The 2025 NCAA National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship on May 2-4 will be relocated from Huntington Beach, California, to Gulf Shores, Alabama, due to wildfire recovery efforts. Huntington Beach is still scheduled to host the 2026 championship before it moves to Gulf Shores from 2027-31. Read more.
The 2025 USA Volleyball Beach Club Championshipwill also relocate from Huntington Beach, California to Gulf Shores, Alabama. This move enhances the championship experience by integrating it into a larger beach volleyball celebration:
U.S. Beach Club Championship: May 1-2
National Team Development Program Accelerator: May 2
Gulf Coast Region Beach National Qualifier: May 2-4
Volleyball Records
College Volleyball Home Attendance Records Survey
The AVCA is keeping track of women’s and men’s home attendance records. Please help us update our information on your school’s attendance records byfilling out this short survey by Tuesday, Feb. 11. Questions? Contact Sarah Black or Pat Henderson.
Volleyball News
NFHS High School Volleyball Rules Changes:
Judgment call on second contact eliminated
State associations may adopt the use of a textured ball
The NCAA, four states (Tennessee, Florida, New York and Virginia) and the District of Columbia jointly announced in a court filing on Friday that they have tentatively resolved an antitrust lawsuit against NCAA rules restricting how athletes commercially use their NIL in the recruiting process.
NAIA HBCU Talladega College announced that it would be discontinuing several sports, including men’s volleyball, at the end of the season.
USA Volleyball is pleased to announce the appointment of Wade Garard as its Chief Advancement Officer,a strategic hire aimed at driving the organization’s long-term growth and philanthropic efforts. As a co-founder and CEO of First Point Volleyball Foundation, Garard spearheaded efforts that raised millions to grow boys and men’s volleyball in the United States, leading to the establishment of 42 new men’s collegiate volleyball programs and 11 additional state high school federations voting to pilot or sanction high school boys volleyball.
Senior athletes will be added to AVCA Boys High School All-America Watch List. Non-senior high school athletes will be featured on the AVCA High Risers List. Please nominate all of your deserving athletes to ensure they are recognized and we bring more attention to the sport!
Professional Volleyball Schedules
Partner Highlights
USAV CEO John Speraw to Speak at Align May 13-14, 2025 | Chicago, Illinois
Get ready to Align your vision, strategy, and leadership with the leaders of junior volleyball! Over the course of 1.5 days, attendees will experience a deeper understanding of how to effectively lead and grow a junior volleyball club in today’s competitive landscape. With plenty of networking opportunities and collaborative workshops, Align will foster new relationships and ideas that will drive success both on and off the court. New speakers will be announced each week on the ALIGN website and Instagram. REGISTER TODAY!
Nominations for the 2025 JVA Watch List powered by VKTRY Performance Insoles are OPEN! This award recognizes indoor girls volleyball athletes from JVA member clubs for outstanding achievement on the volleyball court. Nominate your athlete(s) here.
Latest educational content includes:
Pressure Serving Drills with Becky Edwards – Lancaster Central High School (NY)
How to Avoid Coaching Burnout with Dr. Lee Dorpfeld – Univ. of South Florida
Setters: Band Wall Warmup with Adam Brewster – Tabor College
Nikki Ayers,Director of Athletics at Juniata, joined D3.ticker’s Anthony Grassi from the 2024 Women Leaders Convention to highlight Ayers return to leading her alma mater, creating a competitive culture, leadership development, and the impact of Juniata volleyball’s multi-season winning streak on the athletics department (skip to 13:00).
Coaching Careers
NCAA Division I
Nebraska Volleyball Head Coach John Cook, who has won more matches than any Division I volleyball coach this century, announced his retirement. Cook spent 32 years as a college head coach – seven at Wisconsin and 25 at Nebraska. Cook guided the Huskers to four national championships, 12 NCAA Semifinals appearances, nine Big 12 titles and five Big Ten titles. He achieved a career record of 883-176 (.834), the fifth-best winning percentage all-time for a Division I volleyball coach.
Dani Busboom Kelly will succeed her former coach and mentor, John Cook, who announced his retirement after 25 seasons as Nebraska’s head volleyball coach. A Husker national champion player and assistant coach, Busboom Kelly has spent the last eight years building Louisville into a national power. The Cardinals have reached two NCAA Championship matches, three NCAA Semifinals, five regional finals and have won four ACC titles.
