No 1 and 2 seeds in the bracket! And to UC Irvine, who had an outstanding regular-season and deserved an NCAA at-large bid, but unfortunately narrowly missed out on making the field as the first team out.  Read more >>> 
• To UC Santa Barbara women’s tennis, set to play Rice in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship, hosted at Texas A&M’s Mitchell Tennis Center, Friday, May 2.  Read more >>> 
• To UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara, who were both selected to the 64-team field for the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship bracket. The Anteaters will play at No. 6 seed San Diego in the first round and the Gauchos are set to take on UCLA in a neutral-site match at California. Read more >>> 
• To back-to-back Big West champion and No. 4 seed Hawai’i women’s water polo, who will take on California in a rematch of last year’s semifinal in the 2025 National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship on May 9 at 2 p.m. Read more >>> 

  

   CONGRATULATIONS!   

• To the 2024-25 All-Big West Women’s Golf Team! Read more >>> 
• To the 2025 All-Big West Men’s Volleyball Team! Read more >>> 
• To men’s swimmer Milan Bukovics of Hawai’i who was honored as an Academic All-American!  Read more >>> 
• To Arianna Sakallaris of Hawai’i who was honored as an Academic All-American! Read more >>> 
• To our three beach volleyball teams ranked in AVCA National Poll! 

  • No. 3 Cal Poly 

  • No. 16 Hawai‘i 

  • No. 9 Long Beach State 

• To UC Irvine baseball who this week was ranked this week! 

  
  
  

• To Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara and Hawai‘i baseball programs for receiving votes in various national polls! 

• To our two men’s tennis teams ranked in ITA Rankings! 

  
  

  • No. 34 UC Santa Barbara 

  • No. 49 UC Irvine (LINK) 

• To our four men’s tennis singles players ranked in ITA Rankings! 

  
  

  • No. 63 Gianluca Brunkow (UCSB) 

  • No. 70 Noah Zamora (UCI) 

  • No. 97 Azuma Visaya (UH) 

  • No. 116 Diogo Morais (UCSB) (LINK) 

• To our men’s tennis doubles pairs ranked in ITA Rankings! 

  
  
  

• To our three women’s tennis teams ranked in ITA Rankings! 

  
  

  • No. 32 UC Santa Barbara 

  • No. 59 Cal Poly 

  • No. 73 Long Beach State (LINK) 

• To our two women’s tennis singles players ranked in ITA Rankings! 

  
  

  • No. 16 Amelia Honer (UCSB) 

  • No. 121 Ana Vilcek (UH) (LINK) 

• To our women’s tennis doubles pair ranked in ITA Rankings! 

  
  
  

• To all six men’s volleyball teams ranked in AVCA National Poll! 

  
  
  

• To our seven women’s water polo teams ranked in CWPA National Poll!  SEVEN! 
  
• And to our outstanding student-athletes who were recognized as a Big West Player of the Week! 

  • Baseball – Jackson Flora, UC Santa Barbara (pitcher); Colton Lomanto, UC San Diego (field player) 
  • Softball – Leanna Garcia, Cal State Fullerton (pitcher); Zara Wasserman, UC San Diego (field player); Natalie Lozano, Cal State Fullerton (freshman) 
  • Men’s Volleyball – Hilir Henno, UC Irvine (offiensive); Micah Goss, UC Irvine (defensive); Joe Karlous, UC Irvine (setter); Moni Nikolov, Long Beach State (freshman) 
  • Beach Volleyball- Malia Gementera & Taylor Hagenah, Long Beach State 
  • Track & Field- Aidan McCarthy, Cal Poly (men’s track); Trey Knight, CSUN (men’s field); Tatiana Cornejo, Cal Poly (women’s track); Jenelle Hurley, Long Beach State (women’s field) 
  • Men’s Tennis – Noah Zamora, UC Irvine 
  • Women’s Tennis –  Yen Nhi Huynh, UC Irvine 
  • Women’s Water Polo – Kendall Thomas, UC San Diego  

   MORE ON WOMEN’S GOLF   

Our champion Cal State Fullerton is the 10th seed in the Gold Canyon regional which will be at Superstition Mountain Golf Club in Gold Canyon, AZ. Additionally, UC Davis was selected as an at-large as the 9th seed in the Lubbock regional which will be at The Rawls Golf Course in Lubbock, TX. 

Having two teams in is great for The Big West but it was topped by adding three individual players selected to compete! Jasmine and Janae Leovao of Long Beach State and Jensen Jalufka of Cal Poly were selected to compete as individuals in the Gold Canyon region. 

