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Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame to Induct Six in 2025 Class

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LEWISBURG, Pa. – Five standout athletes along with a pioneer in the broadcasting of Bison sporting events have been elected to the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the 47th induction class. The group will be formally inducted on Friday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Terrace Room in the Elaine Langone Center on campus, as part of Homecoming Weekend festivities.
 
The Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2025:

  • Phil Reynolds ’66, a standout member of Bucknell’s NCAA champion men’s swimming and diving team.

  • Joe Triszczuk ’76, another outstanding swimmer who led the Bison to four straight conference championships.

  • Bob Rhein ’85, an All-East Coast Conference selection in both soccer and lacrosse and one of the most prolific goal-scorers in Bucknell soccer history.

  • Valentina Rozas ’10, a league MVP and four-time all-conference honoree who becomes the first Hall of Fame inductee from the sport of women’s water polo.  

  • Rob Arent ’12, a highly decorated sprinter and hurdler who went from walk-on to nine-time Patriot League champion.

  • Bob Behler, who served as the “Voice of the Bison” for 14 years as the play-by-play announcer for football, basketball, and other sports while establishing the broadcast position as a full-time entity within Bucknell Athletics.  

The Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame was established in 1979 to honor the very best in the history of Bison athletics. The interactive Hall of Fame display is located on the second floor of the Kenneth Langone Athletics and Recreation Center. This year’s induction brings to 305 the number of outstanding student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and friends of Bucknell whose contributions are forever preserved in the Hall of Fame.
 
Below is more information on each member of the Hall of Fame Class of 2025.
 
PHIL REYNOLDS ’66 was the No. 1 breaststroker on Bucknell’s landmark 1964 NCAA College Division national championship team. Reynolds won individual NCAA titles in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 400 medley relay at that meet, and then in 1965 he repeated as a national champion in the 400 medley relay to help Bucknell to a third-place finish in the team standings.
 
A native of Rochester, N.Y., Reynolds was a College Division All-American in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes in 1964 and in the 400 medley relay in both 1964 and 1965. He dominated at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships, sweeping both breaststrokes in three straight years from 1964-66, and he was part of gold medal 400 medley relays as a sophomore and junior. Bucknell captured MAC team titles in 1964 and 1965 and was the runner-up in 1966. Reynolds graduated with the Bucknell and MAC records in both breaststroke events.   
 
Reynolds co-captained the 1966 team with Jerry Thimme, and he joins former teammates Thimme and Jim Smigie in the Hall of Fame.
 
JOE TRISZCZUK ’76 led the Bison men’s swimming and diving team to four straight conference titles – two in the MAC and two in the East Coast Conference. He won ECC gold medals in the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley as a senior, and he swam on 10 conference championship relays, including four straight in the 800 free relay and three straight in the 400 free relay and 400 medley relay. As a junior, he joined fellow Hall-of-Famers Bill Drake, Geoff Miller, and Roger Schwanhausser in setting school and conference records in all three relays. That foursome went on to compete at the NCAA Championships in all three events.
 
Swimming for Hall-of-Fame Coach Dick Russell, Triszczuk won the Dearstyne-Dorr Award as the team’s most outstanding performer in 1976. The Newportville, Pa., native was part of an 11-0 team in 1973-74 and also competed on two unbeaten water polo squads in 1974 and 1975. Triszczuk’s water polo prowess landed him in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” in the Nov. 25, 1975 issue. The citation recognized his 14 goals in three tournament games at Yale to lead the Bison to their first Eastern Intercollegiate Championship. Triszczuk scored 34 goals in the regular season, during which Bucknell was 12-0.
 
BOB RHEIN ’85 was one of Bucknell’s finest two-sport athletes in the 1980s, and he remains one of the men’s soccer program’s all-time leading scorers. Rhein played four years of soccer and then joined the lacrosse team in the spring of his junior and senior years. He earned All-East Coast Conference honors in both sports.
 
On the soccer pitch, Rhein earned All-ECC citations in 1983 and 1984, and as a senior in 1984 he also garnered Honorable Mention All-Region honors. Rhein scored 30 career goals and is one of only seven 30-goal scorers in program history. His 75 career points rank eighth all-time. A native of Wynnewood, Pa., Rhein scored nine goals as a sophomore and junior and 10 as a senior, and he was part of teams that went 36-22-5 during his four seasons.
 
