Editor’s note: Barry Goldberg was a great guy and we, and the volleyball world, will miss him. This is the Sunday news release from American University and also the accompanying AU graphic. WASHINGTON – American University Cassell Hall of Famer and legendary volleyball coach Barry Goldberg, an Eagle since 1989 and beloved by many, has passed away at the age of 61. Goldberg was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in February 2022. “It is with great sadness that we share the news of Barry’s passing,” said Director of Athletics and Recreation, Dr. Billy Walker. “Barry’s commitment t ..read more

This is the Nike Hot Seat, a continuing series of interviews with Nike-sponsored volleyball players. Previously in the Nike Hot Seat series: Molly McCage, Dani Drews, Justine Wong-Orantes and Jordan Larson. Zoe Fleck is a national champion who finished her outstanding college career at Texas and sparked the Longhorns to the 2022 NCAA title. Now she’s playing professionally in for USC Münster Germany. The student of the game gives some great insight into her three-school college career and what it’s like to transfer, her own personal battles along the way, say ..read more

Grand Canyon righted its ship but Loyola Chicago’s took on some water, while BYU clipped Pepperdine in five sets again during an eventful Saturday of Division-III NCAA men’s volleyball. Also, Hawaii and Long Beach State took care of business, Ohio State made up ground in the MIVA and Daemen’s suffered its first defeat in NEC play. One night after being stunned in five by the visiting Eagles, No. 5 Grand Canyon (21-2, 6-2 MPSF) weathered a marathon opening set to sweep Concordia Irvine (7-13, 1-5) in Phoenix 37-35, 25-22, 25-16. The Lopes’ defense brought freshman Gabe Doble, who had torched th ..read more

Former Oregon star Brooke Nuneviller is in her first pro volleyball season, playing for Nilufer Belediyespor in Turkey. This is her third installment of “Pro volleyball life abroad,” where she visits with other Americans playing internationally. Her first segment included three other former Ducks, Lauren Page, Lindsey Vander Weide and Ronika Stone. Then she talked to three other players in Turkey, Olympic gold-medalist Chiaka Ogbogu, Olympic alternate Tori Dixon, and national-team member Madi Kingdon Rishel. In this installment, Nuneviller visits with two players who competed against each othe ..read more

It was a stressful day for virtually every USA team at the Tepic Elite 16, save for one: Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes. All told, there were eight American matches played on Friday in Mexico (one, for clarity’s sake, was double-counted, as it was an all-American matchup between Terese Cannon and Sarah Sponcil and Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles). Half would go the full three sets. By day’s end, just one of the six Americans in the field remained standing, which was, fittingly, the team who made life easiest on itself. Cheng and Hughes have been perfect thus far in Tepic, winning three straight pool ..read more

Ninth-ranked Loyola Chicago swept Lewis in one of two MIVA matches Thursday, Purdue Fort Wayne held off McKendree in five in the other, and King scored a victory at Emmanuel in Conference Carolinas in the only other match on the NCAA Division I-II schedule. Things are busier Friday with a mix of conference and non-conference matches. In the Big West, No. 2 Hawai’i is at CSUN, while No. 4 Long Beach State is home to the MPSF’s USC. There are two MPSF matches when No. 5 Grand Canyon is home for Concordia Irvine and No. 7 Pepperdine goes to No. 8 BYU. In the EIVA, Princeton is at George Mason and ..read more

Wednesday evening stretched into early Thursday, and still, it was the most promising of starts for the six American beach volleyball teams in the Volleyball World Tepic Elite 16. Six were still standing after Wednesday’s qualifier, including both men, the first time two American men’s teams had survived an Elite 16 qualifier in the Beach Pro Tour era. On Thursday in Mexico, Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk went deep into overtime twice with the Czech Republic’s David Schweiner and Ondrej Perusic, ultimately losing, 25-27, 25-27. But even that, if you’re a glass-half-full type, could have been view ..read more

The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced Thursdsay that Jaime Gordon will become its new executive director. He takes over for Kathy DeBoer, who announced her retirement from the AVCA earlier this month. Gordon is expected to start at the AVCA in June. Gordon was the longtime coach at Morehead State and this past January resigned to concentrate on his other job at the Kentucky school as athletic director. Read about that here. “The role of executive director requires a unique combination of coaching and administrative experience. Dr. Jaime Gordon comes to the AVCA as a dedi ..read more

The college beach campaign is halfway home. In this weekly report coach Kristen Rohr lends insight on Grand Canyon’s road to a potential postseason bonanza. Meanwhile, Nebraska has finished its beach schedule and coach Jaylen Reyes discusses his program’s place in the Huskers’ big picture. Earlier in the week we recapped last weekend’s top results. The big gathering this week is in Fort Worth, where No. 1 TCU (16-0) is home for No. 6 Grand Canyon, No. 9 Cal, No. 15 FIU and Texas, which we featured last week.  Second-ranked USC is off until next week’s East Meets West Invitational, wh ..read more

On Monday morning, Tri Bourne released a behind-the-scenes vlog on the SANDCAST YouTube page in which he pulled a move that was more befitting his former partner, Trevor Crabb: He guaranteed something that is, to put it lightly, a smidge difficult to guarantee. “Men’s U.S. teams as a whole are all going to be better this year,” he said. “I guarantee that. Don’t worry U.S. fans, we got you.” This came, of course, just days after Bourne and Chaim Schalk’s debut as a new duo fell flat, with back-to-back losses in the La Paz Challenge, while Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner finished fifth. The guaran ..read more