HOUGHTON — Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball coach Cindy Pindral announced six incoming freshmen to the team for the 2026 season. They are outside hitter Reagan Lesley, middle blocker Laney Knaack, setter Ella Maxwell, outside hitter Kayla Heinonen, defensive specialist Natalie Leach, and outside hitter Mia Hahn. They have all committed to continuing their education and playing careers at Michigan Tech in the fall.

“This is a very exciting and dynamic signing class that will bring a lot of energy and skill to our roster,” Pindral said. “Each of these student-athletes have earned high accolades during their prep careers, and I have no doubt that they will each leave a positive mark on our program.”

Reagan Lesley

Reagan is a 5-foot-10 outside hitter from Clinton Township, Michigan. She was a four-year starter on varsity and two-time captain for Chippewa Valley High School, where she led the Big Reds to three consecutive conference championships. She was the 2024 MVP/Player of the Year for her conference. Reagan was a three-year All-Conference First Team selection, a two-time First Team All-County, and a four-year All-State Academic Student.

In her senior season, Reagan was named All-Region and broke Chippewa Valley’s 29-year-old kills record with over 1,400 kills and led her team to its first district championship since 2014. She played club for both Michigan Elite and Unified.

Reagan will be pursuing a degree in business.

Laney Knaack

Laney is a 6-0 middle blocker from Waunakee, Wisconsin. She has been the starting middle for Waunakee High School varsity, as well as for Sting United and Madtown 18-1s national club teams. During her senior season, Waunakee was ranked fourth in the state in Division 1, went 41-9-0 overall, and made it to the Wisconsin State semifinals. Waunakee also won its conference in her junior and senior years.

In her senior season, Laney earned Honorable Mention All-State Badger-Large Conference, Second Team All-Conference, ranked second in the conference in hitting percentage, and fourth in blocks.

Laney will be pursuing a degree in business.

Ella Maxwell

Ella is a 5-8 left-handed setter from North Aurora, Illinois. She was a three-year starter for West Aurora High School and the captain of the team in her senior year. She received Upstate Eight Conference Player of the Year honors in 2025 and was a three-time All-Academic Varsity Scholar. Ella led her team to a Conference Championship in 2024 and a runner-up finish in 2025, which marked the first time the school advanced past the first round of regionals in 2019. Ella hit the 1,000-career assist mark in her senior season with 600 assists as her season total.

She also played for Club Fusion Volleyball Club for six years and was a JVA-Watchlist member in her junior year. Additionally, Ella was a State Qualifier in track and field for the 4×400 relay in 2023 and 2024. She earned All-Conference and All-Academic honors in track and field in 2023 and 2024.

Ella will be pursuing a degree in business at Tech.

Kayla Heinonen

Kayla is a 5-8 outside hitter from Delano, Minnesota. She was a four-year varsity player for Delano High School and attended the Minnesota State Tournament in two of the four years. She was voted All-Conference and won the team’s Leadership Award in each of the last three seasons.

In her senior season, Heinonen held Delano’s highest hitting percentage and earned an All-Tournament team spot at the AAA Showcase Tournament. She plays for Crossfire Volleyball Club at the Elite level. Kayla also had three state appearances for Delano track and field.

She will be pursuing a degree in either business or kinesiology/integrative physiology.

Natalie Leach

Natalie is a 5-5 defensive specialist from Burlington, Wisconsin, where she was a three-year letter winner for Burlington High School and played club for VC United. Natalie helped lead her team to Conference Championships in the 2023 and 2025 seasons and was a State Qualifier in WIAA Division 1 in her 2023 season.

She was named team captain in her senior season and led the Demons with 4.2 digs per set, and earned First Team All-County and Honorable Mention All-State recognition. Natalie was named to the WVCA All-Academic Team in all three eligible seasons and named First Team Best and Brightest by AVCA for her senior season.

She plans to major in engineering.

Mia Hahn

Mia is a 5-11 outside hitter from Fairbanks, Alaska, where she was a two-year letter winner for Lathrop High School. Mia was named MVP and First Team Middle Alaska Conference All-Conference while helping her team to a 4A State Tournament Quarterfinal appearance in the 2025 season. She led the conference in kills and earned multiple All-Tournament awards, including Best Attacker at the Whaler Invitation in Barrow, Alaska.

Mia competes with Alaska Elevate Volleyball Club and was recently selected as one of the top 12 players in the state of Alaska to represent the Alaska U.S. Team at the 2026 Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse, Yukon, where she will compete against Canadian provincial teams and international programs, including Norway and Finland. Prior to Lathrop, Mia competed for Kaiserslautern High School (Germany) and earned All-Euros Tournament Team honors as a sophomore.

She plans to major in business while at Tech.

Lynchburg, Va. – Following a month-long hiatus over winter break, the University of Lynchburg indoor track & field teams return to the oval on Friday, Jan. 9 to host the Burg Open at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex.

