PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers women’s tennis team (7-5, 1-3 B1G) returns home to take on No. 46 Penn State (11-3, 2-2 B1G) and No. 11 Ohio State (9-1, 3-1 B1G).In addition to the four newcomers, Ritchie also welcomed back four returners in Jackie Lopez, Minchae Kim, Mai Nguyen and Naomi Karki. Graduate Student Yana Gurevich became the first Scarlet Knight in program history to earn All-Big Ten honors, after going 12-5 in conference play.In the offseason, head coach Hilary Ritchie welcomed four newcomers to the team including two freshman in Zeynep Ilker and Karina Jumazhanova in addition to two transfers in Zuzanna Frankowska and Zhou “Cindy” Xintong. The Scarlet Knights will continue conference play when they travel to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Friday March 28 at 4 p.m. before traveling to Madison to battle the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday March 30 at 11 a.m.”The Arthur Ashe Award is a prestigious ITA Award and Tara is a perfect recipient,” head coach Hilary Ritchie said. “Tara always strives for excellence. In her two years at Rutgers, she made a big impact on our team, the business school and the student-athlete community overall.” On the heels of the 2024 spring season, alum Tara Chilton and assistant coach Hailey Barrett have both garnered regional and national praise from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) with the announcement of the end of the year awards. Chilton earned the prestigious Arthur Ashe Award while Barrett was named the Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year.
Scouting the Nittany LionsRU is coming off a successful fall that consisted of a Brown Invite tournament victory as well as a quarterfinal appearance by Karki and Zhou in doubles play of the ITA Regionals.
Overall, the team amassed an impressive 55-33 record in singles. Frankowska paced the squad in singles play with 10 wins, while the duo of Karki-Zhou won five doubles matches to lead the team.
Recapping the 2024 Fall
The Scarlet Knights had their best season under head coach Hilary Ritchie, finishing with a 12-12 record and earning their second win in program history at the Big Ten Tournament. RU also picked up nine victories in non-conference play, including three shutouts. National RecognitionRutgers started the spring 9-3, their best start since the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. The team also added two Big Ten regular season wins, defeating Michigan State and Minnesota. The ITA Assistant Coach of the Year honors an assistant coach who has exhibited outstanding leadership in ways that contribute to on and off-court team performance. These are qualities that assistant coach Barrett has exemplified since arriving On The Banks.
Scouting the Buckeyes
No. 46 Penn State is currently 11-3 and 2-2 against the conference. Losers of their last two, the Nittany Lions are led by Olivia Dorner, holding down the number one spot in singles play with a 7-4 record. In doubles play along with partner Maiko Uchijima, the duo is 9-3 in the spring campaign.
OSU is currently the 11th ranked team in the nation, holding a 9-2 overall record and 3-1 in conference play. The Buckeyes are led by No. 8 Luciana Perry and No. 35 Teah Chavez, who as a duo are ranked 15th nationally. Perry is 7-3 from the No. 1 singles spot while Chavez is undefeated in singles No. 2. The duo is 8-1 this spring and undefeated in conference play. New Kids ‘On The Banks’
The Returners
Recapping the 2024 Spring
Kim finished the spring campaign with a strong 11 singles and nine doubles victories, including eight in Big Ten competition. She helped RU earn a win in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament with a singles win over Michigan State.
Originally from Bursa, Turkey Zeynep Ilker comes to Rutgers with a wealth of international playing experience. A member of Turkey’s National Team, she has taken part in European Championships. She spent several years competing on the ITF Junior Tour and in 2023 reached a career-best ranking of 408.
PSU holds a 7-2 advantage in the lifetime series with Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights have not beat the Nittany Lions since the 2019 season, when they edged Penn State at home, 4-3.
The Scarlet Knights will take on the Nittany Lions on Saturday March 14 at 12 p.m. for the second Community Day of the year, outside at the Livingston Tennis Center. Those in attendance for Community Day will receive free pizza, raffles and giveaways, and autographs with the team. RU will then take on the Buckeyes on Sunday March 23 at 12 p.m back inside at the East Brunswick Racquet Club.
“Hailey is so deserving of this award,” Ritchie said. “She wears an incredible number of hats to help this team and the individual student-athletes as well. During a time when there is a lot of uncertainty in college athletics, Hailey always remains positive and puts her passion for tennis first.”
Karki finished freshman campaign with a combined 14 wins across singles and doubles competitions. Recorded first-career conference singles win over Michigan State and provided the dual-clinching win to help Rutgers complete its comeback and beat UConn.
