Two Knoxville boys are a part of a National Championship team. Brody DeJong and Urban Ziller helped Ohana win a national championship at a 17U tournament in Minneapolis earlier this summer. Both tell KNIA/KRLS they got interested in volleyball at a young age, and while Iowa does not currently sanction boys volleyball at the high school level, they both made a travel to squad. Both tell KNIA/KRLS Sports it was a great experience to win a national title.

Urban: “So we started off winning our first match and went 2-1 on the first day. We just knew we could win it and just come together and concentrate on one match at a time.”

Brody: “We went into the title game that couldn’t be at each other’s throats, and knew we had to uplift each other. The other team just died after we won the first set and we gained momentum fromthere.”

Both are currently students at Knoxville High School and are also student managers for the Knoxville High School Volleyball program. Listen for a full interview on a future Today’s Lely Radio Sports Page on KNIA/KRLS.

Photo from Urban Ziller

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian said his wife, tennis champion Serena Williams, initially tried to talk him out of investing in women’s sports due to her own difficult experiences in the field.

“When I said I wanted to start a team, angel city, she talked me out of it, because of her experience in women’s sports had given her the perspective to say, look, this is going to be so hard. She has had to go through all of this and survived, and thrive,” Ohanian said during an appearance on “CBS Mornings.”

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Despite Williams’ warnings, Ohanian proceeded with his women’s sports ventures, including Athlos, a women’s-only track and field competition that will debut its first field event in New York City’s Times Square in October.

“I am stubborn. These athletes in track and field captivate us, they should not disappear for the four years in between,” Ohanian said.

The venture capital firm founder announced the expansion alongside Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall, who will compete in the long jump event. Davis-Woodhall said she reached out to Ohanian after the initial Athlos announcement focused primarily on track events.

“It is always looked at last, on the back burner, but field events are so important for track and field,” Davis-Woodhall said. “When no sprinting is going on, it is almost quiet but then you realize there is field that is happening.”

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The event will take place the night before the main Athlos competition. Ohanian compared the long jump distance to a basketball three-point line, noting the athletic feat of “running and jumping that same distance with their body.”

Ohanian credited his marriage to Williams, whom he called “the greatest ever,” with opening his eyes to the potential of women’s sports investments.

“I have found something in women’s sports that is undeniably the result of seeing the greatest ever doing it. Women’s tennis is the prime example of women’s sports being worth as much in dollars, not feelings, the equivalent,” he said.

Davis-Woodhall, who has been competing in long jump since age 4, said working with Ohanian is helping bring her dreams to reality.

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“I have been doing this sport since I was 4 years old at an elite level and to now bring eyes to the sport, awareness, I never knew what that meant until I got a little bit older and a little bit more mature, and working with Alexis, he is helping me bring my dreams towards reality,” she said.

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Northwestern Volleyball’s 2025 schedule was fully released last month, as the Wildcats are hoping for a rebound after winning just five games last season and finishing second-to-last in the conference. Head coach Tim Nollan is currently in the midst of his first full offseason as NU’s coach, as he continues to rebuild and enhance the program to bring it to a competitive level.

The road to improvement will start with 12 non-conference matchups, four more than last season. The abundant amount of preseason games should benefit the ‘Cats, as they’ll have more time to ramp up players, figure out the best lineups and hone their rotation before conference play begins. The majority of their non-conference opponents were average but not elite last season; however, most finished with a significantly better record than the ‘Cats. Thus, they can provide insight into how much better NU has gotten and whether it has exited the lowly tier of NCAA volleyball teams.

NU will begin its season in San Diego playing New Mexico State, Eastern Washington and UC San Diego on three consecutive days. It will then face one of its toughest opponents in Baylor, which had a 14-4 conference record last season. The other test for the ‘Cats will be a road match against Buffalo, which finished 16-16 last season and 12-6 in the MAC. Aside from these two, the remaining opponents are formidable but beatable.

Conference play begins on September 25th and spans 20 games, with ten in Evanston including four games at home to start. The ‘Cats finished just 2-10 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in 2024, so this opening homestand provides an early opportunity to find confidence and success on their home floor, while making clear to the Wildcat faithful this is a new and refined team. The four games include matchups against NCAA tournament teams in Indiana and Oregon.

Another unique part of its schedule follows, as NU will go from facing a likely terrible team to a likely great team. A matchup against Rutgers, which is also seeking a bounce-back season after finishing last in 2024 conference play, will be followed by a road trip to Penn State to take on the defending national champions. The ‘Cats will need to approach both games with ferocity and be prepared to adjust quickly, given the huge difference in opponent quality.

It won’t just be Penn State that NU will have to contend with. A date with Nebraska — the only other 19-1 team in conference play last season — is scheduled for October 24. The ‘Cats will play several other tournament teams this season, including five at home. Aside from Indiana and Oregon, the ‘Cats will welcome Washington, Wisconsin and Illinois. Northwestern will also face the Fighting Illini twice this season, including a road visit on the final game of the season. Finally, the Wildcats will take on Iowa twice, with the first game taking place on Halloween in Evanston.

Other highlights on the schedule include NU making its first trip to Southern California to face USC and UCLA back-to-back in early November.

The conference isn’t getting any easier, but there are games every week that the ‘Cats have a shot of winning. Taking advantage of sloppy performances and feeding off home crowd energy could go a long way. Regardless, some improvement is what the program is looking for. Let’s see if it can deliver.

Spring sports proved to be successful again for Journal-area high school teams, with multiple state champions crowned and numerous state trophies making their way back to area schools.
While it was the most recent sports season, here’s a refresher of 2025 spring sports highlights for the Journal-area:
 
Girls Water Polo:
State Champion: Stevenson
State Qualifiers: Stevenson, Fremd
 
Boys Water Polo:
State Qualifiers: Stevenson, Palatine
Note: Both teams fell in the state quarterfinals …

Transferable skills