Greg Franklin is taking the reins  of the Allen Community College track and field team.

Franklin, previously ACC assistant track and field coach, replaces Vince DeGrado, head coach for almost 20 years. DeGrado is now the school’s endowment director.

The Red Devils enter their first indoor meet Saturday at the Friends University First Chance Qualifier at Wichita States University.

“It’s nothing big. I was already a head coach prior to coming here,” Franklin said. “For Vince, he needed a new start. He had been doing this for a long time. He was a coach here when I was in JUCO running track. I ran for Pratt.”

Franklin competed in DI track at Middle Tennessee State University by way of Pratt Community College after a successful high school career at Prattville High School in his home state of Alabama. 

Franklin won All-Sun Belt honors in indoor track and was a three-time NJCAA All-American while competing for Pratt.

After his competition days were over, Franklin worked his way up from assistant to head coach of Butler Community College track program. 

After more than eight seasons with the Grizzlies, Franklin moved to Allen, providing a perfect complement to DeGrado’s specialty being distance running. 

With the women’s team finishing ninth at the NJCAA national meet last spring and the men taking 16th, Franklin is excited to see the progress they made over the past six months at Saturday’s debut.

“I’m excited. This is going to be a great year, and we brought in a lot of great kids this year,” Franklin said. “They will do well. RaNayla Moten was on the 4×100 last year that won nationals. She was second in the 100 and fourth in the 200. She made a really big impact last year. This year, she will do extremely well.”

Franklin said he uses the indoor track season as a primer for the outdoor season. With both teams finishing in the top 20 at nationals, he hopes to use the Friends University First-Chance Qualifier to give his athletes a baseline to improve upon until they return to nationals in May.

“I always use indoor to mold the first half of your race, so when you get outdoors, it really counts and matters,” Franklin said. “Some kids just want to run for their country and the U.S. trials, so we use indoor to prepare for that. Last year, even though I was an assistant, I watched what Vince did, how he handled things and with a mindset to learn how to progress the program. Vince dominated the distance side and did a really great job. He carried the Allen program for years, so I just want to continue what he was doing.”

Glen Charles Lietzke passed away on December 25, 2025 after a private journey with leukemia for more than four years. He battled with the same fierce dedication and resolve that he brought to his career in volleyball. For more than four decades, Glen provided innovative leadership that helped grow and strengthen the volleyball community both within Texas and across the country.

Glen’s contributions to volleyball began at the collegiate level. He coached at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls, Southwest Missouri State, and most significantly as an assistant coach at the University of Texas where they won the 1988 NCAA National Championship.

During Glen’s time in collegiate volleyball, he was inspired to build the game across all levels, and began to pour his time into the sport at the youth level. Glen created Austin Junior Volleyball, setting a standard of excellence that influenced clubs across the country. He coached two girls’ national championship teams and created tournaments that prepared players to perform at the highest collegiate levels. Similarly, Glen was a tireless advocate for boys’ volleyball at both the club and collegiate levels, most notably through his work with the First Point Volleyball Foundation and the creation of the First Point Collegiate Challenge, a men’s NCAA volleyball showcase.

This pioneering vision was recognized by multiple organizations. Glen was awarded the George J. Fisher Leader in Volleyball in 1998, inducted into the American Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2018, and inducted into the 2022 Greater Austin Sports Foundation Hall of Honor. However, these awards mattered less to Glen than the people he worked with and for. His vision helped athletes and coaches believe in themselves, improving the game of volleyball by inspiring everyone to think bigger and do better.

For Glen, what was most important though, was his family. 

He is survived by his wife, Kathy, and children, Nathan, Lauren; and beloved dogs, Moose and Stormi.  Born on March 6, 1954 in Minneapolis, MN, Glen was preceded in death by his mother Lorraine Begin Lietzke and father Clarence Willard Lietzke. Glen is also survived by his brothers, Craig and Jim, and countless nieces and nephews.

The Lietzke family will hold a memorial service to celebrate Glen’s exceptional life on Friday, January 2 at 10:30 a.m. at the Chapel on St. Andrew’s Episcopal School campus with a reception following at Highlander Hall. The Lietzkes request that those in attendance wear either navy blue, or their favorite AJV, LSC, or University of Texas attire to remember Glen’s legacy of growing the game of volleyball and of creating lifelong friendships and opportunities.

In lieu of flowers, the Lietzke family asks that you consider donating to two organizations: JVAA Scholarship Fund or the MD Anderson Cancer Center (P.O. Box 4486, Houston, TX 77210-4486), indicating Dr. Abbas Leukemia in memory of Glen Lietzke in the memo section of the check or donating online https://www.mdanderson.org/leukemiagiving..

 

The Hope College volleyball team ranked 16th in the final American Volleyball Coaches Association TARAFLEX NCAA Division III poll for the 2025 season.

The MIAA-champion Flying Dutch totaled 844 points after finishing the season with a 23-7 overall record.

Led by head coach Becky Schmidt, Hope advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III Championships before losing to nationally-ranked Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Flying Dutch claimed their third consecutive MIAA regular-season crown for the second time in program history with an 8-0 league record.

