Ten Southern Arkansas University student-athletes for cross country and track and field have been named to the 2025 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.

Representing the Muleriders on the 2025 CSC Academic All-District team are Lyndon Orr, Garrett Hughes, Bo Rogers, Jason Patrick, Korbin McAuliffe, Logan Warren, Alyzah McGlasson, Breyonna Steward, Kailyn Thomas, and Anaya Ervin.

Men’s Cross Country/Track & Field

Lyndon Orr (Junior)

Major – Accounting

Minor – Criminal Justice

GPA – 3.80

Garrett Hughes (Sophomore)

Major – Engineering

GPA – 3.98

Bo Rogers (Sophomore)

Major – Chemistry: Pre-Health Prof Biochem

GPA – 3.77

Jason Patrick Jr. (Junior)

Major – Physical Education & Health K-12

GPA – 3.66

Korbin McAuliffe (Senior)

Major – Business Admin: Supply Chain Management

GPA – 3.81

Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field

Logan Warren (Senior)

Major – Biology: Pre-Health

GPA – 3.58

Alyzah McGlasson (Grad.)

Major – Public Admin: Social Entrepreneurship

GPA (Undergrad) – 3.96

GPA (Grad) – 4.00

Breyonna Steward (Junior)

Major – Exercise Science: Strength & Conditioning

GPA – 3.61

Kailyn Thomas (Senior)

Major – Chemistry: Forensic Science

GPA – 3.70

Anaya Ervin (Junior)

Major – Biology: Pre-Health

GPA – 3.50

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Devon Newberry is closing in on two years as a professional beach volleyball player. Yet for the last 731 days, “professional” has always felt like an elusive label.

The former UCLA standout is accustomed to life as a beach volleyball player — hauling her equipment on the beach, tugging her bag across the uneven sand while weaving through sunbathers and surfboards. She’s used to hearing provisional bleachers creak under sunscreen-slathered fans as music buzzes through nearby portable speakers.

There’s charm in that chaos. But it’s nothing like the entrance Newberry made Friday at the Intuit Dome.

Above her, the sweeping halo scoreboard glowed, flashing beneath the thump of blasting pop anthems. Around her, where NBA chants once echoed, beach volleyball fans cheered. And strangest of all, tons of sand created a faux indoor shoreline.

After two years chasing it, Newberry found her label.

“I walked into the Intuit Dome today and I was like, ‘I feel like a professional athlete walking in,’” Newberry said. “I haven’t felt like that as a beach player. There’s very rare moments when you’re like, ‘Wow, I am really a professional athlete.’ And when I was going underground here and looking all around me, I was like, ‘I really am a professional athlete.’ And that’s because we’re playing at the Intuit Dome.”

In what began as a head-scratcher for the players themselves, 300 tons of sand were poured into the Intuit Dome, turning the Clippers’ arena into a pop-up beach — where the L.A. Launch kept their perfect run afloat for the start of AVP League Week 5.

The Launch struck first and last — with Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon opening with a win, and Hagen Smith and Logan Webber closing it out — both pairs dismantling the San Diego Smash. Sandwiched between those victories, Palm Beach Passion’s men’s and women’s teams both made quick work of the Miami Mayhem.

The moment Newberry described — descending into an NBA arena re-imagined as a sand-strewn battleground — was the AVP’s moonshot: to re-imagine the sport in lights, not solely sunlight.

“Playing in such an amazing place, brand new building, with everything going on, with the new building around here, it’s really cool,” said 2016 Olympian Chaim Schalk. “To get to play at such an iconic arena is an honor.”

Logan Webber of the L.A. Launch spikes over Chase Budinger of the San Diego Smash at the Intuit Dome on Friday night.

(Joe Scarnici / Getty Images)

Beach volleyball rarely has ventured beyond its coastal roots. But at the Intuit Dome, the sport embraced a new direction.

“This shows that beach volleyball is growing and it’s trying to adapt to the world we live in, finding a new way for fans to interact with the players, and new ways for the sport to be exciting,” said Chase Budinger, a former NBA player who became a beach volleyball player. “This will get more people in the stands because it’s so new and so different.”