Rhein joined Sid Jamieson’s lacrosse team in the spring of 1984, and in his first year playing college lacrosse he was the only Bucknell player named to the All-ECC Team. Rhein led the team in assists with 13 as a midfielder, and then as a senior he was part of Bucknell’s ECC co-championship team. He received the Albert E. Humphreys Award as the top multi-sport athlete in his senior class.
 
VALENTINA ROZAS ’10 becomes the first women’s water polo player inducted into the Hall of Fame. She was a three-time Honorable Mention All-American, a four-time First Team All-CWPA selection, and the 2008 CWPA Player of the Year. Rozas, who graduated with 232 goals and 99 assists, helped the Bison to their first-ever CWPA Southern Division championship and a school-record 26 wins as a senior in 2010.
 
Her 232 goals are second-most in team history, just five off the record, and her 331 career points rank fifth all-time. Rozas held a share of the school record with seven goals in a game, and her career-high 73 goals in 2009 are third-most in team history.  
 
ROB ARENT ’12 walked on to the Bison track and field team after starring in soccer at New Providence High School in New Jersey. With only one year of track experience coming into college, Arent went on to become a nine-time Patriot League Champion, two-time Patriot League Outdoor Track Athlete of the Meet, and the Christy Mathewson Award winner as the top athlete in his class. He was a leading point-scorer on Bison teams that won three straight PL outdoor championships, ending a 19-year drought, as well as the 2012 indoor title.
 
Arent swept the 400-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles in both 2010 and 2011, and in 2012 he won gold in both the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles. Perhaps the highlight of his career was his incredible performance at the 2010 Patriot League Outdoor Championships at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. In a span of four hours, Arent won the bronze medal in the 110 hurdles, he won the open 400 in a photo finish, he ran away with the gold medal in the 400 hurdles, and he anchored the silver-medal 4×400 relay that clinched a three-point win over Army in the final event of the meet.
 
Arent graduated with school records in the indoor 60-meter hurdles and outdoor 110- and 400-meter hurdles, and he was an NCAA Regional qualifier in the 400 hurdles.
 
BOB BEHLER arrived at Bucknell in the fall of 1986, fresh off a play-by-play stint with the AA Chattanooga Lookouts and only one year removed from graduation at the University of Georgia. Behler quickly parlayed what was intended to be a 10-week football play-by-play position at Bucknell into a full-time gig, where he was responsible for selling the advertising and producing the broadcasts. Over the next 13 years, he expanded his coverage to basketball and other sports and also produced from scratch a groundbreaking television show focused on Bison football and basketball, which was distributed to cable stations with millions of subscribers throughout the East Coast.
 
Behler was beloved throughout the local community as the “Voice of the Bison”, where he called numerous memorable games, including Bucknell’s first two NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games in 1987 and 1989, and the football team’s dramatic Patriot League title-clinching overtime win over Colgate in 1996. Behler’s promotion of Bison Athletics stretched beyond just football and basketball. He also served as the sports information contact for the baseball team every spring, he called play-by-play for sports such as soccer and field hockey to distribute tapes to parents and families, and in 1991 he produced a first-of-its-kind radio broadcast of the inaugural Patriot League Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
 
In addition to his play-by-play duties at Bucknell, Behler also called boxing, basketball, and team handball at the Goodwill Games, he called NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Games for CBS Radio, and he covered numerous NCAA Championships for Sportscast Productions. Behler moved on to UMass in 1999, and he has been the play-by-play voice of Boise State football and men’s basketball for the last 15 years, where he has won six Idaho Sportscaster of the Year awards from the National Sports Media Association (NSMA).



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Texas A&M tops Kentucky for first NCAA volleyball championship: ‘We sent a warning shot out to the world’

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December 22, 2025

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With Texas A&M up 24-20 in the third set of the NCAA women’s volleyball title match, Maddie Waak set the ball for Ifenna Cos-Okpalla. Though Logan Lednicky and Kyndal Stowers had played bigger games for the Aggies, it was Cos-Okpalla who got the call for the championship point.

She elevated and slammed the ball in between Kentucky’s defenders at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. With that kill, Texas A&M won an improbable national title, 3-0 (26-24, 25-15, 25-20).

