The Long Beach State and UCLA men’s volleyball teams moved a step closer to a potential national championship rematch with quarterfinal sweeps at the NCAA tournament on Thursday in Columbus Ohio, while Pepperdine extended its late-season magic.

Top-seeded Long Beach (28-3) beat No. 8 seed Fort Valley State, 25-21, 25-16, 25-16, while third-seeded UCLA (21-6) dismissed sixth-seeded Belmont Abbey, 25-18, 25-21, 25-19.

Long Beach will face fifth-seeded Pepperdine (21-9), which outlasted fourth-seeded Loyola-Chicago in four sets, in a semifinal on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Two-time defending national champion UCLA will square off with second-seeded Hawaii (27-5), which defeated No. 7 seed Penn State in four sets, in the second semifinal at approximately 5 p.m.

Freshman setter Moni Nikolov paced Long Beach to a .367 hitting percentage as he made 31 assists. The 6-foot-10 Nikolov added 8 kills, 8 digs, 3 aces, and a block, moving three aces from tying the national single-season record.

Senior outside hitter Nato Dickinson had 12 kills, 2 blocks and 5 digs while hitting .429, and middle blocker Ben Braun had nine kills while hitting .800.

Freshman libero Kellen Larson (seven digs) anchored a defense that held Fort Valley State (16-10) to a .129 hitting percentage.

UCLA hit .455 in its match and three Bruins finished in double-digit kills: Zach Rama had 13, while Cooper Robinson and Sean Kelly each finished with 11. Setter Andrew Rowan paced the offense with 37 assists.

Playing in the last match of the day, Pepperdine dropped its first set against Loyola before rallying for an 18-25, 28-26, 25-13, 25-20 win to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2019.

Ryan Barnett had 17 kills and 2.5 blocks and Cole Hartke had 11 kills, 5 digs and 3 aces to pace the Waves, who sprung a pair of upsets against UCLA and USC to win the MPSF Tournament last month.

Pepperdine hit .295 and held MIVA champion Loyola (25-4) to a .218 showing.

Pepperdine lost its only regular-season meeting with Long Beach State this year, dropping a 3-2 decision in Malibu in late January.

Big West Tournament champion Hawaii hit just .238 but defeated the Nittany Lions, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23, in its match.

Women’s basketball

Sue Bird is giving another assist to USA Basketball, becoming the managing director of the women’s national team.

The five-time Olympic champion was named to the newly created position Thursday and it marks a major change in the way the organization creates its roster and coaching staff.

“I played for USA Basketball for so long and always really enjoyed my time with them,” Bird said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “I love representing my country. I love being competitive on that stage. To have that opportunity to do it in a different role is exciting.”

Before the change, a committee made those decisions, but now in a move similar to what the USA men’s national team does, Bird will be the one responsible for putting things together. Grant Hill has the same role on the men’s side.

“We are really, really excited about Sue for so many reasons,” USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley said in a phone interview. “Her pedigree and standing in the sport is so strong. Not just in women’s basketball, but all of sport. She’s a tremendous leader and we’re very excited that she took this on for us.”

The men’s team has had a managing director for two decades with Jerry Colangelo serving in that spot from 2005-21 before Hill took over.

“She’s had five Olympic gold medals herself and understands what’s involved,” Tooley said. “Having the managing director position makes it easier to work with the staff for long term vision of the program. It’s hard to do that with a committee that comes and goes and gets together a handful of times.”

Tooley said Bird’s term will be for four years — the same as the Olympic cycle.

NFL

The Carolina Panthers released veteran Jadeveon Clowney after selecting two edge rushers in the NFL draft.

Clowney, the No. 1 pick in the 2014 draft, had 5 1/2 sacks last season for the Panthers. He had one year left on his two-year, $20 million contract.

The Panthers drafted Texas A&M’s Nic Scourton in the second round and Mississippi’s Princely Umanmielen in the third round in last month’s NFL draft with an eye to getting younger at the position. Carolina also signed free agent Patrick Jones II in free agency.

The Panthers also placed running Jonathon Brooks, the team’s second-round pick in 2024, on the physically unable to perform list — meaning he will not play in 2025. Brooks re-tore the ACL in his knee as a rookie in Week 14 after suffering a similar injury to the same knee during his final season at the University of Texas.

TENNIS

Iga Swiatek bounced back from one of the worst losses of her career with a comfortable 6-1, 6-0 rout of home player Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the second round of the Italian Open in Rome.

Swiatek said she was dealing with “personal stuff” when she was beaten 6-1, 6-1 by Coco Gauff in the Madrid Open semifinals last week.

The second-ranked Swiatek is a three-time Rome champion but has not reached a final on tour this year. She improved to 21-2 in Rome since 2021.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved Longhorns basketball coach Sean Miller’s six-year, $32 million guaranteed contract as the school tries to boost a program that struggled in its first year in the Southeastern Conference.

Texas will pay Miller about double that of his predecessor, Rodney Terry. Terry still had three years left on a five-year contract that paid him about $3 million per year when he was dismissed in March.

Texas hired Miller from Xavier after the Musketeers beat Texas in the NCAA Tournament in a First Four matchup a few days earlier.

Miller, 56, had two stints at Xavier and also coached at Arizona. He coached the Musketeers from 2004-09 before leaving for Arizona. He then returned to Xavier in 2022 after he was fired at Arizona. Miller’s teams have made the NCAA Tournament 13 times with four trips to the Elite Eight. He is 487-196 overall in 20 seasons.

MOTORSPORTS

Oliver Oakes’ resignation as team principal of F1 team Alpine this week came several days after UK police charged his brother with transferring criminal property. Metropolitan Police said William Oakes, 31, was charged last Friday after being stopped the day before in the Silverstone Park area “in possession of a large amount of cash.”

Police said he was remanded in custody after an appearance before the Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.

Oliver Oakes had joined Alpine from his junior team, Hitech Grand Prix, where William Oakes also was listed as a director.