The Multnomah Lions Athletic Department is adding Beach Volleyball to its sport offerings for the 2024-25 academic year. It will become the sixth program in the CCC (Cascade Collegiate Conference). It will join Bushnell University, College of Idaho, Corban University, Northwest University, and Southern Oregon University. Overall, it will be the 13
th varsity sport sponsored by Multnomah.
"Growing our volleyball program under the leadership of our current Volleyball Head Coach Diana Villalpando is something we are very excited about moving forward," said Campus Athletic Director Corey Mehl. "It's one of the fastest growing sports in the entire country and certainly here on the West Coast. This also provides the CCC the opportunity to host its own Conference Championship. It's also a great new opportunity to provide a Christ-centered community for female student-athletes to compete at the highest levels both academically and athletically at Multnomah."
Head Coach Diana Villalpando started the Beach Volleyball program at Corban University where she won the inaugural NAIA Invitational Championship in 2022 and was runner-up in 2023. "Being able to grow the volleyball program at Multnomah to include Beach is exciting. I am looking forward to see what the women can do next year" said Coach Diana. The NAIA needs 40 institutions to move from Invitational status to Championship status. Multnomah brings the total to 33 currently.
Multnomah's program gets the CCC to six institutions sponsoring Beach Volleyball which will allow the conference to sponsor its own championship that is an automatic qualifier into the championship. "We are very excited about adding Multnomah to the ranks of our members sponsoring beach volleyball," stated CCC commissioner Robert Cashell. "2024 marked an exciting inaugural year for beach as a conference championship offering and having a sixth team demonstrates the growth and enthusiasm around the sport."
Beginning in the academic year 2024-2025, Multnomah University, with the support of the Multnomah Board of Trustees and the provision of God, will be advancing our mission of expanding our Kingdom impact through a partnership with Jessup University. It will be renamed as the Multnomah Campus of Jessup University. The Multnomah Lions will continue in Portland, Oregon as its own athletics department and continue to compete in the Cascade Collegiate Conference and the NAIA for the foreseeable future.