In place of sun-worshiping fans camped out on makeshift bleachers, parents lounged on cushioned seats as kids nestled beside them balancing chicken wings and pizzas on their laps.

The sport welcomed a combination of newcomers hunting for Friday night entertainment and AVP devotees.

“There’s so many people who love beach volleyball, and so many people who would love beach volleyball if they were just given the opportunity to go watch,” Newberry said. “And not everybody can make it out.”

Change comes with tradeoffs. With no wind, the court became something of a power chamber — the compact sand lending itself to higher and cleaner jumps, the still air enabling blistering serves and monstrous spikes that might have drifted wide on the beach.

Rallies became quicker and tighter. The margin for error shrank, tightening the grip on the crowd.

“For a lot of people watching beach volleyball for the first time, it’s really hard to conceptualize how wind, how deep the sand is, might affect play,” Newberry said. “So it feels like more of an even playing field which allows everybody to watch really entertaining volleyball.”

By re-imagining the boundaries of where its sport can potentially thrive, the AVP might have sketched out a novel blueprint for other sports.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if other sports follow and start expanding their ideas of where they could play,” said Olympic silver medalist Brandie Wilkerson. “I’m excited to see where this is going to go and see other sports try to catch up.”

Aaron Jessee join’s head coach Craig Martin’s volleyball staff for his first season at Stonehill in 2024-25.

Jessee is also an assistant coach for his alma mater’s men’s volleyball team, entering his second season with the Endicott men’s volleyball program. Jessee had a standout career with the Gulls’ volleyball program from 2011-14 .

As a team, Endicott produced an 82-52 (.612) overall record and a 49-3 (.942) conference mark during his career. The Gulls won two New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) championships (2013-14) and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the first time in program history in 2014.

Overall, the team made four conference postseason appearances, including two Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) finalists trips, and two visits to the NCAA Tournament.

Jessee’s career stats include 377 sets played (128 matches) and 650 digs (1.72 digs per set). Jessee still ranks top-10 all-time in Endicott men’s volleyball history in reception percentage (.958; 1,729 receptions), sets played, and matches played.

He earned his Bachelor of Science in sport management with two minors in business administration and applied mathematics from Endicott in 2014.

Jessee currently serves as the CEO of Kintsugi Movement, which is a functional rehabilitative and sports performance company that provides in-home and virtual care, as well as clinics, seminars, and educational content.

He also is board member of the International Volleyball Hall of Fame.

Preliminary Round Group Match Reports

Match 4, Group C, BRAZIL 19 SINGAPORE 8 (4-0, 5-1, 6-3, 4-4)

Brazil, who was always going to win, was on the front foot quickly, winning the first period 4-0 with a variety of goals and four separate shooters. Singapore could find no way through. One of the best goals was by Luis Silva, backhanding a shot from two metres when smothered by defenders and his head was under the water. Two swift goals at the top of the second quarter stopped Singapore in its tracks, having to take a timeout. Logan Cabral scored from top left and Paulo Oliviera went on counter for 6-0 at 7:18. The timeout had limited success with Brazil slowing its shooting, however, Pedro Real and captain Gustavo Guimaraes gained their second goals, the latter from eight metres out. Wai Fong was pushed out to five metres at centre forward but still managed to turn and score Singapore’s first goal at 1:22. Brazil responded for 9-1 at the long break.

Guimaraes started the third period and long-standing team-mate Gustavo Coutinho scored consecutive goals as Brazil rose to 13-2. And then 15-3 as Jayden See from the deep right and Cayden Loh on extra rejuvenated the Singaporeans. A Brazilian pair moved the scoreline to 15-3 before Sanjiv Rajandra pulled the trigger from the top for 15-4 just four seconds from time after Singapore stole the ball. Rajandra started he final quarter on penalty and at 1:31 netted his third, also from the five-metre line.

Match Heroes
Veterans Guimaraes and Coutinho topped the scoring with three apiece for Brazil. Rajandra also netted three for Singapore. The leading goalkeepers were on form with Joao Fernandes (BRA) and Lee Lee (SGP) both made eight saves before handing over duties after three periods.

