Category: Sports

It’s here. The 2025 Division I women’s college volleyball season is upon us.

And now, an offseason full of questions can begin to be answered.

Can Penn State, after graduating five seniors, defend its title? Will Dani Busboom Kelly make sure Nebraska lives up to the preseason hype? Can Dan Meske keep momentum rolling at Louisville? Can reigning National Player of the Year Olivia Babcock finally help Pitt breakthrough and reach the title game? After combing the transfer portal, will SMU and Wisconsin continue to take steps forward? Will Torrey Stafford propel Texas back into the Final Four? What other transfers will make an impact? What new stars will emerge?

As interest in women’s college volleyball has grown, television networks have started to take notice. Two years ago, FOX started using Big Ten games as lead-ins to NFL clashes. The aggregate result, according to Front Office Sports, was 1.7 million viewers, the most-watched regular-season volleyball window of all time. So FOX increased its volleyball offerings last year across its platforms, broadcasting 18 regular season games. Other networks are airing college volleyball too, from NBC’s Peacock to ESPN. Last year’s title game between Penn State and Louisville peaked at 1.9 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched title game of all time. As we’ve learned with many women’s sports, if the folks in power put these games on an accessible platforms, people will watch.

So, college volleyball is easier to find and watch than perhaps ever before, whether you’re flipping through channels or streaming.

Here are four games that are worth tuning into this weekend:

No. 3 Pitt vs. No. 1 Nebraska

Friday, 7 p.m. ET — FOX

The AVCA First Serve Showcase begins Friday when two teams who made the Final Four last season face off in Lincoln, Nebraska. The bus driver for Pitt, Olivia Babcock, returns, but the Panthers have some new faces in the lineup. Meanwhile, while Nebraska has a new head coach, it didn’t lose any players in the transfer portal and brought in an impressive recruiting class. On-paper, this looks like a great table-setter for the season. And it’s incredibly possible that we see these two teams face-off in the NCAA Tournament.

No. 12 Creighton vs. No. 2 Penn State

Saturday, 5 p.m. ET — FS1

Penn State lost some key players to graduation from its national title team, but they bring back National Freshman of the Year Izzy Starck and brought in some transfer portal reinforcements like two-time All-American Kennedy Martin. A mid-major power in the sport, Creighton is aiming to make its 14th consecutive NCAA Tournament this season under first-year coach Brian Rosen. Cal setter Annalea Maeder and Wisconsin libero Saige Damrow are among the key incoming transfers for the Bluejays.

No. 6 Stanford vs. No. 1 Nebraska

Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET — ESPN

Nebraska will get its second ranked opponent test on Sunday when it clashes with the Cardinal. This weekend, fans will get their first look at Logan Parks, a Stanford freshman who comes into this season with a lot of hype. A longtime power in the sport, a NCAA Division I volleyball tournament has never been played without Stanford in it. This should be a solid measuring-stick test for both squads.

No. 11 Minnesota vs. No. 9 Texas A&M

Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET — Big Ten Network

Coming off a trip to the Sweet 16, and with their highest preseason ranking ever in the history of the AVCA poll, this is the first of seven nationally televised matches that the Aggies will play in this season. Texas A&M returns 11 players from last year’s team, added a strong freshman class, and brought in Baylor transfer Kyndal Stowers. The Gophers are coming off a season where they notched wins over top 10 programs like Texas and Wisconsin, and then advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Senior outside hitters Julia Hanson and Mckenna Wucherer, both preseason All-Big Ten honorees, anchor a squad that’s missed the postseason just once since 1999.

The 2025 college volleyball season is nearly here, aiming to build off a stellar year for the sport that saw its audience grow. The 2024 title game between Penn State and Louisville drew more than 1.3 million viewers, making it the second-most watched championship game on-record for Division I women’s volleyball.

A pair of teams that competed in last season’s Final Four will face off on Friday, when No. 1 Nebraska hosts No. 3 Pitt. Two other hopeful contenders, No. 16 Florida and No. 6 Stanford, will also clash in the AVCA First Serve. Both games will be televised by FOX.