Hope’s roster featured three standouts who garnered AVCA All-America accolades:  senior setter Lauren Lee (first team), junior middle blocker Kamryn Burbridge (third team), and sophomore middle blocker Olivia Wyma (honorable mention).

Lee was also named MIAA MVP and joined by three teammates on the All-MIAA teams: Burbridge (first team), Wyma (first team) and Kathryn Oates (second team).

 

NAPERVILLE — The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) will open the 2026 men’s volleyball season with a strong national showing, placing three programs in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III Men’s Volleyball Preseason Poll released Monday.
 
Defending league champion Carthage headlines the conference contingent, checking in at No. 2 nationally with 533 points. The Firebirds, voted as the CCIW preseason favorite on Monday, trail only Springfield in the preseason rankings as they prepare to defend their league crown.
 
Loras also earned preseason recognition, debuting at No. 14 with 133 points, while North Central rounds out the CCIW presence at No. 18 with 78 points.

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LOS ANGELES – The UCLA Women’s Beach Volleyball team announced its 2026 schedule today, highlighted by hosting three regular-season tournaments (two at Mapes Beach and one at legendary Manhattan Beach Pier) and “Senior Day” against CSU Bakersfield.

The Bruins will compete in seven different regular-season tournaments during the year, beginning with the season opener against Texas on Friday, Feb. 19, at 9:45 a.m. PT at Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic at Queen’s Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Bruins will also face Hawai’i, LMU, Stanford, California, and USC in the opening weekend. 

UCLA will return home to host the Battle for LA (along with USC) on Friday-Saturday (Feb. 27-28). The Bruins will face Boise State, Cal Poly, Long Beach State, and Pepperdine in the friendly confines of Mapes Beach for the home opening weekend.

UCLA will host the MPSF Midseason Rumble at Mapes Beach on March 6-7, where the Bruins will face Grand Canyon, Washington, Oregon, and Stanford.

The Bruins will then host the annual East Meets West Invitational at iconic Manhattan Beach Pier on March 13-14. The Bruins will open with Arizona State and LSU on day one and conclude the event with Texas and FiU.

After a week off, UCLA will head to Austin, Texas to compete in the Texas Invitational on March 27-28. The Bruins will take on LSU, Texas, North Florida, and Florida Atlantic at Wright-Whitaker Sports Complex.

The sixth tournament of the season will take place in Laguna Beach, Calif., where the Bruins will face Cal Poly, Stanford, USC, and Long Beach State at the Best in the West tournament on April 3-4 at the Main Beach.

The final regular season tournament will see the Bruins in San Luis Obispo, Calif., for the Center of Effort Challenge on April 10-11. UCLA will open with California and Cal Poly on the first day and will conclude bracket play with Arizona State on day two before heading into the playoff portion of the bracket.

The Bruins will complete their home slate with CSU Bakersfield on April 14 at 3:00 p.m. PT for “Senior Day,” and will conclude the regular season with a date at USC on April 16 at Noon.

For the second straight year, the Bruins will head to Spiker Beach in Hutington Beach, Calif., for the 2026 MPSF Championship Tournament (April 22-24). The winner will earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament in Gulf Shores, Ala., to be held May 1-3.

2026 UCLA Women’s Beach Volleyball Schedule

BALTIMORE — UMBC Baseball coach Liam Bowen announced the Retrievers 2026 schedule on Monday afternoon. The 52-game slate features 25 contests at Alumni Field, highlighted by a visit from Maryland on April 7. 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL SCHEDULE

 

The non-conference road schedule features the first trip to Longwood since 2012 to open the season (2/20-2/22), and the first ever meetings with Penn (3/7-/3/8) and Florida Atlantic (3/13-3/15).

After the Longwood series, home Opening Day at Alumni Field will be on February 24 against Georgetown at 3 p.m., followed by a weekend series with Monmouth (2/27-31). UMBC will then play midweeks at George Washington (3/3) and Delaware State (3/4) before heading to Penn. They then return home to face Mount St. Mary’s (3/10), travel to FAU and then host a rematch with Delaware State (3/17).

America East play then begins as the Dawgs host Maine (3/20-3/22), they then have road tilts Coppin State (3/24) at UAlbany (3/27-29) before closing March by hosting George Washingto (3/31). April opens with a three-game non-conference home series against Iona (4/2-4/4) followed by the visit from the Terps.

Trips to Binghamton (4/10-4/12) and Georgetown (4/14) are then followed with a four-game homestand against UMass Lowell (4/17-4/19) and Towson (4/21). The Retrievers then make the return trip to Maine (4/24-4/26) and head to La Salle (4/28) before returning to Alumni Field to host UAlbany (5/1-5/3) and Coppin State (5/5).

The regular season wraps with trips to Bryant (5/8-5/10) and Towson (5/12), and then NJIT (5/14-5/16) comes to Baltimore for senior weekend.

The America East Tournament begins the following wek in Binghamton. The top six teams qualify, with the top two earning a bye to the double-elimination portion of the bracket.