CHICAGO – DePaul Athletics hosted its annual Billys awards ceremony on Monday evening inside McGrath-Phillips Arena, celebrating the 2024-25 athletic seasons. Winners were honored for their success in athletics, academics, and community service.
Highlights of the night included recognition for former DePaul women’s basketball head coach Doug Bruno, who dedicated more than four decades of service to the program, earning 786 wins and 25 berths to the NCAA tournament. Bruno was recognized with the inaugural Doug Bruno Coach of the Year award, which will be presented annually in his honor to an outstanding DePaul coach.
Alongside Bruno, women’s basketball forward Jorie Allen was recognized as the Female Student-Athlete of the Year, after a stellar final campaign where she led the conference in scoring, set DePaul’s single-season record for free throws made (207), and was recognized as the BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Track and field student-athlete Darius Brown earned the honor of Male Student-Athlete of the Year, after emerging victorious in the 60m hurdles at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships and securing a third All-American honor.
Marty Schiene was also recognized for his eight years at the helm of DePaul golf, concluding his career with the team achieving the best under-par score in the conference tournament in program history.
Volleyball was recognized as the team of the year, after they eclipsed the program record for wins in a single season (21), earned two victories to advance to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship Great Eight and notched the most first-team all-conference honorees in program history.
The full list of award winners and nominees can be viewed below.
Male Newcomer of the Year: Demetrius Rolle, Track and Field Nominees: CJ Gunn, Men’s Basketball, Dustin Hudak, Cross Country and Track and Field, George Wyatt, Men’s Soccer
Female Newcomer of the Year: Briley Hill, Women’s Soccer Nominees: Kelly Greene, Softball, Meg Newman, Women’s Basketball, Ashley Montesdeoca, Cheer
Female Student-Athlete of the Year: Jorie Allen, Women’s Basketball Nominees: Rachel Krasowski, Volleyball, Jill Pressly, Volleyball, Beth Smyth, Women’s Soccer
Male Student-Athlete of the Year: Darius Brown, Track and Field Nominees: Noeh Hernandez, Men’s Soccer, Kaden Jackson, Cheer, Damian Rodriguez, Cross Country, Track and Field
Male Freshmen of the Year: Dominic Lucchesi, Golf and Jaiden Gary, Track and Field Nominees: Andy Hadziabdic, Men’s Tennis, Nolan McGuire, Men’s Soccer
Female Freshmen of the Year: Sade Miller, Track and Field and Tessa Roe, Cross Country Nominees: Katelyn Jamie, Women’s Soccer, Amanda Saeger, Volleyball
Most Outstanding Team: Volleyball Nominees: Men’s Soccer, Women’s Soccer, Track and Field
Moment of the Year: Women’s soccer advancing to the BIG EAST tournament semifinals with an 8-7 decision over Butler in penalty kicks
Nominees: Volleyball’s Aly Kindelberger earning a career-high 22 kills and the match point in her home state of Pennsylvania to defeat Villanova in five sets
Men’s basketball beating Georgetown in the first round of the BIG EAST tournament at Madison Square Garden
Eva Goncharov and Hannah Smith of women’s tennis defeating Tulsa’s 18th-ranked doubles pair for their second ranked win of the season
Sports Performance Awards: The Sports Performance Award was established by former strength and conditioning coach Tim Lang in 2003. The honor is awarded annually by the Sports Performance staff.
Male Iron Demon: Ryder Henares, Golf Nominees: Dominic Cole, Track and Field, Charles Lewis, Track and Field Female Iron Demon: Schuyler Riese, Women’s Soccer Nominees: Jessica Beckman, Track and Field, Eleanor Nobbs, Women’s Tennis
Rev. John R. Cortelyou Award: The three seniors below distinguished themselves by earning the highest GPAs in their student-athlete graduating class.