Much has changed in the sport since last December because of the transfer portal and coaching shifts. Dani Busboom Kelly left Louisville to lead her alma mater, Nebraska, into its next era. SMU and Wisconsin were both big transfer portal winners, while the most consequential mover was probably two-time All-American Torrey Stafford going to Texas from Pitt.

Ahead of the season beginning, here’s the 10 squads that look like contenders heading into the fall.

Welcome to SB Nation’s NCAA volleyball power rankings:

Just missed: Arizona State, Oregon, UCLA, Florida, Texas A&M

The Bluejays will figure out early whether they’ll sink or swim this season, as they open their schedule with three ranked teams: Penn State, Texas and Kansas. Creighton became a constant in the postseason under former longtime coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth, and it is now aiming to make its 14th consecutive NCAA Tournament this season under first-year coach Brian Rosen. Creighton returns three starters from last season’s team that went to the Elite Eight and also added a few key transfers in Cal setter Annalea Maeder and Wisconsin libero Saige Damrow.

The Wildcats made the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last season before their season was ended by Pitt. Kentucky will be a team that aims to rack up kills again as they bring back SEC Player of the Year Brooklyn DeLeye and pairing her with Purdue transfer Eva Hudson, who led the Big Ten with 4.81 kills per set. Middle blocker Lizzie Carr also comes to Kentucky from Purdue, and libero Molly Berezowitz joins the Wildcats from Marquette.

The Mustangs’ debut season in the ACC was a strong one as they went 25-8 and notched impressive victories over the likes of Nebraska, Baylor, Georgia Tech and Pitt. Guided by coach Sam Erger — an SMU alumna who agreed to a contract extension in December — the Mustangs advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In the offseason, SMU reloaded, bringing in Favor Anyanwu and Jadyn Livings from USC, Colorado State opposite hitter Malaya Jones, Auburn outside hitter Madison Scheer, Texas setter Averi Carlson, and Jordyn Schilling — who was the Big South Libero of the Year at High Point. On paper, the Mustangs seem to have one of the most talented rosters in the nation.

The Badgers advanced to at least the Elite Eight for the seventh consecutive season in 2024 and spent the offseason building a roster that seems capable of another deep postseason run. Coach Kelly Sheffield brought in three key transfers in Miami opposite hitter Grace Lopez, Oregon outside hitter Mimi Colyer and Ohio State outside hitter Grace Egan. Strong returners are still with the Badgers too, a group that’s headlined by one of the best middle blockers in the country in 6-foot-7 Carter Booth. Surrounded by talented players, there’s an opportunity for sophomore setter Charlie Fuerbringer to emerge too.

Torrey Stafford was arguably the best player available in the transfer portal. A talented and proven outside hitter from Pitt, she led all Power 4 outside hitters with a .358 hitting percentage and she’ll be a massive boost to the Texas offense. A lot of folks also have high expectations for incoming 6-foot-3 freshman Abby Vander Wal, who piled up accolades in high school and was touted by many as the best high school recruit in her class. In addition to those impressive additions, returners Ramsey Gary, Anja Kujundzic and Emma Halter return to anchor the defense. Winners of five national titles, Texas lost in the Sweet 16 last season.

Like Vander Wal at Texas, Logan Parks is a freshman with a lot of hype for Stanford as she was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Kansas and an Under Armour All-American. A longtime power in the sport, an NCAA Division I volleyball tournament has never been played without Stanford in it. However, the Cardinal hasn’t made a Final Four since 2019. Fans should be able to tell pretty early whether Stanford has the potential to break that drought, as the Cardinal will face Florida, Nebraska, Texas, Missouri and UCLA in non-conference play.

