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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (January 15, 2025) – Four teams ranked in the top 20 of the AVCA Men’s Volleyball Poll, including No. 1 and two-time defending champion UCLA, continue the 2025 season at this weekend’s Fourth Annual First Point Collegiate Challenge in Austin, Texas, Jan. 17-18.
No. 1 UCLA (1-0) leads the stacked tournament that includes No. 11 Stanford (1-1), No. 13 Ohio State (2-2) and No. 14 Penn State (0-2). All matches will be played at the Austin Convention Center and will be broadcast on both ESPNU and ESPN+. Buy tickets.
Schedule
Aug. 17, 5 p.m. EST: UCLA vs. Penn State (ESPNU)
Aug. 17, 8 p.m. EST: Stanford vs. Ohio State (ESPN+)
Aug. 18, 5 p.m. EST: Stanford vs. Penn State (ESPN+)
Aug. 18: 8 p.m. EST: UCLA vs. Ohio State (ESPN+)
The 2025 Challenge is being held in conjunction with the Southwest Classic Boys Junior National Qualifier, the only qualifier for the 2025 USA Volleyball Boys Junior National Championship in the region. U.S. Men’s National Team Head Coach Karch Kiraly will also attend the First Point Challenge Clinic on Jan. 16.
Rosters of all four teams boast players from the U.S. Men’s National Team and U.S. age-group national teams.
UCLA
Cameron Thorne, MB, 2024 Men’s Collegiate National Team
Thiago Zamprogno, MB, 2022 Boys U19 National Training Team
Caleb Sapp, OPP, 2023 Boys U19 National Team
Andrew Rowan, Setter, 2023 Men’s National Team
Micah Wong Diallo, MB, 2024 Men’s National Team
Trent Taliaferro, S, 2024 Men’s U21 National Team
Sean McQuiggan, MB, 2024 Men’s Collegiate National Team
Cooper Robinson, OH, 2024 Men’s National Team
Sean Kelly, OH, 2024 Men’s U21 National Team
Zach Rama, OH, 2024 Men’s National Team
Stanford
Alex Rottman, OH, 2023 Men’s U21 National Team
Theo Snoey, OH, 2023 Men’s U21 National Team
Reed Wainwright, MB, 2022 Boys U19 National Team
Ryan Gant, S, 2023 Boys U19 National Team
Kaumana Carreira, MB, 2023 Boys U19 National Team
Luke McFall, MB, 2021 Boys U19 National Training Team
Ohio State
Grant Strong, L, 2020 A1 Junior National Training Team
Shane Wetzel, OPP, 2023 Men’s U21 National Team
Kyle Teune, OH, 2023 Men’s U21 National Team
Will McElveen, S, 2022 Boys U19 National Training Team
Penn State
Ryan Merk, L, 2024 Men’s Collegiate National Team
Gaige Gabriel, MB, 2023 Boys U19 National Team
Owen Rose, MB, 2023 Men’s U21 National Team
Blainey Jones, OH, 2021 Boys U19 National Training Team
Miller Trubey, OPP, 2024 Men’s Collegiate National Team
First Point Volleyball Foundation was founded in 2016 by USA Volleyball President and CEO John Speraw and Wade Garard. The foundation exists to create more opportunities for young men to grow and develop through volleyball.
For the first time, the Men's NCAA Volleyball Tournament has been expanded to an eight-team format. All schools have their place in the bracket set with opening matches beginning Tuesday, April 30. The week-long sprint for the trophy concludes with the championship match on Saturday, May 4. All matches will be held at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California and streamed on NCAA.com.