Last Time Out
History Against Ohio State
Chilton, who came to Rutgers in the fall of 2023 at the start of her junior season, has made a long-lasting impact on the Scarlet Knights. During her time On The Banks Chilton has excelled in all areas including in tennis, academics and volunteering in her community. History Against Penn StateZuzanna Frankowska played her freshman year at Baylor and hails from Kobylka, Poland. In the fall of 2023, she made her debut at the TCU Fall Invitational and went onto pick up four singles wins and a doubles victory throughout the slate. In the 2024 spring, she played two matches at the No. 5 lineup spot and picked up a doubles win against the Iowa State on the third court. Rutgers made history in the ITA rankings, claiming its first-ever team and doubles ranking. The Scarlet Knights reached as high as No. 68 in the polls while the pair of Amira Badawi and Mai Nguyen came in at a season-best No. 54. Lopez compiled eight singles wins across the 2023 season, finishing the campaign on a three-match winning streak. She clinched RU’s first-ever victory over Minnesota in addition to the win over NJIT. Zhou “Cindy” Xintong spent her rookie season at Fordham, where she excelled. In the 2023 fall, she went 4-3 in singles play and 6-1 in doubles. She saw action in 18 of the team’s 22 spring matches, going 8-5 in singles play, earning victories on courts No. 3, 4 and 5. The Mississauga, Ontario, Canada native went 11 matches without a loss, picking up big two-set wins over George Washington, Brown, Richmond and George Mason. Nguyen finished her sophomore campaign with 18 victories, including 11 in singles competitions. She was featured twice in the ITA National Doubles rankings with partner Amira Badawi and defeated Penn State’s 69th-ranked doubles pair with partner Yana Gurevich. In addition, Nguyen earned a singles victory to help RU top Michigan State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Looking AheadRutgers dropped both matches in its last weekend of play, falling to No. 56 Purdue and Indiana. Naomi Karki, Jackie Lopez and Zuzanna Frankowska all recorded singles wins in the losses.Follow Along
Follow Rutgers women’s tennis on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.The Scarlet Knights have not beaten the Buckeyes in the eight-match lifetime series between programs.Karina Jumazhanova also brings lots of worldly experience to the team, coming from Almaty, Kazakhstan. She mainly competed in Women’s 15k events on the ITF World Tennis Tour, reaching a career-high ITF ranking of 178. The freshman also saw action in the U16 Juniors Billie Jean King Cup, representing Kazakhstan. She is an ITF J4 Doubles Winner and Finalist, in addition to being a Kazakhstan Doubles Finalist Champion.
Setter: Madison Markwardt, Round Top-Carmine, soph.
Libero/Defensive Specialist: Ana Servin, Sulphur Bluff, sr.
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Professional Volleyball League team Choco Mucho Flying Titans announced four addition to their team, Eya Laure, Jaila Atienza, Alina Bicar, and Caitlin Viray, for 2026 on Wednesday.
“The Choco Mucho Flying Titans welcome 4 new players to the team! They bring the grit, speed, and fire that will make every match unforgettable,” they wrote in their post.
This came after Royse Tubino, Bia General, Cherry Nunag, and Aduke Agunsanya ended their stint with the team. (Instagram/Choco Mucho Flying Titans)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – – Belmont University student-athletes recorded another remarkable semester in the classroom as 2025 fall semester grades were finalized last week.
For the 2025 fall semester, the departmental grade-point average (GPA) was 3.530, which marked the 56th consecutive semester that Belmont student-athletes have earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher. In addition, it was the 12th straight semester that the department GPA was over a 3.5.
“Our student-athletes continue to do an amazing job in the classroom,” said Scott Corley, Belmont’s Vice President/Director of Athletics. “That success is a credit to our student-athletes, coaches, and academic support staff who continue to maintain our department’s commitment to academic excellence.”
Highlights from the fall semester included:
64 percent of student-athletes achieved a semester GPA of 3.5 or higher
85 percent of student-athletes achieved a semester GPA of 3.0 of higher
15 percent of student-athletes earned a perfect 4.00 GPA
9 Bruin teams posted a team GPA of 3.5 or higher for the semester.
About Belmont University
Located two miles from downtown Nashville, Tennessee, Belmont University comprises nearly 9,000 students from every state and 33 countries. Nationally ranked and consistently recognized by U.S. News & World Report for innovation in higher education, the University offers more than 115 areas of undergraduate study, 41 master’s programs and eight doctoral degrees. With a focus on whole-person formation and data-informed social innovation, Belmont is committed to forming diverse leaders of character equipped to solve the world’s complex problems. For more information, visit www.belmont.edu.
After winning the women’s Volleyball Nations League and the FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship earlier in the year, Italy crowned a great season with the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship title. Turkiye reached a World Championship final for the first time in history and settled for silver, while Brazil completed the podium with bronze. The year’s top event was held in Thailand from August 22 to September 7.
