Stanford, UCLA Advance to Semifinals of NCAA Women’s Water Polo Tournament

The quarterfinals of the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Tournament featured the top four seeds advancing to the semifinals during Friday action at the famed Indiana University Natatorium. Top seeded Stanford and defending champion UCLA could be on a collision course to meet in the title game after securing victories in their opening contests.

Here’s a look at the quarterfinal results.

Stanford 28, Wagner 6

Juliette Dhalluin

No. 1 seeded Stanford scored 10 times in the opening period and cruised over Wagner, which advanced to Indianapolis by beating McKendree in an opening-round matchup. Stanford received scoring from 13 players and received hat tricks from Alissa Pascual, Juliette Dhalluin, Maggie Hawkins, Ella Woodhead and Ryann Neushul.

Carlota Alonso scored twice for Wagner.

Hawaii 8, Cal 7

A three-goal fourth quartet enabled fourth-seeded Hawaii to rally from behind and take down Cal-Berkeley. Jordan Wedderburn, Ema Vernoux and Bernadette Doyle scored in the final period for Hawaii, which stormed back from a 6-5 deficit through three quarters. Alia Burlock, Wedderburn, Vernoux and Doyle all scored twice for Hawaii. Goalie Talia Fonseca made nine saves.

Cal was paced by Eszter Varro, who registered a hat trick.

UCLA 11, Loyola-Marymount 8

Defending champion UCLA was tested by Loyola-Marymount, but the Bruins kept LMU off the scoreboard in the final quarter to register a three-goal triumph. Emma Lineback fired in five goals for UCLA, the second seed, while Bia Mantellato added three scores. Goalie Lauren Steele was credited with nine saves.

Ruth Arino Ruiz had five goals and Carolina Magano tallied three times to account for the Loyola-Marymount scoring.

USC  18, Harvard 7

The third-seeded University of Southern California found the net five times in each of the first two quarters to build a big lead and was never threatened. Emily Ausmus and Ava Stryker scored three times each for the Trojans, who received three assists from Rachel Gazzaniga.

Ruby Hodge led Harvard with three goals.

Semifinals (Saturday, May 10)

Stanford vs. Hawaii – Noon

UCLA vs. USC – 2 p.m.

The semifinals will be streamed on NCAA.com

Laramie senior Will Arens has signed to compete in track and field at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. Arens is a four-year letter-winner in indoor and outdoor track at Laramie High School. He has been a sprinter, jumper, and relay member in four years at LHS. Arens qualified in three events for the outdoor track state championships in 2024. He has also participated in the indoor track state championships over the last three years.

During the 2024 outdoor season, Arens helped the Plainsmen take third place in the 4×400-meter relay at the 4A state track meet. They ran 3:25.23. Will also placed ninth in the long jump and 16th in the triple jump.

This spring, Arens has pre-qualified for the state championships in the long jump with a leap of 21-5.50. That is a personal best.

He has run 12.48 in the 100 meters, 25.03 in the 200 meters, and 52.65 in the 400 meters. Arens has also run on 4×100, 4×400, and Sprint Medley relays during the 2025 indoor and outdoor seasons.

Besides track and field, Arens has played baseball for the American Legion Laramie Rangers. He helped them to a top-four finish in the 2024 season.

St. Olaf College is in Northfield, MN. The Oles compete at the NCAA Division III level and are members of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAA).

ORLANDO — The George Jenkins boys volleyball team knew the competition would ramp up in the Class 3A regional semifinals Friday at Freedom High School.

Drone video taken showed clumps of seaweed covering parts of South Florida’s shoreline.

SIESTA KEY, Fla.– Florida beaches are always popular tourist destinations in the U.S., but one beach in particular is making headlines. 

Siesta Beach, located on Siesta Key off Florida’s Gulf Coast, has made two different lists of the best beaches in the world. 

Siesta Key as a whole is great for vacationing, with Sarasota County marketing it to tourists for its beaches, food and fun atmosphere. 