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“They’re putting on t-shirts behind me. I can’t believe it. I’m still a little bit in disbelief,” Aggies coach Jamie Morrison said to ABC after the game. “We sent a warning shot out to the world about what we’re about.”

Kentucky, the No. 1 seed, started out strong in the first set. They built a lead as big as six points before Texas A&M started chipping away, eventually winning the set, 26-24. With that momentum, the Aggies owned the next two sets. Lednicky was the star of the match with 7 kills, 11 digs and 2 blocks. With every point won, Texas A&M’s confidence grew.

Kentucky was the third No. 1 seed that Texas A&M — a third seed — beat on the way to the national title, and every win from the Sweet 16 on was shocking. First, the Aggies came back from 2-0 to pull the reverse sweep against Louisville. Next, Texas A&M had to face undefeated, No. 1 overall seed Nebraska in Lincoln. In what was the best game of the tournament, the Aggies beat Nebraska in five sets.

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But their magic didn’t stop once the Aggies got to Kansas City. In the national semifinal, they swept No. 1 seed Pittsburgh, the first time the Panthers had been swept all season. And then in the first-ever All-SEC final, the Aggies came out victorious.

Unlike Kentucky, which won the national title in 2020 and has been one of the top teams in women’s volleyball for years, Texas A&M is a newcomer to volleyball’s elite. Though it had some good teams over the years that made it to the Elite Eight, this was the program’s first Final Four and their first national title.

Morrison took over the program in 2023, and held onto Lednicky and Cos-Okpalla. The Aggies turned the program around quickly, earning a bid to the tournament in 2023 and then making it to the Sweet 16 in 2024. This year, the Aggies went 29-4 and looked like a team on the brink. But with so many seniors, they had no time to waste and adopted the mentality of “Why not us?”

Lednicky, who played with the U.S. national team over the summer, was the heart of this team’s championship run, and the player who kept asking “Why not us?” Stowers’ comeback might be one of the best sports stories of the year. While playing for Baylor, she suffered concussions and medically retired from the sport. But after being medically cleared and deciding she had more to give to the sport, Stowers signed with Texas A&M and is now a national champion.

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Morrison has built a program that is not only a national champion, but is in a great position to continue to grow volleyball in Texas. While he will lose seniors like Lednicky and Waak, he can now show off a championship ring while on the recruiting trail.

But figuring out who will play for the Aggies next season is tomorrow’s problem. Today, Texas A&M gets to celebrate how it defied the odds to win the school’s first-ever national title in women’s volleyball.



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Kentucky vs. Texas A&M NCAA Volleyball Championship: How to watch, preview

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December 22, 2025

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Kentucky volleyball will look to win its second national title in five years on Sunday when it takes on Texas A&M in Kansas City.How to watchSunday’s game tips off at 3:30 p.m. at the T-Mobile Center. It will air on ABC.PreviewKentucky comes to the game on Sunday with the edge. The Cats are No. 2 overall in the NCAA ranking, and they have previously beaten the No. 6 Aggies 3-1 in October. That game, an A&M home game, saw then No. 3 Kentucky face off against No. 9 Texas A&M, but since that meet-up, the Cats have not lost a single game, and the Aggies are right behind them with a single loss to home state rival Texas. The Wildcats have won 27 straight games, 30-2 overall, with their last loss in September to Pittsburgh. Texas A&M comes in 28-4 overall, with a five-game win streak, after their loss to Texas destroyed their 11-game win streak.Kentucky is no stranger to the NCAA championship. The Cats snagged their first title in 2020 after they beat Texas 3-1 in Omaha. Texas A&M has not made an appearance at the NCAA championship but has finished in the top ten four times in the last five years, finishing in fifth place in 2024.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —

Kentucky volleyball will look to win its second national title in five years on Sunday when it takes on Texas A&M in Kansas City.

How to watch

Sunday’s game tips off at 3:30 p.m. at the T-Mobile Center. It will air on ABC.

Preview

Kentucky comes to the game on Sunday with the edge. The Cats are No. 2 overall in the NCAA ranking, and they have previously beaten the No. 6 Aggies 3-1 in October. That game, an A&M home game, saw then No. 3 Kentucky face off against No. 9 Texas A&M, but since that meet-up, the Cats have not lost a single game, and the Aggies are right behind them with a single loss to home state rival Texas.