Turning Point
Once the match reached 8-0 in favour of Brazil, the rest of the match was 11-8, showing how good Singapore could be with this sort of experience.

Stats Don’t Lie
Brazil converted four from eight and defended four from five on extra. On penalties, Brazil scored all three and Singapore three from five, Brazil stole six to four and shot 37 to 23.

Bottom Line
Brazil has the experience at this level and that showed. Size also made a difference.

What They Said

Match 3, Group D, CHINA 6 CROATIA 25 (1-7, 0-5, 4-7, 1-6)

Croatia warmed up for the harder matches with a solid showing against China. Croatia shot from outside with aplomb and China had to work to find space to get the ball close to players near the goal. It was fairly even early in the first quarter with Croatia easing to a 2-0 advantage before Wang Beiyi found the goal from two metres for 2-1. Goals were hard to come by after that as China could not find a way through. Croatia put away the next four as captain Marko Bijac stopped a Chinese penalty attempt at what could have been 6-2. Luka Bukic countered for the seventh goal and his third for the period. Zvonimir Butic scored the first two of the second quarter, followed by Loren Fatovic, Tin Brubnjak for his second and Konstantin Kharkov on counter, also for his second.

China improved muchly in the third period, having faith in its shooting. With Butic starting the scoring, goals were traded to 15-4 with Xie Zekai’s bouncer ending a 13 and a-half-minute drought. Franko Lazic and Fatovic pushed it out to 17-4 with Peng Jiahao scoring off a quick take-and-shoot on extra. Rino Buric scored his second of the period and Josip Vrlic ended all scoring from two metres for 19-5 at the last break. It was a 7-4 period.

Marko Zuvela made the fourth period his own with three goals as China was kept scoreless until Cai Yuhao converted a penalty foul, eight minutes after the last Chinese goal. Zuvela scored twice from outside and the second long shot probably came from the carpark. Bukic pummelled the Chinese goal for the sixth time — his second of the period. It was enough for a 25-6 victory

Match Heroes
Bukic with his six goals, followed by Zuvela with four and triples to Buric and Butic. Bijac made nine saves before handing over the goalkeeping reins for the final quarter. Xie scored twice for China.

Turning Point
Moving from 2-1 to 13-1 and that scoreless second quarter was where Croatia gained the fulcrum to victory.

Stats Don’t Lie
Croatia converted three from five on extra and stopped seven from nine. China scored one from two on penalty and Croatia stole the ball 13 times to three. On overall shots, Croatia had 41 to 29.

Bottom Line
Croatia is world champion, Olympic silver medallist and finished fourth in the World Cup this year. Enough said.

What They Said

Zvonimir BUTIC (CRO) — Three Goals

On what it means for Croatia to start Croatia’s title defence with a big win:
“It’s expected. We are a better team and were prepared for it, and it ended very well.” 

On whether he feels pressure competing as the defending champion:
“Croatia has been at the top of water polo for more than 20 years, so we are born and raised with pressure. We feel it, but it’s normal for us.” 

On whether there are areas of team  improvement:
“Of course, there’s something to improve. But it’s just the beginning of the tournament and we want to be better and better from game to game. That’s how it’s supposed to be, and I hope that’s going to happen.”

On how Croatia prepared for the world championships:
“We went to Hong Kong seven days before the world championships to adapt to these conditions. Everything in Singapore is great, the venue is perfect. We are very satisfied and we hope that our performance will match the high level of this tournament.” 

Match 2, Group C, CANADA 9 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 18 (0-3, 2-4, 2-5, 5-6)

USA kept Canada at bay for more than 10 minutes as it went on the hunt for victory. It was not easy pickings as USA captain Max Irving found two minutes in on a drive down the right. Hannes Daube converted a penalty and Dylan Woodhead smashed in a shot off a cross pass to the deep left, 21 seconds from the buzzer. Goals were traded in the second quarter with USA leading the way at 4-0. Aleksa Gardijan blasted in a shot from the top right, replied by Ryder Dodd — the MVP at the recent junior world championships. Ali Oussodou converted a Canadian penalty before Ryan Ohl, also a member of the USA junior men’s team, and Irving on counter had the halftime score at 7-2.