Field events will begin at 10:00 a.m. with the women’s weight throw, while running events begin at 11:00 a.m. with the women’s 60-meter hurdle prelims. The 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles will feature prelims and finals, while every other event will move straight to finals.

Meet History

The 2025-2026 season marks Lynchburg’s third year holding the event, though Friday signifies the first home meet for Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Mario Wilson.

At last season’s competition, first-year athletes claimed victories in 10 of the 15 individual track events. In the meet’s debut in 2024, Lynchburg created a memorable men’s 3,000m event that saw 13 Hornets claim personal bests in one race.

The Burg Open is the Hornets’ second of four meets at the indoor facility this season, as Lynchburg plans to compete at the Brant Tolsma Invitational and Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational. Lynchburg traveled across town to Liberty to open the season on Thursday, Dec. 4 and Friday, Dec. 5 at the Liberty Kickoff. 

Early-Season Success

In the team’s opening meets, several Hornets inched closer to posting program-record marks to begin the season. Rylee Turner clocked 26.00 in the 200-meter dash to trail Aniya Seward’s school record by four hundredths of a second, while thrower Kenzie Swicegood moved within two feet of the women’s weight throw record with a 55′ 1″ (16.79m) toss.

On the men’s side, Micah Leech collected 4,999 points in the men’s heptathlon to post a personal best and improve his second-place standing on the all-time list.

Lynchburg will compete each weekend until the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday, Feb. 28 and Sunday, March 1.

Live Results

To access live splits, meet information and performance lists from the 2026 Burg Open, click here.

The meet will be live-streamed on the Lynchburg Hornets Sports Network.

Visit Lynchburg athletics’ home online, LynchburgSports.com, anytime for up-to-the-minute news on all Hornets sports and coverage from the Lynchburg Hornets Sports Network.

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Give Lynchburg Sports a like on Facebook, and follow Lynchburg athletics on Instagram, Threads, and X.

–LYN–

 

From the sand to the big screen! Grab the popcorn Cal Poly beach volleyball is coming to a movie theater near you.
 
On Monday, January 12 the documentary “Kicking Up Sand” will premiere at the Fremont Theater in downtown San Luis Obispo.

The documentary, produced by Cal Poly supporter Jon Hastings, is a behind the scenes look at the Mustangs’ 2025 season following them from preseason through the NCAA Championship.

There will be a red carpet at Fremont Theater with players and coaches starting at 5 p.m.

Then at 6:30 p.m. there will be a Q&A session with the coaches and players. That will be followed by the premiere of the documentary at 7 p.m.
 
You can purchase tickets at the Fremont Theater or on their website: https://www.fremontslo.com/events/kicking-up-sand-cal-poly-beach-volleyball-film-premiere/
 
Last season, the Mustangs finished with a 31-8 record, a run to the Final Four, and a final ranking of fourth in the country.

MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota track and field program begins the 2026 calendar on Saturday with the Minnesota Open. The one-day meet is set to take place at the University Fieldhouse, with Northern Iowa and Milwaukee both set to compete against the Maroon and Gold in the Twin Cities. Additionally the ‘U’ has a handful of student-athletes competing in Tallahassee, Fla., at the 46th World Athletics Cross Country Championships on Saturday. 

ABOUT THE MINNESOTA OPEN

The 2026 Minnesota Open begins at 10 a.m. with the men’s pole vault while track events starting at 11:30 a.m. The meet is set to wrap up by 5:15 p.m., with the women’s 4x400m relay starting at 5:05 p.m. and the women’s shot put starting at 4:15 p.m. Additionally, Minnesota will have a small contingent of unattached men’s student-athletes competing on Saturday. The event is free and open to the public to attend. There will not be a livestream of the event, but fans can follow live results via Wayzata Results. 

ABOUT THE WORLD ATHLETICS XC CHAMPIONSHIPS

Minnesota’s cross country program will have three current student-athletes and one signee compete in Tallahassee in the U20 section of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships on January 10. The event, taking place at Apalachee Regional Park, features three Gophers on Team USA and one on Team Canada. Salvador Wirth is the lone men’s representative for the red, white and blue while Norah Hushagen and Avery Marasco-Johnson will run on the women’s side. Signee Oliver Crowe, of St. Catharines, Ontario, will also compete in the U20 section in Florida after he finished sixth at the Canadian Cross Country Championships in a time of 25:15.8 back in late November. The women’s U20 6K race begins at 9:20 a.m. CT with the men’s section starting at 9:55 a.m. CT. The event can be streamed live on Peacock with live results available via the World Athletics live results platform. 

LAST TIME OUT

Led by two-time defending Big Ten weight throw champion Anthonett Nabwe’s wins in the weight throw and shot put, the University of Minnesota women’s track and field program secured seven event wins at the M City Classic at the University Fieldhouse on December 5. Both of Nabwe’s winning marks in the shot put (16.40m | 53-9 3/4) and weight throw (23.74m | 77-10 3/4) were meet records. 

