news-engine

Texas beach volleyball freshmen Ella Grimes and LeAnn Wise were named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Junior Beach All-America First Team for their successes in the 2025 season, as announced by the AVCA on Monday. Grimes and Wise are the first UT athletes to receive this honor in the 12 years of its existence. The AVCA Junior Beach All-America awards honor 24 high school athletes divided among three teams: first, second and honorable mention. Athletes are nominated by coaches and selected for the team based on their successes in their respective beach volleyball tournaments. Grimes, out of Springboro, Ohio, was selected as a member of Ohio Valley Beach. She committed to Texas and chose to continue with beach volleyball in July of 2024. Since her commitment to Texas, Grimes placed first at the 2025 FIVB U18 Junior World Championships in Qatar, 2026 AVP Junior National Championships and P1440 Spring Championships. Wise, from San Antonio, Texas, earned first team honors from her time at 210 Beach. Wise placed first at the 2026 AAU U18 National Pairs Championships with fellow Texas commit Ella Olson. Wise also placed 3rd in the 2026 AVP Juniors National Championships. Wise reclassified to the class of 2026 and graduated early to commit to the Texas Longhorns for beach volleyball in July. She played three years of varsity indoor volleyball for Stockdale High School, recording 868 kills, 7.2 kills per set and a .384 hit % in her sophomore year. Texas beach volleyball is coming off of its best season in recent history. The Longhorns went 28-7 last season en-route to being No. 2 in the national tournament. Even though their season ultimately ended in a semi-final loss to No. 3 UCLA, the Longhorns found their footing and will look to improve this upcoming season. Despite a successful season, Texas was in desperate need of young talent on the roster. Nine of the members on last year’s roster were juniors or seniors, so playing time and depth spots will be opening up very quickly. Grimes and Wise coming into the program with tournament experience could be critical for a team staring down a lot of roster turnover.