The Wildcats have won 27 straight games, 30-2 overall, with their last loss in September to Pittsburgh. Texas A&M comes in 28-4 overall, with a five-game win streak, after their loss to Texas destroyed their 11-game win streak.

Kentucky is no stranger to the NCAA championship. The Cats snagged their first title in 2020 after they beat Texas 3-1 in Omaha.

Texas A&M has not made an appearance at the NCAA championship but has finished in the top ten four times in the last five years, finishing in fifth place in 2024.



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Texas A&M volleyball beats Kentucky to win national title

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December 22, 2025

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NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! – Texas A&M Athletics

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December 22, 2025

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Texas A&M Aggies overwhelmed the Kentucky Wildcats in the final two sets of a 3-0 (26-24, 25-15, 25-18) victory to claim the school’s first-ever NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship Sunday evening inside the T-Mobile Center.

 

Entering the tournament as the No. 3 seed in the Lincoln Regional, Texas A&M (29-4) completed a postseason sweep of three of the tournament’s No. 1 seeds, beating Nebraska (3-2) and Pitt (3-0) before dispatching of Kentucky (30-3). The last three teams the Maroon & White beat were a combined 93-6 before their respective seasons were ended.

 

The Aggies became the ninth team in the 45-year history of the NCAA Championship to sweep both of their Final Four matches.

 

The Maroon & White never trailed in the last two sets. The opportunistic Aggies took advantage of the Wildcats’ nine service errors and 16 attack errors.

 

Kyndal Stowers was named the NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player. She capped off the tournament with a .304 attack percentage, 10 kills, six digs, two service aces and one block in the triumph over Kentucky. Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, Logan Lednicky and Ava Underwood joined Stowers on the All-Tournament Team.

 

Texas A&M claimed the first set despite not leading until 25-24. The Wildcats pounced on the Aggies in the first set for a 9-3 advantage. Kentucky led by six on eight more occasions, before the Maroon & White clawed back into the contest. An 8-2 run, featuring two kills each by Cos-Okpalla and Lednicky, tied the contest at 20-20. With the set seesawing, the Wildcats had its first set point at 24-23, but Stowers sandwiched two kills around a block assist by Cos-Okpalla and Maddie Waak for the smash and grab.

 

The second set was tied twice early before the Aggies broke away. Back-to-back kills by Lednicky and a service ace by Cos-Okpalla allowed Texas A&M to open a 5-2 lead. The Maroon & White suffocated the Wildcats with a 13-3 run to open its biggest lead of the set at 19-8. Kentucky would draw no closer than seven the remainder of the set.

 

After Kentucky opened the third set with a service error, Cos-Okpalla put aways two kills to start a 6-1 surge out of the gate. The Wildcats cut the deficit to 10-8, but 9-3 charge by Texas A&M widened the lead to 19-11. Big Blue was closed the gap to four at 24-20, but it was too little, too late as Cos-Okpalla uncorked a booming kill for the final point.

 

STAT LEADERS

Kills – Logan Lednicky – 11

Hitting Percentage (Min. 10 kills) – Kyndal Stowers – .304

Assists – Maddie Waak – 29

Aces – Ifenna Cos-Okpalla; Maddie Waak – 2 

Digs – Ava Underwood – 10

Blocks – Ifenna Cos-Okpalla – 4

 

GAME NOTES

  • Logan Lednicky recorded her 23nd-consecutive game with 10 or more kills.
  • Ifenna Cos-Okpalla set the Texas A&M career record for blocks, wrapping up with 566. She also inflated her single-season school record to 199.
  • Jamie Morrison joined John Dunning (first year) and Michael Sealy (second year) as one of three coaches two win an NCAA Division I Volleyball tournament in their first three years as a head coach.
  • The Aggies beat all four of the No. 1 seeds of the NCAA Championship, beating Texas (3-2) in the regular season and Nebraska (3-2), Pitt (3-0) and Kentucky (3-0).

 

FOLLOW THE AGGIES

Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M volleyball. Fans can keep up to date with the A&M volleyball team on Facebook, Instagram and on Twitter by following @AggieVolleyball.