Additionally, the Maroon and Gold had four event wins come via unattached student-athletes with three being men’s victories. True freshman Ayisat Adebayo was the lone women’s unattached winner in the triple jump with a leap of 12.26m (40-2 3/4). The most notable men’s win of the day came via Zion Campbell in the 60m, stopping the clock in a University Fieldhouse facility record time of 6.59. 

UP NEXT

The ‘U’ will head out to Lincoln, Neb., for the Graduate Classic, the first road meet of 2026, from January 16-17. Minnesota will not return home until January 30, at the Jack Johnson Classic. 

For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota cross country and track and field team on X.com (Twitter) and Instagram (@GopherCCTF) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the season.

HOUSTON – Jordana Price, a long-time coach with significant recruiting expertise, has joined the Houston Volleyball program as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, Head Coach David Rehr announced Thursday.
 
Price brings a wealth of additional experience to Rehr’s coaching staff, with stops at Tulane, Florida State, South Alabama and Valdosta State after playing as a student-athlete for Florida State and a professional playing career overseas.
 
“I am excited for Jordana to join us at Houston,” Rehr said. “Her experience as a head coach and recruiting coordinator will be a valuable asset to the program.”
 
Price most recently coached at Tulane, a position she held for four seasons starting in 2022. During her tenure with the Green Wave, she mentored First Team All-American Conference selection and 2023 American Conference Freshman of the Year Avery Burks. Burks was Tulane’s first American Conference Freshman of the Year as well as their fifth overall and first First-Team All-AC honoree since 2020. 
 
Prior to that, she spent five years as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for Florida State. She helped lead the Seminoles to five All-America honors and four NCAA Tournament appearances. The Seminoles never finished lower than fifth in the ACC while Price was on staff, including a runner-up finish in the 2018 campaign. As recruiting coordinator, she managed the recruitment of a Top 15 class in 2021. 
 
She served as the lead middle trainer and blocking coach for a 2019 squad that ended the season ranked second in the NCAA in blocks per set. Two of Price’s most successful recruits were middle blockers Taryn Knuth and Emma Clothier, who both earned All-ACC honors and were named All-Americans. Taryn was also nominated as the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year, awarded AVCA National Player of the Week and ACC Scholar-Athlete of the year. During Price’s time at FSU, Knuth (.549) and Clothier (.483) finished first and second in the country in hitting percentage, respectively.
 
In tandem with her collegiate coaching, Price participated in the inaugural Team USA National Training Development Program in 2021 when she worked with the U15/U16 classes. The series focused on several key areas for the young athletes to develop their games. Since then, Price has served with the National Training Development Program in 2021 and 2023-2026 in various series and age groups.
 
In 2019, Price served as the assistant coach of the U.S.A. Florida Region Girls International Select Team which won the silver medal at the 2019 High Performance Championships.
 
Her success as a coach at FSU helped her earn AVCA 30 Under 30 honors in 2018. 
 
Before returning to FSU as a coach, Price served as an assistant coach at South Alabama. During her two-year stint with the Jaguars from 2015 to 2017, she helped the team to its best finish in the Sun Belt Conference and its best start to the season at 7-1 in over three decades. She also helped coach the Jaguars to the highest team attacking percentage since 1987 and the most wins since 1994.
 
Price’s college coaching career started in 2012 at Valdosta State where she served as a graduate assistant and interim head coach. She would go on to graduate Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.
 
As a student-athlete at FSU, Price was a part of the 2009 ACC Championship team which finished in the Elite 8 after being seeded third in the NCAA Tournament. She ranked first in blocks and fourth in hitting percentage in the ACC during her career. She received the FSU Volleyball Most Influential Player award and was a 2008 AVCA All-East Honorable Mention and 2009 Honorable Mention All-American.
 
After her college career, Price played professionally as a middle blocker in the Professional Azerbaijan Super League for the Shirvan Club and in the Professional Switzerland LNA League for the Hotel Cristal Volleyball Franches-Montagnes. During this time, she competed against six U.S.A. Senior National team members, won the silver medal at the Swiss Volley Cup Final and claimed a fourth place LNA League finish. 
 
She ended her playing days in the Professional Premier Volleyball League. Price competed for the Indiana Hoosier Exterminators, with the team claiming a gold medal in 2012 at the USA Volleyball Open National Championships. In 2013 with Team Florida, she took home a silver medal in the USA Volleyball Open National Championships.
 
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Fans can receive updates by following @UHCougarVB on X, formerly known as Twitter, and catch up with the latest news and notes on the team by clicking LIKE on the team’s Facebook page at UHCougarVB. Fans also can follow the team on Instagram at @UHCougarVB.
 

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