Sven Moser, Men’s Tennis Eva Goncharov, Women’s Tennis Katelynn Oxley, Volleyball
Team Community Service Award: Women’s Soccer Individual Community Service Award: Eleanor Nobbs, Women’s Tennis
Blue Demon Staff Award: Jacob Forney, Assistant Director of Sports Performance Nominees: Nathan Johnson, Assistant Director of Sports Performance Terri Sullivan, Assistant Director for Academic Advising and Student-Athlete Development
Most Outstanding Performers: Each coaching staff annually selects their most outstanding performer.
Men’s Basketball: CJ Gunn Women’s Basketball: Jorie Allen Cheer: Gwenavere Halik Men’s Cross Country: Damian Rodriguez Women’s Cross Country: Tessa Roe Dance: Elliott Stephenson Golf: Dominic Lucchesi Men’s Soccer: Noeh Hernandez Women’s Soccer: Beth Smyth Softball: Baylee Cosgrove Men’s Tennis: Matteo Iaquinto Women’s Tennis: Eleanor Nobbs Men’s Indoor Track and Field: Darius Brown Women’s Indoor Track and Field: Jaiah Hopf Men’s Outdoor Track and Field: Demetrius Rolle Women’s Outdoor Track and Field: Jessica Beckman Volleyball: Rachel Krasowski and Jill Pressly
Father Edward Riley, C.M. and Jean Nordberg Memorial Awards: A crucial piece of the DePaul Athletics annual celebration for more than 30 years, these awards recognize the contributions of top female (Nordberg) and male (Riley) student-athletes whose academic excellence, personal character and leadership best reflect the awards’ namesakes.
Father Edward Riley, C.M Awards: Men’s Basketball: Isaiah Rivera Men’s Cross Country: Damian Rodriguez Dance: Aidan Ores Golf: Ryder Henares Men’s Tennis: Sven Moser Men’s Track and Field: Dominic Cole
Jean Nordberg Memorial Awards: Women’s Basketball: Jorie Allen Cheer: Kayleen Iniguez Women’s Cross Country: Meghan Dieball Women’s Soccer: Jen Devona Softball: Carly Alvers Women’s Tennis: Eleanor Nobbs Women’s Track and Field: Kash Allen Volleyball: Aly Kindelberger
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ABOUT DEPAUL ATHLETICS DePaul’s 15 intercollegiate athletic teams compete in the NCAA Division I, BIG EAST Conference. DePaul University began sponsoring athletics teams in the early 1900’s, with intercollegiate athletics coming to fruition in the 1920’s. Legendary coach Ray Meyer helped put DePaul on the map in the 1970’s as the men’s basketball program helped elevate the university to national prominence. Through a bold new vision for the future, DePaul Athletics looks to become the premier program in the BIG EAST Conference through a focus on winning championships with integrity, building champion students through education and intentional development, and serving as a visible ambassador for DePaul University and the Chicago community. DePaul Athletics has a storied tradition and is uniquely positioned to support the university’s mission and commitment to academic excellence, real world experience, community engagement, and systemic change. Further, the department is steadfast in its commitment to grow the university’s national exposure and enrollment through athletics. Visit DePaulBlueDemons.com to learn more.
When watching St. Thomas More’s volleyball team play, it’s hard not to notice Eleanor Guidry.
As the Cougars’ libero, Guidry wears a different uniform color than her teammates, but that’s not the only reason the defensive specialist stands out.
Guidry often makes difficult digs look routine and has established herself as the anchor of the Cougars’ defense.
“She’s so consistent and she has great range,” coach Jessica Burke said of the 5-foot-6 senior. “She has great platform awareness, can put the ball and manipulate the ball how she wants. She takes up a lot of space in serve-receive and defense, so that helped take the pressure off some of our kids that were new to the passing unit.”
Guidry finished last season with 651 digs, 42 aces, 42 assists and a 2.23 pass rating on 802 attempts this past season.