Is this the year that Dan Fisher’s Panthers finally break through and capture a national title? Pitt has reached the Final Four in four consecutive seasons but hasn’t been able to reach the championship game. While Torrey Stafford is gone, several other talented Panthers are still here, including reigning National Player of the Year Olivia Babcock and one of the best middle blockers in the country in Bre Kelly. Libero Mallorie Meyer is back too after a strong freshman campaign and Emery Dupes arrives via the transfer portal from Florida State.

With Dani Busboom Kelly back at Nebraska, Dan Meske takes the reins of the Cardinals now after they played in the national title game for the second time in three seasons. Several talented players return for Louisville, including ACC Freshman of the Year Nayelis Cabello, who has quickly established herself as one of the best setters in the country. AVCA All-American middle blocker Cara Cresse is also back. Bolstering Louisville’s lineup is Purdue transfer Chloe Chicoine, a do-it-all second team All-Big Ten selection who was a big reason why the Boilermakers made the Sweet 16 last season.

En route to winning the national title last season — their eighth — the Nittany Lions ranked second nationally in both kills and assists per set. Penn State returns a host of talented players who are eager to defend that championship, including arguably the best setter in the nation and the National Freshman of the Year, Izzy Starck. All-Big Ten players Gillian Grimes and Caroline Jurevicius also return. Incoming for Penn State via the transfer portal are Ohio State’s Emmi Sellman and two-time All-American Kennedy Martin. Under the direction of Katie Schumacher-Cawley, Penn State has the potential to repeat as national champs.

The five-time national champs are expected by many to capture a sixth this season in what will be Dani Busboom Kelly’s first year at the helm of the program following the retirement of John Cook. No players transferred out of the program and Nebraska returns a roster that features three All-Americans and the No. 2 recruiting class of 2025. Headlining the returners is Bergen Reilly, the reigning two-time Big Ten Setter of the Year. Among the seven rookies is 6-foot-5 Virginia Adriano, who played professionally in Italy. One pickup Nebraska did make in the portal was getting outside hitter Allie Sczech from Baylor. The Huskers’ roster is among the most talented in the country, more than capable of capturing a championship.

Each season in women’s college basketball presents the potential for new stars and breakout players. Last year, fans saw UCLA’s Lauren Betts blossom into an unquestionable First Team All-American and candidate for National Player of the Year. Harvard’s Harmoni Turner became one of the best players at the mid-major level, and Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles got even better after returning from her injury.

Players develop, change and improve. Watching that happen over the course of four seasons is one of the things that makes college basketball great.

Here are five players that could take the leap this season, become leaders for their teams and consequential factors in their leagues.

As a sophomore, Brooks was voted the ACC’s Most Improved Player after increasing her shooting percentages from the floor, 3-point range and the free throw line by noticeable margins. She also averaged five more points per game compared to her freshman season. As a junior, the Wolfpack are likely going to lean on her even more following the graduations of Aziaha James, Saniya Rivers and Madison Hayes. Brooks has shown flashes of being able to be the leader in the backcourt for the Wolfpack, like when she dropped 33 points in a win over Notre Dame, or when she piled up 21 points, seven boards and seven assists in a victory at Florida State. Expect Brooks to be the bus driver for Wes Moore’s Wolfpack this season.

Woolston didn’t play for the Cougars this past season as she was serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In case you forgot about how talented she was as a freshman, consider this: Woolston was one of just two players in the country in the 2023-24 season to shoot better than 45% from behind the arc and make at least 2.5 3-pointers per game. The 5-foot-11 native of Utah has the chance to be one of the best 3-point shooters in the country this season, and the potential to create a dynamic backcourt pairing with reigning Big 12 Rookie of the Year Delaney Gibb.

Ranked as the fifth-best recruit in the 2024 class, Koval started in 10 of the 32 games she played in for Notre Dame last season, averaging 5.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. She twice notched double-doubles, and had 10 games where she dished out multiple assists. Koval’s playing time became less consistent though over the last two months of the season as Notre Dame got healthier and had more options in the post. She’s going to LSU now where she’ll be coached by Kim Mulkey — who has a reputation for getting the most out of her post players — and where she’ll be the primary option in the paint. The 6-foot-5 center could be the beneficiary of passes from MiLaysia Fulwiley and Flau’Jae Johnson.

