The Berkshire Badgers boys volleyball team’s historic playoff run came to an end May 24 in the OHSAA Elite Eight at at Berkshire High School against the Nordonia Knights.
Berkshire photos click here.
The Berkshire Badgers boys volleyball team’s historic playoff run came to an end May 24 in the OHSAA Elite Eight at at Berkshire High School against the Nordonia Knights.
In a 3-0 defeat, the Badgers gave great effort against a challenging opponent.
Afterwards, Berkshire Head Coach Tim Percic spoke about the great energy his players demonstrated.
“There were some amazing plays (by the Badgers), going all the way to the bleachers, all the way to the center line, digging the ball out of the weeds and putting them back into play,” Coach Percic said.
It was this effort, energy and intensity that the Badgers demonstrated against the Knights that led to an extremely successful season.
“Last year there was a lot of kinks and we had to work out a lot of wrinkles,” Coach Percic said. “It was awesome this year to see the guys just gel again and take it so much further than we ever imagined.
“Credit to our guys for putting in the work, (and) being resilient in tough games. They should be proud, 1,000 percent, of everything they’ve done.”
As the Badgers improved over the past two seasons, Coach Percic described main factors leading to success. One crucial element was the Badgers’ ability to get better at defending and covering the floor.
“It’s our ability to be aggressive on defense, to cover the floor, to not let the ball hit the floor,” Coach Percic said.
In improving court coverage, the Badgers demonstrated excellent teamwork.
“The players are greater than the sum of their parts, is the only way I can describe it,” he said.
Learning to be resilient was also influential for the 2025 Badgers. In gaining the grit to overcome adversity during tough situations, Coach Percic said the Badgers began to show their ability to get past “third set slumps.”
“(We began) to push through those points where we lagged a little,” Coach Percic said.
Along with improving their defensive coverage, working together as a team, and showing resilience, a main turning point this season was the Badgers’ loss to the Villa Angela-St Joseph (VASJ) Vikings on April 22.
“I think that was the moment we stood at the crossroads,” Coach Percic said. “We were either going to go and be this team or fade off into obscurity. And they rallied, and made it what it is.”
Coach Percic said that having team meetings and implementing new drills helped the team overcome the adversity they faced after losing to the Vikings.
During the April 22 match against the Vikings, Coach Percic also noticed his Badgers’ offense needed to be more aggressive by taking swings at free balls, rather than just moving the ball to the center of the court.
The Badgers watched a particular play from the fourth set against the Vikings. In this play, there was a long volley which the Vikings won by taking an aggressive swing at the end on a free ball.
Said Coach Percic: “We went up in the conference room and watched that play in slow motion, charted where all the balls went and said, ‘What would have been different if we were the one’s swinging?’”
This moment led to the Badgers strengthening their offensive attack throughout the remainder of the season.
After that 3-0 loss to the Vikings on April 22, the Badgers went 6-1 leading up to their Elite Eight matchup with the Knights.
As the Badgers made their playoff run, the things they improved throughout the season would be relied upon in their Sweet 16 Regional Semifinal matchup with the Vikings on May 20 at Berkshire High School.
In their rematch with the Vikings, Coach Percic emphasized that the Badgers’ improvement in covering the floor made a big difference in their 3-0 victory. He expressed that the Badgers seemed to have an answer every time the Vikings sent the ball over the net.
Also, the aggressiveness on the offensive attack and the ability to move the ball past the Vikings blockers was important in the Badgers victory.
“That was our weakness in the prior matchup with VASJ: we couldn’t get past their blocks,” Coach Percic said. “We were able to figure it out this time.”
Overall, Coach Percic succinctly summarized the season: “It was awesome. It was a storybook season.”
Setter: Madison Markwardt, Round Top-Carmine, soph.
Libero/Defensive Specialist: Ana Servin, Sulphur Bluff, sr.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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.”