“El makes the hard things look easy and that’s the mark of a really good player,” Burke said. “She’s not flashy. She doesn’t do more than she needs to do. She reads extremely well, so she is in the right place at the right time. She has great range, so if she is hitting the floor then she is making a big play. It’s a play that most liberos wouldn’t even get to.”
In 2025, Guidry helped lead the Cougars to a 41-5 record and a fifth consecutive Division II state championship. For her efforts, she was named the Acadiana Advocate volleyball team’s Most Valuable Player.
“I think it is well deserved,” Burke said. “This kid works so hard all of the time. She takes zero days off and she has zero quit. Anything I ask her to do, she does it. Any adjustments I ask her to make, she makes them. It’s hard sometimes for people to recognize the libero because they’re just first contact. They don’t get the big kill or they’re not running the offense as a setter, but they’re so integral to a great team.”
COMMERCE – East Texas A&M University men’s basketball player Josh Taylor and women’s basketball player Nina Horvath are this week’s Dixie Turman State Farm Agency Student-Athletes of the Week.
Taylor (Wollongong, Australia) appeared in all three games last week, averaging 5.7 points and 2.7 rebounds, which included 17 points and six rebounds off the bench at Nicholls. The Lions play at New Orleans on Monday before returning home to host UTRGV on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Horvath (Oberwart, Austria) guided the Lions to a 2-1 week, starting all three games and averaging 12 points per game as well as 2.3 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game. In the win at New Orleans, she led all scorers with 24 points. The Lion women play both their games at home this week, hosting A&M-Corpus Christi for Faculty & Staff Appreciation Day on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. and UTRGV on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
The Dixie Turman State Farm Agency Student-Athletes of the Week is awarded by Lion Athletics each week during the academic year in partnership with Dixie Turman State Farm Agency.
2025-26 DIXIE TURMAN STATE FARM STUDENT-ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
The second event of 2026 at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center brought a crowd and a vibe not seen or heard since the last time Hawaii men’s volleyball took center stage.
The second-ranked Rainbow Warriors opened the season in front of a raucous crowd of 5,685 that still sounded like it was celebrating the new year as they watched Hawaii sweep New Jersey Institute of Technology 25-11, 25-16, 25-14 on Friday night.
Nine months after beating Long Beach State for the Big West championship, which is the last time the arena drew a crowd this big for a UH sporting event, Hawaii returned to its home floor with five of its seven starters back from a run to the national semifinals.
Sophomore Kristian Titriyski, who missed the final eight matches of his freshman season with an ankle injury, led Hawaii with 12 kills.
All five starting pins and middles hit .455 or better for the match as UH hit .517 as a team and had 13 1/2 blocks.
“We didn’t get to practice in here until today. You could tell the guys had a lot of extra energy,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “This is something that we will never take for granted. So appreciative when (the fans) are taking the time and spending the money to come out and here and support us and we are doing everything we can to put on a good show and win matches.”
Sophomore Adrien Roure, who was an AVCA first-team All-American as a freshman, hit .538 with eight kills in two swings.
Louis Sakanoko, one of two third-year starters, had four kills in eight swings and sophomore middle transfer Trevell Jordan also had four kills with six blocks.
Justin Todd, who has played both in the middle and on the outside, switched back to middle during practice this week and put down all three of his kill attempts before resting in the third set.
Junior setter Tread Rosenthal, the floor captain, tied a career high with eight blocks and had 26 assists, three digs and two kills, including the match-ender after 95 minutes.
“It was impressive,” Wade said. “Two hitting errors in two sets and four errors total will get it done. Overall pretty efficient dominant performance and stoked to see the guys play that well.”
Rosenthal had two aces during Hawaii’s 5-0 run to start the match, setting the tone for what would be a quick night.
Hawaii hit .556 in the opening set with only one error and had three aces, with one from Titriyski that was initially ruled out but called in after a challenge that last about 15 seconds.
Hawaii continued its offensive efficiency in the second set, again hitting over .500 to control the set.