Current Associate Head Coach, Dan Meske, will be named Louisville Volleyball’s next head coach. Meske brings more than 16 years of collegiate coaching experience, including working alongside Busboom Kelly for the Cardinals’ historic rise to national prominence, serving as an assistant at the University of Nebraska, and as the head coach at Augustana.
Trent Kersten has been named the next head coach of the Oregon volleyball program. Kersten, the 2024 WCC Coach of the Year, is coming off a standout season at Loyola Marymount where he led the Lions to the WCC Championship and the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
UT Arlington has named Tania Schatow as head volleyball coach. Schatow joins UT Arlington after spending last season as Pacific University’s assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. At Pacific, Schatow helped the Tigers to their fourth-straight berth in the NIVC tournament.
Kolby O’Donnell has been named head coach of LMU women’s volleyball following the program’s first West Coast Conference Championship since 1996. Before arriving at LMU he spent five seasons as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Texas A&M University.
Northeastern announced that Brendan McGourn has been named as the next head coach of the women’s volleyball program. McGourn arrives at Northeastern from Fairfield, where he helped guide the program to consecutive MAAC championships and NCAA appearances.
Cal State Fullerton announced the hiring of Nichole “Nicky” Cannon to be the Titans new head women’s volleyball coach. Last fall, Cannon led UC Riverside to its first 10-win season since 2017, highlighted by the program’s first-ever win over Hawai’i.
University of Hawai’i women’s volleyball head coach Robyn Ah Mow has received a contract extension through the 2027 season. Ah Mow completed her seventh season with the Rainbow Wahine in 2024, winning their fifth consecutive Big West crown and second straight Big West Championship title.
The University of the Incarnate Word announced several coaching contract extensions, including Head Volleyball Coach Gabryel Ording. In her first year at UIW in 2023, Ording led the program to their most wins since transitioning to Division I.
NCAA Division II
Kaysie Shebeneck has been named the Head Women’s Volleyball Coach at Daemen University. Shebeneck brings eight years worth of collegiate experience – all at the NCAA Division I level.
American International College has named Eli Irizarry its Head Women’s Volleyball Coach. Irizarry coached at Daemen University from August 2020 through January 2025. Daemen went undefeated in the ECC to win the 2022 and 2023 ECC Tournaments.
Rob Frost, a seasoned coach with multiple national tournament appearances and conference championships across NCAA and NAIA programs, has been named the new head volleyball coach at the University of Mary.
NCAA Division III
Kip Yoshimura has announced his retirement after 29 seasons as a college volleyball head coach, including the last 13 at Pacific. Prior to Pacific, Yoshimura spent nine seasons at Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho, where he compiled a 251-72 record, becoming the winningest coach in program history. At Pacific, he coached 27 All-Northwest Conference players. The Boxers received the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award nine times under Yoshimura.
Gordon College has named Derek Schmitt as Head Volleyball Coach. Schmitt comes to Gordon College with an extensive resume, including 20 years of men’s and women’s volleyball coaching experience at the NCAA Division III, I, and club levels.
Zach Rothstein hired as the head women’s volleyball coach at Rockford University. Rothstein spent his last two seasons before coming to Rockford as an assistant coach at Centre College. In 2024, Centre won its first ever SAA regular season title and earned the program’s first berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
NAIA
After 15 successful seasons leading the Midland University volleyball program, Paul Giesselmann has announced his retirement from coaching. Giesselmann finishes his coaching career with a 351-141 record at Midland, a .713 winning percentage, including 102 wins over ranked opponents. Under his leadership, the Warriors reached the NAIA National Championship 11 times and made four semifinal appearances highlighted by a runner-up finish in 2020.
Midland University has announced the hiring of Micah Rhodes as the next head coach of its volleyball program. Rhodes has served as the team’s assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the past two seasons. He helped guide the Warriors to a quarterfinal appearance in the 2023 NAIA national tournament.
The Nelson University Lady Lions Volleyball program is entering an exciting new chapter as Nick Moore has been promoted to Head Coach, taking the helm of a program that has consistently dominated the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC).
NJCAA
Chandler-Gilbert Community College Head Volleyball Coach Jeff Nelson announced his retirement. Over his five-year tenure with the Coyotes, he led the team to the NJCAA Region Tournament three times in four seasons. Associate Head coach Andrew Yamashiro will succeed Nelson. Yamashiro is also an assistant director for Aspire Volleyball Club and previously served as an assistant coach for the men’s volleyball program at Benedictine University Mesa.