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Alumni Spotlight: Aviana “Avi” Goode ’20

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December 22, 2025

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Aviana K. Goode ’20
Track and Field

Aviana, also known as Avi, is no stranger to success on the track. Before turning 18, Avi had already won three state championships and earned multiple bronze medals, along with a silver, while competing for her high school track team — and even added a school record in the process. Her winning nature carried over to Syracuse where she balanced being a student and an athlete, studying Communication and Rhetorical Studies at VPA and Sports Revenue Management & Operations at Falk College. This balance paid off as she earned top-six finishes at the 2019 ACC Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the high jump. She continued to add to her long list of track achievements during her graduate transfer year when she competed for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) where she previously held the indoor program record for 60m hurdles and the outdoor record for the 100m hurdles and heptathlon. Although she no longer competes on the track, she has found a new way to stay involved with the sport she loves.

It was always Aviana’s dream to earn a trip to TrackTown USA in Eugene, Oregon. For those who may not know, TrackTown is a world-class track and field facility organizing events such as the 2015, 2022, 2023 USATF Outdoor Championships and the 2016, 2020, and 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Aviana’s dream to make it to TrackTown USA, also known as Hayward Field, came true when she was selected as one of four photographers to cover the 2024 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team Trials as park of the Black Women Photographers and TrackTown USA creative team.

Noah Lyles coming out of the blocks at U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Credit: Aviana Goode/@goode.flicks
Noah Lyles coming out of the blocks at U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Credit: Aviana Goode/@goode.flicks

“It was surreal,” Aviana said. “My goal in life, in track and field specifically, was always to make it to Hayward Field. It was supposed to be as an athlete, but I guess God had different plans for me. I ended up there with a whole new lens, literally and figuratively.”

Aviana spent over a week at TrackTown shooting world-class athletes like Olympic champion and eight-time World Champion, Noah Lyles, Olympic long jump champion, Tara Davis-Woodhall, and even Olympian and World Record breaker, Sydney McLaughlin.


 

Tara Davis-Woodhall competing in long jump at U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Credit: Aviana Goode/@goode.flicks
Tara Davis-Woodhall competing in long jump at U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Credit: Aviana Goode/@goode.flicks

The unique part about the entire situation is that Aviana was just a newbie in the sports photography world at this point. She had started sports photography just two years prior to shooting on this world-class stage and had only shot one outdoor track meet before. Despite the lack of experience, Polly Irungu, founder of Black Women Photographers, loved her photos and style.

The opportunity to shoot the Olympic Trials allowed Aviana to grow tremendously as a person but also as a photographer. While covering the Olympic Trials, she noticed that not many women of color were working as creatives although the sport is predominately black. There were only five other creatives that were black women that she saw capturing the events at TrackTown. This realization inspired Avi to be a role model and a representation for young black women and women of color who want to step into the creative world. As a freelance photographer based in NYC, she continues to refine her craft, working with athletes, brands, and events to create high-impact imagery that resonates.

“Being a photographer allows me to go out there and still feel like an athlete. I can feel the emotion. I’m capturing everything to remember the moment and to show the love and passion for the sport that I think is the hardest sport in the world, Aviana said.

 

Stay connected with Aviana on Linkedin: Aviana Goode | LinkedIn & Instagram: @goode.flicks

Raven Saunders with her medal at U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Credit: Aviana Goode/@goode.flicks
Raven Saunders with her medal at U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Credit: Aviana Goode/@goode.flicks



 
 



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Kentucky volleyball results, recap vs Texas A&M in championship match

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December 22, 2025

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Updated Dec. 21, 2025, 5:16 p.m. ET

The Kentucky Wildcats volleyball team needed one more win to bring home a national championship, but the Texas A&M Aggies were the better team on Sunday afternoon, and it’s they who took home the trophy after winning the match 3-0 (26-24, 25-15, 25-20).

It looked like the Wildcats were going to take control early. They jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first set, and led big as play progressed. However, some good Texas A&M serves, and some bad Kentucky passing led to an Aggies comeback.

After that first set, it seemed as if the life drained out of the Wildcats. The Aggies dominated the second set. They blocked nearly every Kentucky kill attempt, and dug out the rest. The Cats had no answers, and they fell behind 2-0.



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