A triple block by Titriyski, Sakanoko and Todd ended the set and was the 10th for Hawaii, while the Highlanders had yet to record a block and were hitting .059.
UH made changes to the lineup in the third set, bringing in sophomores Ofeck Hazan in the middle and Finn Kearney on the outside.
Hawaii showed little drop-off and had a chance to hit over .500 in all three sets until it needed four swings to end match point.
“They were playing smart, staying high, not letting the ball go down to their level, and even when it was a bad set, they kept it in play and just kept playing,” Rosenthal said of his teammates. “I think our guys showed that they could play smart and pretty efficient.”
The Rainbow Warriors played without sophomore opposite Kainoa Wade and freshman middle Roman Payne, who are both injured.
Andre Aleixo had 10 kills to lead the Highlanders, who finished the match without a block.
RIVERDALE, N.Y. – The Manhattan Jaspers women’s basketball team (1-12, 1-3 MAAC), despite a combined 32 from Colette Mulderig (18) and Hana Mühl (14), fell to the Red Foxes of Marist (5-9, 2-2 MAAC) by a final score of 62-57 inside Draddy Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Brianna Davis and Mühl both knocked down the first pair of buckets from inside in the first few minutes.
Four free throws courtesy of Elisa Solé Sanchez and Mulderig upped the advantage to five points.
Autumn Taylor’s feed to Mulderig in the paint gave her four on the day and a six point lead for the Jaspers, before ending the quarter at four.
Marist jumped back on top following seven unanswered points, a run starting in the first and culminating at the start of the second frame.
Mulderig was granted the opportunity at a three point play following her and-one layup in the paint, extending her point total to seven.
Davis drove inside for a layup with under a minute to go, eventually being the last bucket of the half, as Manhattan held a three point advantage going into the locker room.
The Red Foxes came out of the break on a mission, scoring the first six points forcing a Green and White timeout.
Kristina Juric tacked on two field goals out of the media timeout, giving the Jaspers the lead once more.
Davis and Mulderig beared the scoring load down the stretch of the third frame, combining for seven in the final four minutes to knot things up at the end of the quarter.
It was another hot start for the visitors to start the fourth, going up six within three minutes.
Solé Sanchez tallied two layups at the five minute mark to cut the margin down to two.
Mulderig went one-for-two from the stripe with 1:13 remaining, putting the hosts within reach at one point.
Manhattan got outscored 6-2 in the final minute, with the Red Foxes holding on 62-57.
STATS AND NOTES
Graduate forward Colette Mulderig led the way in scoring with 18 points on seven-for-14 shooting, as well as seven rebounds and four blocks.
Senior guard Hana Mühl accumulated 14 on the scoreboard, the third time she’s hit that number on the season. In addition, the Croatia native sunk all six of her free throw attempts for a new season-high.
Senior guard Brianna Davis spread the rock around with four assists, while swiping it away on the defensive end for three steals.
Junior forward Kristina Juric pulled down the most rebounds with eight, her second-most on the year.
Manhattan shot at its best rate in the third quarter, with a 50% clip.
NEXT UP:
Manhattan will continue its 2025-26 campaign on Thursday, January 8 when the Jaspers travel to Buffalo to take on the Golden Griffins from Canisius. Action is scheduled to take place from Koesssler Athletic Center starting at 11 a.m. and can be viewed on ESPN+ with a paid subscription.
St. Thomas More’s volleyball program continued its winning ways this past season, and coach Jessica Burke was again an instrumental reason for the Cougars doing so.
Burke, who led the Cougars to a 41-5 record and a fifth consecutive Division II state championship, was named the Acadiana Advocate’s All-Metro Volleyball Coach of the Year.
It’s another coach of the year honor for Burke, who was named the 2025 American Volleyball Coaches Association regional coach of the year.
It was another impressive showing by Burke and her Cougars, who ended the season on a 17-match winning streak.