David Lapins found himself free top left to score for Canada a minute into the third period. Jack Larsen finished some superb passing on extra, followed by a heavily guarded Ben Liechty scoring off the right-post position. Saveljic continued the centre-forward scoring and Ryder Dodd rifled one in from deep left to give USA an 11-3 advantage at halfway through the period. Reuel D’Souza bounced the ball in off the back of the goalkeeper’s heads and Chase Dodd scored off the right-post position for 12-4 at the final break.

The final quarter opened up with goals traded and a USA triple that had Irving adding two more to his tally. Canada bounced back into the match with four straight with Lapins and Oussadou scoring again to narrow the score to 16-9. USA hammered in the last two to double Canada’s score.

Match Heroes
Irving with four goals for USA with Saveljic and Daube with three each. Goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg grabbed 10 saves. Oussadou topped Canada’s scoring with three goals. Lapins and D’Souza shot two each.

Turning Point
The two four-goal bursts in the first and third periods gave USA a more-than-adequate advantage.

Stats Don’t Lie
USA scored one from three on extra and Canada none from two. Both teams shot three penalty goals. USA stole the ball seven to four and both teams shots 31 times.

Bottom Line
In the battle for North America, USA was too good, being the Olympic bronze medallist. Canada performed well in spurts.

What They Said

Max IRVING (USA) — Captain

On the match:
“I think it was a good match. We came out, we played with good energy. Defence is definitely something that’s a priority for this team. For us to hold them to four goals through three quarters was good. I think for the most part, it’s a good foundation for us to build on.”

 On how he motivates his team before matches:
“We have all the motivation we need. The LA Olympics are coming up; that’s three years down the road. But we want to take every opportunity that we have to play high-level, international competition to use it and to get better as a group.”

On his performance and being named player of the match:
“I think it was good. Everything starts with our defence. I’m definitely going to want to build on that moving forward, and try not to get three exclusions in the next game. But it was a good start to the tournament.”

On whether he would do anything differently:
“Hindsight is 20/20, there are probably a million things I would do differently. But no, I think it’s good. I like the way that we started. We played with energy from the first whistle and we played good on defence.”

On how his team played:
“We’ve got a beautiful group. Dejan UDOVICIC is our head coach; he does an awesome job leading us. He just told us to go out there, play with confidence, play with energy, play with intensity, play with conviction, and just have a commitment to each other and commitment to the group. Play with attitude and passion. So, we’re really excited for every game we get to play at this world championships, and we know that we have a really special group.”

Ali OUSSADOU (CAN) — Three Goals

On the match:
“It’s a bit of a new group here that we have and we took our time to get in the game. For some guys like myself, it’s our first world championships. But I thought it went better as the match went on and we’re looking forward to the next game.”

On being his team’s top scorer with three goals:
“I’m happy, I’m just trying to help the team win in however, whatever way I can. And I guess today it was by scoring goals, so I’m happy to help the team power back in.” 

On lessons from the opening match:
“It’s experience. Every game, we learn new stuff. It’s good for the team to get games together and get experience, and I’m looking forward to the next game.” 

Match 1, Group A, SERBIA 27 SOUTH AFRICA 3 (8-0, 6-3, 4-0, 9-0)

Professional Serbia made the first step with an encouraging victory against an amateur side. It was a tough ask for the Africans against the Olympic champion, but they did manage to be a threat on a number of occasions. Serbia breezed through the first quarter with superstar and triple Olympic champion Dusan Mandic netting three of the first five with his wicked left arm. Captain Nikola Jaksic scored two of the first three. The second quarter was more interesting as South Africa found the goal three times with Brett Sneddon, cunningly turning at the left-post position to defeat Serbian goalkeeper Radoslav Filipovic. Calvin Kuperus snapped on a quick inbound pass as the goalie moved forward and Manqoba Bungane scored from wide left off a long cross pass, just managing to wedge the ball inside the left upright, eight seconds from halftime. Meantime, big centre forward Milos Cuk scored a pair —one from penalty — with Jaksic gaining his third.