The first World Championship under the new biennial cycle and with an expanded 32-team format marked a breakthrough moment for the sport, with unprecedented audiences across volleyball’s major markets. Volleyball World’s OTT platform, VBTV, added further momentum with more than 7 million views across the championship. The Italy v Brazil semifinal attracted 350 thousand viewers, while the final drew 250 thousand, underscoring the global appetite for premium volleyball coverage beyond traditional broadcast. Social media popularity of the competition was expressed in 7.8 thousand posts and 145 million impressions, as well as 48 million YouTube views.
The 32 participating teams were drawn into eight round-robin pools of four for the first phase of the competition. Reigning Paris 2024 Olympic champions Italy cruised through Pool B undefeated, dropping a set only in their match against Belgium. They went on to sweep their eighthfinal against Germany and their quarterfinal against Poland in straight sets. In a hard-fought semifinal against Brazil, the Italians came back from a set down twice before emerging with a 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 28-30, 25-22, 15-13) victory. The gold medal showdown in Bangkok was also pushed to five sets. This time Turkiye came back from a set down twice to get closer than ever to the world title, but the trophy went to Italy after they prevailed in the tie-breaker, 3-2 (25-23, 13-25, 26-24, 19-25, 15-8). It was the second world crown for Italy, after their 2002 triumph. They also won silver in 2018 and bronze in 2022.
“I still can’t believe it,” Italian super-star opposite Paola Egonu said after the gold medal match. “I’m really proud of the team and incredibly happy. This is a moment I’ll never forget. It’s probably the last time for some of our players, too, and my heart is full now.”
Turkiye also reached the final undefeated. They did not lose a single set in Pool E, shut out Slovenia in the eighthfinals and beat USA in four sets in the quarterfinals. Another four-set victory, a 3-1 (16-25, 25-17, 25-18, 27-25) comeback in the semifinal against Japan, propelled Turkiye to their first ever World Championship final and secured them their first ever World Championship medal.
2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship silver medalists Turkiye
Brazil also won Pool C unbeaten, but only after coming back from two sets down to reverse-sweep their match against France. After a four-set eighthfinal victory over the Dominican Republic and a tight straight-set quarterfinal against France, they lost narrowly to Italy in the semis, but bounced back in the third-place playoff against Japan. A nail-biting 3-2 (25-12, 25-17, 19-25, 27-29, 18-16) win added the sixth medal to their World Championship collection. Brazil now have four silvers and two bronzes.
2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship bronze medalists Brazil
Japan, USA, the Netherlands, Poland, France, China, Serbia, Belgium, Germany, Thailand, the Dominican Republic, Canada, Slovenia, Ukraine, Spain, Sweden, Kenya, Greece, Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, Czechia, Colombia, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, Egypt, Slovakia, Vietnam and Cameroon, in that order, took the places from fourth to 32nd in the final standings.
Italy’s 27-year-old setter Alessia Orro was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the World Championship. She also headlined the Dream Team, which featured opposite Melissa Vargas (Turkiye), outside hitters Mayu Ishikawa (Japan) and Gabriela Guimaraes (Brazil), middle blockers Anna Danesi (Italy) and Eda Erdem (Turkiye), and libero Monica De Gennaro (Italy).
The 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship Dream Team
Click here for the official FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship website.
Jasper Samuelson and Emmett Schumann on their way to first and third-place finishes in the freshman-sophomore 600-meter run.
A small crew represented Bonac boys indoor track at a crossover meet at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood on Dec. 21, but the track and field athletes who did compete turned in impressive performances.
Coach Kevin Barry said only half of the team was able to participate because of winter recess and illnesses. At least seven runners were out with the flu.
The highlight came from Eduardo Calle, who became the first Bonac long jumper to break 20 feet in 15 years, with a leap of 20 feet 1 inch — good for third place.
“This is his second winter track season,” Barry said. “He jumped 19 feet 1 inch last year and has been improving every meet so far. Twenty feet was the goal for him going into the season. Now he has new goals to set.”
Jasper Samuelson and Emmett Schumann finished first and third over all in the freshman-sophomore 600-meter run, with times of 1:31.89 and 1:36.41. Samuelson also won the 300-meter dash immediately afterward in 40.38 seconds. Samuelson is now the fastest sophomore in Suffolk County, while Schumann is the second fastest freshman, both in the 600-meter distance.
Sean Perez, a senior, finished the 1,000-meter run in 2:50 — good for fifth place.
Coach Barry called his athletes “very dedicated and hard-working,” and said they’ll keep at it over winter recess. “As a team, we are hoping to get some good work done during the holiday break and survive the flu that is going around to set us up for the big meets coming in January.”