Joyce Edwards, South Carolina

An honorable mention All-American last season, Edwards could take a big step forward for South Carolina this year as they deal with another year without Ashlyn Watkins and the loss of Sania Feagin. The 6-foot-3 native of Camen, S.C., seemingly got better as her freshman season went on. She scored 21 points against Oklahoma in the SEC Tournament semifinals, then piled up 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in a Final Four victory over Texas. Edwards is coming off an impressive and busy summer where she featured for the U.S. national team at the AmeriCup and in the FIBA 3×3 Nations League.

The reigning WCC Freshman of the Year, Turner has the chance to become the next great Gonzaga player. As a rookie, Turner was 11th nationally in 3-pointers made per game with 3.1. She shot 45.7 percent from behind the arc and averaged 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. In games where Turner scored 19 points or more, Gonzaga went 5-1. The Bulldogs also went 5-1 in games where she knocked down at least five 3-pointers. Simply put, when Turner plays well, the Zags win big. And there’s room for the 5-foot-8 native of St. Louis to get even better.

Miami brought in a pair of three-level mid-major scorers via the transfer portal, bolstering its roster with Gal Raviv of Quinnipiac and Amarachi Kimpson of UNLV. Kimpson averaged 14.5 points per game on 50.7 percent shooting from the field and 37.4 percent from beyond the arc last year for UNLV. Raviv led all freshmen in women’s college basketball in minutes played per game this past season (36.2) and averaged 17.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. This summer, Raviv also set the FIBA U19 World Cup scoring record by averaging 26.3 points per game for Israel.

Katie Collins was the unanimous Ivy League Rookie of the Year last season at Penn and could help the Quakers contend in a tough mid-major conference this season. At North Carolina, Cierra Toomey and Blanca Thomas will aim to fill the shoes of Maria Gakdeng as a post-scorers and rim-protectors. Bri McDaniel is returning from an injury at Maryland, and Hannah Stuelke seems ready for a stellar senior season at Iowa.

The 2025 Formula 1 season has reached the Summer Shutdown.

Making it a perfect time to pause, and declare some early winners and losers.

Today we’ll look at six winners from the first half of the season, a collection of teams, drivers and yes, a toy company, that stole the show over the first 14 race weekends.

2024 was a dream season for McLaren, as they rocketed up the standings over the second half of the schedule to capture their first Constructors’ title since 1998.

The alarm clock has yet to go off to wake Team Papaya up from that dream.

McLaren entered the 2025 season as the favorites to repeat as Constructors’ Champions, and they have lived up to those expectations. Lando Norris’ win in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, coupled with a hard-fought points finish from Oscar Piastri after the hometown hero found the grass in wet conditions, was enough to see McLaren leave Melbourne level with Mercedes atop the standings, but with a tiebreaker advantage thanks to Norris’ win.

Since then, they have not looked back, recording a combined 11 Grand Prix wins between Piastri and Norris (including Norris’ win in Melbourne) and 24 combined Grand Prix podiums, roaring into the break with four consecutive one-two finishes. That brought their total number of front-row lockouts to seven on the season, their highest mark since Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna recorded that many in 1988.

After 14 race weekends their lead over second-place Ferrari is 299 points, on par with the 310-point advantage Red Bull enjoyed over Mercedes after 14 races in their dominant 2023 campaign.

Add to all this the fact that Piastri and Norris have likely turned the fight for the Drivers’ Championship into a two-man race, and you have a season to remember in the works at Woking.

Oscar Piastri’s form has taken a significant leap forward, putting him atop the Drivers’ Championship standings at the Summer Shutdown.

After winning a pair of grands prix last season, Piastri secured six wins over the first 14 races, bringing his points total to 284, just eight short of his 2024 mark. He enters the break with a nine-point lead over teammate Lando Norris in the title race, giving him a slight advantage in the title chase.

