#12 Texas vs #2 LMU 3-15-2025 BVB

 Dear Readers~

    Welcome to the next blog covering the 2025 NCAA Division 1 Beach Volleyball season. Today's blog will cover #2 LMU (Loyola Marymount University) taking on #12 Texas at the East Meets West invitational held in Manhattan Beach, California on the sands surrounding the famous Manhattan Beach Pier. Manhattan Beach may sound familiar because the city is home to the AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) Manhattan Beach Open every August held on the sand around the famous pier. For this tournament, both teams had 4 games to play in. The first one for LMU was against LSU (Louisiana State University), where they won 5-0 while Texas played their first game against #1 UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), where they lost 1-4. Going into this game, Texas had a record of 11-3 while LMU had a record of 14-1 so far in this 2025 season.

     For those who don't know, NCAA and Professional Beach Volleyball have the winner determined a little differently. In both sports the pair who wins has to win 2 sets whether it be by winning both sets, first to 21 in this case, or by winning 2 of the 3 sets, with the first two sets playing to 21 and the third playing to 15, with all three requiring a lead of 2 points or more when the set is finished. In the pros once a pair win their two sets, they have won the game and move on in the bracket, but NCAA is a little different, just because you've won two of your sets doesn't always mean you've won the game. In order for your school to win in NCAA your school has to win at least 3 of the 5 games they have going on against the other school. By that I mean each time a school plays against each other, they have their top 5 pairs playing each other and in order to win your school has to have at least 3 of your pairs beating 3 pairs of your opponents. Now let's get into the game of LMU taking on Texas in Southern California.

    The order I have these pairs in is the order they finished so the first one to finish was the 4's, or the fourth best pair on each team. This game was made up of Macey Butler and Noa Sonneville, of Texas, taking on Isabelle Reffel Magdalena Rabitsch, of LMU. This game ended at 21-16 and 21-12, both in favor of LMU, giving them a 1-0 lead over Texas. The second pair to finish was the 2's, or the second best pair of each team. This game had Chloe Hooker and Anna Pelloia, of LMU, taking on Emma Grace Robertson and Katie Hashman, of Texas. The first set ended at 21-17, in favor of Texas, while the second set ended at 22-20 (don't forget the two point lead required to end a set) in favor of LMU, and causing a third set. That third set ended at 15-12 in favor of Texas and giving each team one win out of the three that are needed to come out victorious. The third game to finish was the 3's which had Abbey Thorup and Lisa Luini, of LMU, taking on Karin Zolnercikova and Maddison Parmelly, of Texas. This game ended at 21-14 and 21-15, both in favor of LMU, and giving LMU a 2-1 lead over Texas. The fourth game to finish was the 5's, or the fifth best pair on each team. This game had Presley Wright and Vivian Johnson, of Texas, taking on Tanon Rosenthal and G. Poletti Corrales, of LMU. The first set ended at 22-20 (don't forget that 2 point lead) in favor of LMU while the second set ended at 21-16, also in favor of LMU and winning the game 3-1 over Texas but let's see how the final game went. This final game had the top pair of each school. Representing Texas was Chloe Charles and Eva Lilsa Kuivonen while LMU was represented by Michelle Shaffer and Vihelmiina Prihit. The first and second sets both ended at 23-21 in favor of Texas and gave #2 LMU an official win of 3-2 over #12 Texas.

Here is the NCAA Coaches Poll the NCAA put on their Instagram for week 3 of the 2025 season. Don't forget to follow the NCAA over on that platform to see how each team progresses over the season: @ncaavolleyball

Here is the match day post Texas put on their Instagram for their games against LMU and UCLA. Don't forget to follow them on that platform to see how their season goes: @texasbeachvb

Here is the game day post LMU put on their Instagram for their games against Texas and LSU. Don't forget to give them a follow on that platform to see how their season goes: @lmulionsbeach

Here is a special victory post LMU put on their Instagram after their win against Texas

    After this game, LMU would go on to beat both FIU (Florida International University) and Florida State while Texas would go on to beat California Berkeley and Hawaii, giving LMU a season record of 17-1 while Texas has a record of 13-4. The only team to beat LMU so far was by #1 ranked UCLA (at the time, UCLA was ranked #3 and LMU was ranked #7) when they played in Hawaii back in late February.

    Up next for Texas is the East Meets West they will be hosting in Austin, Texas. This is also the next tournament LMU will be playing in so the two schools will have a rematch. This rematch will take place on Saturday, March 22nd at 1pm Central Time if you'd like to watch that rematch take place.

    For those who don't know, Texas is coached by the legendary Stein Metzger, who was UCLA's head Beach Volleyball coach for over a decade, where he won two national titles in those years. Somehow Metzger has found himself in Austin, Texas. For those who don't know, Texas won the indoor national title for the 2023 season, so as you can see, the pressure is on for Metzger between both his success at UCLA as well as the success Texas has had on the indoor side. If none of this is ringing any bells as to why Metzger sounds familiar it might have something to do with the fact that he competed for Team USA at the 2004 summer Olympics in Athens where he would end up with a fifth place finish with partner Daxton Holdren in none other than beach volleyball.

Stay tuned for the next blog covering more NCAA Division 1 volleyball and until next time, Miller out

~J. Miller