 

   BOLD BREAK VIDEO FEATURE  

For Hawai’i men’s volleyball setter Tread Rosenthal, being an exceptional athlete goes beyond individual accolades. It’s about making a lasting impact on the team and contributing to their success. Good luck to Tread and the Rainbow Warriors in the 2025 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyall Championship! Read more >>> 

   NCAA SETTLEMENT UPDATE #1   

On Wednesday, commissioners received an update from Mario Morris, CFO of the NCAA letting us know that the national office surpassed financial  revenue goals for the fiscal year, and because of that, the Board of Governors approved the use of $55M to be used to offset the expected damages payments for the preliminarily approved House settlement. The move reduces back damages for each conference this upcoming fiscal year – assuming court approval of the settlement – by 33%. “For example, if your original liability payment was $3M, the liability payment for the first year will now be $2M.”  

   NCAA SETTLEMENT UPDATE #2   

Judge Claudia Wilken is withholding final approval of the House settlement for a period of 14 days and directing the plaintiffs, conference defendants and the NCAA to reach an agreement to delay implementation of Division I roster limits slated to be effective July 1, 2025. 

   NCAA SETTLEMENT UPDATE #3   

The Division I Board of Directors acted to eliminate 150 rules for Division I, should the judge approve the House settlement (LINK).  Per NCAA President Charlie Baker:  “There is significant, positive change underway at the NCAA — from establishing post-eligibility insurance across the Association to new Division I scholarship guarantees — and, with approval of the settlement, a new system where student-athletes could receive up to 50% of athletics department revenue at some schools. While there is a lot more work ahead, NCAA members are making progress in creating a sustainable and stable future for all student-athletes.” 

   UCI DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS PAULA SMITH ON LEADERSHIP   

UC Irvine Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Paula Smith sits down with ADU’s Tai M. Brown at the 2024 NACDA Convention for a discussion about implementing a “democratic” leadership style, workforce management and succession planning and cross-campus collaboration. (LINK) 

   WOMEN’S WATER POLO   

The NCAA Sports Oversight Committee has formally approved the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship date change, beginning for the 2026 championship. The official championship date formula will now be the last full weekend in April. Attached is a document with the new dates through 2030. (LINK) 

   MEDIA REPORTS ON NCAA AND LEGAL MATTERS   

• The NCAA’s national office exceeded its financial goals for the fiscal year, and $55M of the resulting budget surplus will be used to offset payments for damages in the House settlement. The NCAA explains this decision to “direct the surplus to reduce the cost burden was made in consultation with South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, who raised financial concerns of some schools that are not in autonomy conferences.” (link) (link) 
• SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey spoke during the CAA World Congress of Sports yesterday in Nashville and said the House settlement is “not the end of the story. It is a chapter. It’s a necessary chapter. And one of the realities around other ideas related to college sports is they have started at a point ignoring what we have to deal with from the past. … The coping that you hear is we’re trying to figure out what we have to deal with from our past. That’s the chapter we’re in right now.” (link) 
• Cal Poly AD Don Oberhelman says of the decision to discontinue swimming and diving: “It’s painful. It causes anger and a lot of misdirected rage and things like that. It’s an awful situation to go through, but we didn’t go into it lightly.” Oberhelman cited multiple issues, including budget reduction, the House settlement and Cal Poly’s large number of sports offerings, as factors in the decision. “We’re really, really large and we’re trying to hold on. What it’s starting to do is impact the student-athlete experience.” Oberhelman indicated that the 8% budget cuts to California State universities are impacting athletics, and that’s on top of the $550K the House settlement will cost the Mustangs each year for the next 12 years. “We have to start tightening our belts and figure out how we can function in this new reality without further cuts. … This is just the beginning rather than the end of what these new realities are going to look like for us. We’re doing exactly what we’re supposed to do, which is prepare for those realities, uncomfortable and painful as they may be. We have to make sure our sports are primed for success, and we were just too big at that point in time.” (link) 
• Disney CEO Bob Iger during the CAA World Congress of Sports remarked that the launch of ESPN’s DTC Flagship product “might be the biggest move since getting the full season of the NFL.  (link)  

   QUOTES OF THE DAY   

“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them—a desire, a dream, a vision.” – Muhammad Ali 

“The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” – Walter Bagehot 

Thank you to all!  Thanks to all of our athletic trainers, game managers, SIDs and volunteers for their work all season long, but particularly at our championships. 

Dan