THE BEST CAMPING SPOTS IN AMERICA IN 2025

January 2017: A man in tropical ocean water at Siesta Key Beach in Florida. 

(John Greim/Loop Images/Universal Images Group / Getty Images)

Known for its beautiful sunsets and gorgeous turquoise blue waters, Siesta Beach was ranked highly for its white sands, made of 99% pure white quartz, and idyllic atmosphere. 

The beach came in fourth place out of 25 on Trip Advisor’s Best of the Best Beaches in the World list. 

Another list, curated by The World’s 50 Best Beaches, Siesta Beach ranked No. 42 out of 50. It was the only beach in the U.S. to make the cut. 

World’s 50 Best Beaches gave high marks to Siesta Beach as a great spot for families. In particular, the beach has tennis and volleyball courts, a shaded playground area and two concession stands.

Siesta Beach on Siesta Key off Sarasota was named one of the best beaches in the U.S. by Tripadvisor in 2025.

(Miami Herald / Getty Images / Getty Images)

The waters of Siesta Beach, while beautiful, are also shallow near the shoreline, making it great for wading and beach walks. It is the most favored of Siesta Key’s beaches, according to the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce.

CORAL BABIES HEAD TO FLORIDA KEYS TO HELP RESTORE DYING REEFS

SARASOTA, UNITED STATES – August 26: Sarasota County Emergency Services lifeguard lieutenant Drew Bittle patrols the area at Siesta Beach on August 26, 2018 in Siesta Key, Florida.

(Eve Edelheit for The Washington Post  / Getty Images)

The beach stays warm year-round, with average highs in the upper-80s in the summer months, World’s 50 Best Beaches reports. 

To see what other beaches made the lists, visit World’s 50 Best Beaches website here, and Trip Advisor’s here. 

“We had a really good meet, three school records, a couple event victories, multiple top-ten marks and a ton of PRs,” Bert Rogers said. “We came to compete and had multiple breakthroughs. We are ready to make some noise at Big East next week.”

It was the second week in a row the program record fell in the javelin. Tessa Hollander had a 42.32-meter throw last Friday at the Badger Challenge.

Annika Bynum tied the program record in the high jump, clearing 1.80 meters. Bynum shares the program record with Erynn James (2010, Cerritos College) and Lindsey Mirkes (2021, Spire Institute).

Julia Beck tied the program record in the 100 hurdles at 13.92 seconds, sharing the record with Megan Kosman (2001, Conference USA Championships).

Sophie Herriot tied for the fourth-best mark in program history in pole vault, clearing 3.85 meters. Herriot joins Carrie Schmid, who cleared 3.85 meters in 2008 at Arizona State.

Emma Coon ran the eighth-fastest 3000m steeplechase time in program history to finish first at 10:48.00.

Maggie Olejnik had the ninth-best triple jump mark in program history at 11.70 meters.

Charlie Smith set a new PR in the shot put at 14.38 meters to finish second.

UP NEXT: Marquette travels to Storrs, Connecticut for the 2025 BIG EAST Outdoor Championships presented by JEEP May 15-17.

Keep up with the Marquette men’s and women’s track and field programs through social media by following on X (@MUTFXC) and Instagram (@MUTFXC) and ‘liking’ on Facebook (/MUTFXC).

By: Michael Love


Friday, May 9, 2025 | 2:20 PM

North Allegheny and Shaler are the top seeds for their respective WPIAL boys volleyball tournaments.

The WPIAL released the Class 3A and Class 2A brackets Friday afternoon after the regular season concluded with section finales Thursday evening.

There will be a new WPIAL champion in Class 3A with Shaler, the 2023 and 2024 titlist, moving down to Class 2A.

North Allegheny, runner-up to Shaler last year, won Class 3A gold five straight seasons from 2017-22, and it hopes to add a 23rd overall WPIAL championship trophy to its awards case.

