#2 TCU vs #4 LMU 5-4-2025 BVB National Championships
Dear Readers~
The whole season has led down to this moment as #2 TCU (Texas Christian University) takes on #4 LMU (Loyola Marymount University) to see who the 2025 national champion can be. Ever since 2016 when it started, it's been won by UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) in 2018 and 2019 and USC (University of Southern California) in 2016, 2017, 2021-2024, meaning out of the 8 national championships there have been, 6 were won by USC. With LMU taking out USC in the second round/ quarterfinals and LMU also taking out UCLA in the semifinals, the pressure is on for them to do good. With TCU as the higher ranked team, there's a lot of pressure for them to do good as well. With both teams having very well experienced coaches along with players and also LMU having won both previous meet ups this season (both close at 3-2), who do you think will win: #2 TCU or #4 LMU? Let's get into today's game to find out so onto Gulf Shores, Alabama we go for the final game of the 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.
With teams having not lost a game since April 12th at the Center of Effort Challenge hosted by Cal Poly and both being conference champions, TCU sits at 11 wins in a row while LMU sits at 10 wins in a row. Now let's get into the final game of the 2025 NCAA National Championships to see who wins and becomes the 2025 National Champions.
To no surprise, this was a matchup that took all 5 pairs finishing to decide so let's see how they all did starting with the first pair to finish. That pair was the 4's, or the fourth best pair of each team, which had TCU's Ana Vergara and Anhelina Khmil playing LMU's Isabelle Reffel and Magdalena Rabitsch. This game ended 21-14 and 21-19, both in favor of TCU and giving them a 1-0 lead over LMU. The second game to finish was the 2's, or the second best pair of each team, which had TCU's Hailey Hamlett and Maria Gonzalez playing LMU's Chloe Hooker and Vilhelmiina Prihti. The first set ended 21-16 while the second set ended 21-17, both in favor of LMU and tying the overall score. The next team to finish was the 3's, or the third best pair, made up of TCU's Allanis Navas and Sofia Izuzquiza taking on LMU's Abbey Thorup and Lisa Luini. The first set ended 21-16 while the second set ended 21-13, both in favor of TCU and giving them a 2-1 lead over LMU. The next game to finish was the 5's, or the fifth best pair of each team, which had TCU's Stacy Reeves and Denie Konstantinova playing against LMU's Tanon Rosenthal and Giuliana Poletti Corrales. Both sets ended at 21-16 and both in favor of LMU, tying the overall record at 2-2 and coming down to the final pair, the 1's. The 1's, or the top pair of each team, had TCU's Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno taking on LMU's Michelle Shaffer and Anna Pelloia. This was the last game to finish because it was the only one to go to three sets. The first set ended at 21-18, in favor of LMU, while the second set ended at 21-15 in favor of TCU. The third set didn't last long as it ended at 15-6 in favor of TCU and giving them the 3-2 victory needed to beat LMU. That means that TCU is the first school not in Southern California to win the national championship since it began in the mid 2010's. A special mention for Alvarez and Moreno is not only were they ranked the pair 1 of the all-tournament team and are national champions but they're also Paris 2024 Olympians, so talk about accomplishing a lot in only a short amount of time.
That concludes the final game of the 2025 NCAA Division 1 Beach Volleyball season. I plan to cover the indoor season come the fall but before that is the 2025 AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) season this summer so stay tuned for next week as I cover that starting with stop #1 in Huntington Beach, California. Make sure to stick around for later in the year when I go to the AVP stop in Manhattan Beach, California and do those blogs. If there's an AVP duo or certain sport that's not volleyball related you'd like to read, let me know and until next time, Miller out
~J. Miller
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