Long Beach State’s Sotiris Siapanis attacks against the Hawaii block of Guilherme Voss, left, and Alaka’i Todd last Friday/Andy J. Gordon photo
In this report, we catch up on the AVCA, NCAA men, NCAA beach, Pro Volleyball Federation and LOVB.
NCAA men
AVCA TOP 20: It was all Long Beach State, which moved up a spot and got all 23 first-place votes. Hawai’i, which lost at the Beach twice last week, dropped to No. 2. UCLA stayed No. 3, UC Irvine is up a spot to No. 4, and Grand Canyon dropped a notch to No. 5.
AVCA POW: The national player of the week is Dan Mangun of Loyola Chicago. The 6-4 junior setter averaged 11.5 assists per set in victories over Princeton, Quincy and McKendree. He also averaged 2.3 digs and just less than a block.
UP NEXT: There is one match on Wednesday’s schedule when McKendree (13-7, 7-4), up two spots in the AVCA Poll to No. 18, goes to Lindenwood (7-11, 3-7) in the MIVA.
There are four matches Thursday, three in the MIVA, including a chance for No. 12 Ball State (16-7, 9-1) to all but bury No. 10 Ohio State (15-7, 8-4). Ball State has won eight in a row, while the Buckeyes have lost three in a row and four of five. Loyola Chicago (14-8, 8-3) tries to keep pace when the No. 11 Ramblers go to last-place Quincy (5-13, 1-10) and No. 14 Lewis (12-11, 5-5) goes to Queens (9-13, 2-8).
In the MPSF Grand Canyon (18-2, 6-0) tries to keep its one-game lead over idle UCLA (16-4, 5-1) when it plays at Concorida Irvine (6-10, 0-4).
NCAA beach
USC SWEEPS CUI, UH: Top-ranked USC swept both Concordia Irvine and No. 12 Hawai’i to improve to 18-2. USC did not a set to Concordia (13-6) and lost only one — barely — against UH (9-8). That was on No. 4, when Ashley Prater and Madison White beat Sydney Amiatu and Riley Wagoner 26-28, 21-19, 15-11.
Hawai’i beat CUI 4-1, sweeping on courts 1-4.
AVCA POLL: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was voted in at No. 20 as the Islanders (13-4) cracked the top 20 for the first time in program history. The coaches didn’t penalize Florida State too much for its 2-2 record in the East Meets West Invitational. The Seminoles and TCU flipped spots, with FSU dropping to fifth and the Horned Frogs (3-1 in the FAU Invitational) jumping to No. 4. Tampa dropped out/
AVCA TOP PAIR: The national pair of the week was USC’s Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple. They went 4-0 last week, 8-1 in sets.
Pro Volleyball Federation
The next match is Wednesday when the Grand Rapids Rise (4-5) go to the Columbus Fury (4-4). They split their previous two matches. Thursday, the Orlando Valkyries (5-7) play at the first-place Atlanta Vibe (8-3) …
Alisha Glass Childress is the PVF player of the week. The Vegas Thrill setter had 56 assists in the Thrill’s reverse-sweep win over Grand Rapids last week. The Olympian, who leads the league in assists, added 10 digs, four kills and had three block assists …
The PVF announced that next season it will increase players pay as it adds franchises in Dallas, Indianapolis and Kansas City. From a PVF news release:
The League will boast a pay scale of various levels next year, with several top players on each team making six-figure salaries. The very top players will earn up to a $175,000 base salary in the league’s second season of competition. Every player in the league will also be provided benefits valued at approximately $10,000 per year. Overall, total compensation in Pro Volleyball Federation will exceed $1.3 million per team. For the 14 players who make the final rosters for each squad, each will earn $60,000 or above for the 2025 campaign.
Players in Pro Volleyball Federation can already add to their income with players’ bonuses and that will continue in the future. This season, the team that wins the championship will split a $1,000,000 prize pool – a first in women’s professional volleyball. Players will earn additional financial bonuses for qualifying for the four-team postseason championship. Major individual award winners are compensated with bonuses as well – from between $3,000 and $15,000 – with the chance for anyone to earn multiple bonuses.
The Atlanta Vibe became the fourth PVF franchise to land a local TV deal. Four of the Vibe’s seven remaining home matches at Gas South Arena will be broadcast on the Peachtree Sports Network, starting with the date on Thursday against the Orlando Valkyries. The Peachtree network is an over-the-air platform seen on Channel 17.2 in Atlanta and is a subsidiary channel to WPCH-TV, the market’s CW affiliate. PSN also broadcasts in Albany, Augusta, Columbus, Macon and Savannah. Launched in October, the network carries games of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream.
League One Volleyball
LOVB, which continues to add players (click here for the latest) for its inaugural season in 2025,announced the Kathy DeBoer will be the chair of its LOVB Foundation. DeBoer retired last year as executive director of the AVCA.