The Tigers, one of 14 teams in the Class 3A field, will host either No. 8 Mt. Lebanon or No. 9 Gateway in next Thursday’s quarterfinals. The Blue Devils and the Gators play their first-round game Tuesday at Mt. Lebanon.

Seneca Valley, runner-up to North Allegheny in Section 3, also received a bye as the No. 2 seed and will await the winner of Tuesday’s first-round game between No. 7 Canon-McMillan and No. 10 Central Catholic at Canon-McMillan.

The other four Tuesday first-round matchups have No. 13 Upper St. Clair at No. 4 Hempfield, No. 12 Baldwin at No. 5 Pine-Richland, No. 14 North Hills at No. 3 Latrobe and No. 11 Peters Township at No. 6 Penn-Trafford.

The top four and ties in each section with seven or more teams and the top three and ties in each section with six teams or fewer punched their ticket for the playoffs. A total of 26 teams qualified.

Twelve Class 2A teams will join the 14 from Class 3A with the hopes of reaching the WPIAL championship games set for the weekend of May 24 at Peters Township’s AHN Arena.

From the WPIAL playoffs, three teams in Class 3A and three from Class 2A will continue on in their respective state tournaments.

Shaler, gunning for its third WPIAL championship overall and first in Class 2A, not only won WPIAL Class 3A titles the past two years but followed those WPIAL runs with a PIAA runner-up finish in 2023 and last year’s state title at Penn State.

The Titans (13-1) captured the Section 2 title with an unblemished 8-0 record. Their only loss in the regular season was to North Allegheny, 3-0, on March 18.

Shaler’s hopeful run this year begins in the quarterfinals next Thursday against the winner of No. 9 Hopewell’s game Tuesday at No. 8 Derry.

The other top seeds in Class 2A are No. 2 Ambridge, No. 3 Seton LaSalle and No. 4 North Catholic. They, too, earned byes to Thursday‘s quarterfinals.

Mars is the defending Class 2A champion.

The Fightin’ Planets, the third-place team from Section 2 behind Shaler and North Catholic, have a challenging road in front of them as the No. 6 seed in the bracket.

Mars opens the playoffs Tuesday at home against No. 11 South Park with the winner advancing to meet Seton LaSalle.

The other two first-round games Tuesday will have No. 12 McKeesport at No. 5 South Fayette, and No. 10 Deer Lakes at No. 7 Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson, Ambridge and Armstrong joined Mars as WPIAL Class 2A semifinalists last year, and the Planets, Bridgers and River Hawks represented the WPIAL in the PIAA tournament.

Class 3A

First round

Tuesday’s schedule

Gateway (10-2) at Mt. Lebanon (13-1), 7 p.m.

Upper St. Clair (5-8) at Hempfield (11-4), 7 p.m.

Baldwin (6-10) at Pine-Richland (9-5), 7 p.m.

Central Catholic (9-8) at Canon-McMillan (14-2), 7 p.m.

North Hills (8-9) at Latrobe (15-1), 7 p.m.

Peters Township (7-11) at Penn-Trafford (10-6), 7 p.m.

Byes: North Allegheny (12-1), Seneca Valley (12-3)

Class 2A

First round

Tuesday’s schedule

Hopewell (8-8) at Derry (11-6), 7 p.m.

McKeesport (8-8) at South Fayette (13-4), 7 p.m.

Deer Lakes (10-5) at Thomas Jefferson (9-6), 7 p.m.

South Park (8-8) at Mars (8-10), 7 p.m.

Byes: Shaler (13-1), Ambridge (13-1), Seton LaSalle (16-3), North Catholic (9-5)

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Ambridge, Baldwin, Canon-McMillan, Central Catholic, Deer Lakes, Derry Area, Gateway, Hempfield, Hopewell, Latrobe, Mars, McKeesport, Mt. lebanon, North Allegheny, North Catholic, North Hills, Penn-Trafford, Peters Township, Pine-Richland, Seneca Valley, Seton La Salle, Shaler, South Fayette, South Park, Thomas Jefferson, Upper St. Clair