There is a long way to go until a champion is crowned, but the Oscar Piastri we saw over the first half of the season can certainly lift the big trophy by the end of the season.

Lando Norris entered the 2025 season as the odds-on favorite to win the F1 Drivers’ Championship after falling short of Max Verstappen a season ago, and his win in Melbourne certainly got his title chase off to a roaring start.

While it has been more of an up-and-down campaign when contrasted with what his teammate has done — including a difficult moment in Montreal when he clashed with Piastri in the closing laps of the Canadian Grand Prix — Norris is still just nine points behind his teammate as the second half looms. He also secured two major wins, taking the Monaco Grand Prix and then winning his home race at Silverstone, among the five Grand Prix victories over the first 14 race weekends on his 2025 resume.

Can he catch Piastri? Certainly. Will he? We’ll find out over the second half of the season.

Let’s have some fun for a moment.

Although not nearly as much fun as the grid had in the buildup to the Miami Grand Prix.

The drivers’ parade looked a little different as the grid wound around Hard Rock Stadium in May, as the 20 drivers climbed into life-sized LEGO F1 cars for a lap unlike any other. If you had any doubt over how much the drivers themselves loved this event, just watch the onboard cameras and see how veterans, including Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton, turned into kids again.

It’s 15 minutes of pure joy.

And an epic win from the first half of the season.

2024 was a difficult season for the team at Sauber. The year began with struggles in pit lane — exemplified by a 52-second pit stop for Valtteri Bottas at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix as the team dealt with a wheel nut issue — and they did not secure their first points until the Qatar Grand Prix, where Zhou Guanyu finished eighth to bank four points for the team.

The only four they scored all season.

This year began with a new driver lineup (veteran Nico Hülkenberg and rookie Gabriel Bortoleto), and the turnaround has been dramatic. Sauber sits seventh in the standings with 51 points, just one point behind sixth-place Aston Martin and 29 points behind fifth-place Williams, putting them squarely in the midfield fight.

A big chunk of those points came from Hülkenberg’s third-place finish at the British Grand Prix, a result that marked the veteran’s first podium result in his 239th start in F1. But also notable is what Bortoleto has done in recent weeks, as the rookie finished eighth in the Austrian Grand Prix, ninth in the Belgian Grand Prix, and a career-best sixth in the Hungarian Grand Prix, all three results coming in the four most recent races.

Sauber brought a significant upgrade package to the Spanish Grand Prix (where Hülkenberg finished fifth), and that package has given the team momentum heading into the second half of the season, and a chance to finish as high as fifth depending on results.

They also have the wind at their backs heading into 2026, when they become the Audi works operation.

After taking a step forward in 2023 when they finished seventh in the Constructors’ Championship standings, Williams came back to Earth a bit in 2024. Logan Sargeant was dropped by the team following the Dutch Grand Prix and replaced by Franco Colapinto, who showed flashes over his first four starts — including an eighth-place finish in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix — but stumbled down the stretch.

Even with a solid season from Alexander Albon, Williams limped to a ninth-place finish.

But James Vowles scored perhaps the biggest win of the driver transfer market (putting Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari aside) when he inked Carlos Sainz Jr. to a new contract.

At the moment, Williams sits fifth in the standings with 70 points, buoyed by 54 from Albon alone, a mark that has put him back into the conversation regarding a potential move to another team. However, Albon insists that his future lies at Williams, as he told RacingNews365 in a recent interview.

“I want to see the fruits of where we get to. I feel like we made it. When I look at us compared to other teams, maybe you can remove or add McLaren, but McLaren have had the consistency, and they’ve had their sparks throughout the years,” began Albon.

”When I look at Williams and look at the trajectory that we’ve been on, I don’t think there’s another team that have just gone year on year, just this consecutive steep climb.

“And I feel like, rightly or wrongly, I’ve been a part of that process, and I want to see us go the whole way.”

Holding onto fifth in the Constructors’ Championship race would be a huge step in that process.