California gurls
From The GIST College Sports (hi@thegistsports.com)
Welcome to the week!
It was an especially good weekend to be a fan of LA–based schools — but it’s always a great time being a GISTer, no matter which colors you bleed. Pour yourself a cup of joe, and let’s dig through the weekend’s NCAA news.
— No. 4 Oklahoma State sophomore third baseman Tallen Edwards after her Cowgirls snagged a jaw-dropping series win over No. 2 Oklahoma on Saturday — taking a historic W in one of the sport’s fiercest rivalries, the Bedlam Series.
- Fun fact: The Cowgirls’ Friday dub marked the first time OSU had won on the Sooners’ home turf since 1997 — seven years before Edwards was born. Unreal.
Softball
🥎 Diamond-level drama
The GIST: Still stunned by the regular season’s last weekend? Same. The girlies closed things out with some diamond-level chaos, making fans even more excited for the upcoming postseason.
No. 4 Cowgirls own Bedlam: As you read, Oklahoma State pulled off the upset of the weekend season by winning their road series against blood rival Oklahoma — but there was more than vengeance on the line: The Cowgirls’ two wins, plus No. 1 Texas’ merciless sweep of Texas Tech, pushed Texas past Oklahoma in the Big 12 standings to clinch the conference dub. Giddy TF up.
Syracuse shakes up the ACC: Like Oklahoma State, the Orange played wingman this weekend: Their stunning series win over No. 14 Florida State shifted the standings, allowing No. 5 Duke to capture the ACC crown — even though Duke, who had a bye this weekend, didn’t even play. Work smarter, not harder, eh, Blue Devils?
No. 6 UCLA holds it down: The Bruins easily conquered their weekend series against Arizona State, locking down the last-ever Pac-12 regular-season title — but second-place No. 7 Stanford’s failure to sweep No. 21 Oregon padded UCLA’s dub.
No. 3 Tennessee seals SEC in style: The Vols were expected to snag the SEC, but their weekend sweep of No. 24 Kentucky gave them a two-game lead over the next-closest team, No. 9 Florida. With a strikingly solid win in one of the country’s most competitive conferences, Tennessee’s looking more and more like a natty threat every day.
- The SEC did have their fair share of weekend surprises, though: The aforementioned Florida swept No. 8 Texas A&M, while No. 11 Arkansas, No. 12 Georgia, and No. 16 Alabama all stumbled at the finish line by dropping their series to lower-ranked teams. Yikes.
National championships
🏆 California kings and queens
The GIST: If this natty round-up feels familiar, it’s because two teams bagged back-to-back ’ships this weekend. Do you get déjà vu?
🏐 Men’s volleyball: UCLA is so back. Last century’s uncontested powerhouse hadn’t won a national title since 2006, but they returned to the mountaintop with last year’s trophy — and this year, they doubled down on building a new dynasty: With their 3-1 win over host No. 2–seed Long Beach State on Saturday, the top-seeded Bruins won their second straight natty. Eight-freaking-clap.
🏖️ Beach volleyball: UCLA’s volleyball luck ran out in yesterday’s beach final: The No. 2–seed Bruins fell 3-0 to crosstown rival No. 1 USC for the third time in four national finals. The Trojans took home their sixth natty — pretty impressive for a sport that’s only awarded eight championships.
🎾 Tennis: Even though the 64-team women’s and men’s fields narrowed to 16 survivors each this weekend, there were only a handful of upsets: The unseeded Stanford and South Carolina men and Miami and Vanderbilt women are the only non-Top-16 teams to advance to next weekend’s Super Regionals.
▶️ Up next: Women’s golf Regionals, aka the national tournament’s first round, tee off today at various times. By Wednesday, the 72-team and 36-individual field will be slashed to 30 teams and six individuals, so track all six Regionals’ leaderboards here as you root for your team to survive the bloodbath.
🐾 Women’s conference tournaments
There were few notable upsets in the women’s conference tourneys, but there was one big milestone: No. 1 Northwestern sixth-year attacker Izzy Scane matched the NCAA’s Division I scoring record, women’s or men’s, with her 358th career goal — and she did it in just 80 games, seven fewer than previous record-holder, Boston College’s Charlotte North. It’s giving Caitlin Clark.
- Scane’s five goals helped lead her Wildcats to a 14–12 win over No. 2–seed Penn State in Saturday’s Big Ten tournament final, clinching their fourth title in five years. Next up for Scane? Breaking the record and defending Northwestern’s national crown.
〽️ Men’s conference tournaments
On the men’s side, the Big Ten tournament became Upset City. Last Thursday, No. 4–seed Michigan and No. 3 Penn State defeated national Top-10 teams No. 1 Johns Hopkins and No. 2 Maryland, respectively, to reach Saturday’s final. Once there, Michigan’s blistering 16–4 beatdown of PSU delivered the Wolverines’ second straight tournament title — despite their major underdog status.
🏆 National tournaments
The best is yet to come for lax fans: The women’s and men’s national tournament brackets dropped last night, and unsurprisingly, the top seeds in each are the reigning champs: Northwestern’s women and Notre Dame’s men. The guys’ tourney begins with a play-in game on Wednesday, but the real action starts steezing when the gals’ first round begins on Friday. Game on.
Here’s what has GIST HQ buzzing:
🏀 What to buy
A WNBA League Pass. At less than $35 per year, the subscription is a steal for all the upcoming hoops action this season.
🍻 What to cheers with
Modelo. Have a classic beer or try one of their new spiked aguas frescas, inspired by Mexico's street markets. Crack one open with fellow fans this summer.
🛌 Where to rest your head
SpringHill Suites by Marriott. Following your team on the road this summer? Book a comfortable stay at one of over 500 locations across North America.
Today's email was brought to you by Katie Kehoe Foster and Briana Ekanem. Editing by Lindsay Jost. Fact checking by Mikaela Perez. Ops by Lisa Minutillo and Elisha Gunaratnam. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster and Alessandra Puccio. Managing edits by Dee Lab. Head of Content Ellen Hyslop.