Mandic added another two in a third period where it took six shots at goal before the first Serbian ball breached the defence. That was Vasilije Martinovic from a six-metre-foul shot. Jaksic snared his fourth (from six attempts), on penalty, while the South Africans were denied any such joy. Strangely, Mandic had one shot rejected. His 17-3 goal was from well outside, showing that he does not need to encroach another two metres when you have a cannon as potent as his. The fourth period also belonged to Serbia with Cuk screaming in an outside shot to add to his repertoire. Boris Vapenski added a centre-forward backhand to his first-quarter penalty strike and Nikola Murisic snared a pair for five in total. Viktor Rasovic scored twice in the closing minutes and Jaksic brought up his fourth from point blank.

Match Heroes
Mandic, as expected, with his six goals, Murisic with five and Jaksic with four were the best for Serbia.

Turning Point
None in this match.

Stats Don’t Lie
Serbia went five from five on extra and denied South Africa its sole chance. Serbia dominated the penalties with four goals, made eight steals to four and shot 38 to 19.

Bottom Line
When you pit the Olympic champion with an amateur side, there can only be one result. Experience is everything.

What They Said

Dusan MANDIC (SRB) — Six Goals

On the match:

“It was a good opening for us. We know that we are a much stronger team than South Africa and we demonstrated this today in the pool. We are forgetting this and already focusing on our next opponent, which is Italy, and it’s going to be a tough game for sure.” 

On preparations for Singapore 2025:

“We went to Thailand before to try to prepare for the time difference. That’s about it. We trained with Australia, also.”

On ending a 10-year drought for the world title:

“I think we have less pressure now than we had in Paris. Now, after Paris, we want to continue the same way. We are not thinking about a world championship that we won 10 years ago, it’s not important. What’s important is now we are a compact team and we grow together. We’ve been through a lot of difficult times especially before Paris. Finally, we won the best possible medal in Paris with our third consecutive Olympic gold. We got our confidence, we got our strength, our belief in ourselves and we want to continue in this way.”

Dylan WATT (RSA) — Captain

On the match:

“I think we started off a little slow. A lot of new players in the team made debuts and the nerves got to us. The second and third periods I was happy with, we had a really competitive game in those periods. 

“Towards the end, there was a little bit of fatigue and a little bit of excitement. We were quite excited to be only 18-3 down coming to the last period. We were looking for big things and got a little too impatient in changing things up. But honestly, we can’t be too upset with the result from the first game of the tournament. We can only grow from here.” 

Progress Points

Group A: Serbia 3, Italy, Romania, South Africa 0.
Group B: Hungary, Spain, Australia, Japan.
Group C: United States of America 3, Brazil 3, Canada 0, Singapore 0.
Group D: Croatia 3, Greece, Montenegro, China 0.

Day 4 Schedule

Match 09. 09:00. Group C, United States of America v Brazil
Match 10. 10:35. Group A, South Africa v Romania
Match 11. 12:10. Group D, Greece v China
Match 12, 13:45, Group B, Japan v Hungary
Match 13. 16:00. Group B, Australia v Spain
Match 14. 17:35. Group D, Croatia v Montenegro
Match 15. 19:10. Group C, Singapore v Canada
Match 16. 20:45. Group A, Italy v Serbia

ARLINGTON — Life in the Volleyball Nations League continues to be long on lessons and short on victories for the Canadian women’s team.

China, which entered Friday’s best-of-five match in seventh place, edged the 16th-place Canadians 25-22, 25-15, 22-25 and 25-23 at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.

Outside hitter Abagayle Guezen and opposite spiker Anna Smrek were Canada’s top scorers with 14 points each, while Yushan Zhuan led China with 21.

China led in attacks (59-51), ace serves (7-3), sets (130-126) and digs (97-96).

Canada made four fewer unforced errors (27-23) and had more blocks (8-4).

Canada will play the host United States on Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2025.

The Canadian Press