Meet: Leonard Hilton Memorial Invitational

Location: Yoeman Fieldhouse | Houston, Texas

Watch | Stats

The competition: Houston (Host), Huston-Tillotson, Jacksonville College, Lamar, Prairie View A&M, Rice (Men), Sam Houston, St. Thomas (TX), Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Texas A&M Kingsville, Texas Southern, UTRGV

Burnt Orange in Houston: Texas newcomers Iana Ahetz-Etcheber, Caroline Peterson, Jonathan Hertwig-Odegaard, Brandon Gorski, Mia Perez, Ava Gilley, Isabel Conde de Frankenberg will all make their track and field debuts for the horns. Internationals Ahetz-Etcheber and Herwtig-Odegaard will look to follow recent success at Texas as the newest multis on campus.

Osawese Agbonkonkon, Sam Abati, Bella Coscetti, Sophia Kowalski, Grace Kowalski and Gia Kurp will return to competition for the Horns.

Returners: Texas returns six men and three women who were named to USTFCCCA First Team All-Americans. Kody Blackwood, Xavier Butler and John Rutledge are two-time First Team honorees from last season who will lead the Longhorns in their senior seasons. Kendrick Smallwood also returns as one of the top short sprinters in the NCAA. On the women’s side, the Longhorns return sprinters Carleta Bernard, Holly Okuku and Ramiah Elliott as the long All-Americans.

How to follow:

• Fans can also follow @TexasTFXC for live updates of the meet on Twitter/X
• The meet will be streamed on the Houston Athletics YouTube page.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University volleyball coach Jen Greeny has announced the addition of Saar Bertels, an outside hitter from Eppegem, Belgium, to join the team in the fall of 2026.
 
“Saar will give us an immediate all-around presence that will continue to make West Virginia volleyball better. She can attack well from multiple positions, giving us flexibility in our offense that we always train in our gym and look for when evaluating players, “Greeny said. “Saar is experienced with high level volleyball in Europe. To earn the achievements she did in the European Championships is no small feat. It was also very significant to us that she helped lead Belgium to a finish never attained before in the history of Belgium volleyball – a third-place finish behind European and world volleyball powers Turkey and Italy.”
 
“Saar naturally embodies our five values,” Greeny continued. “We could tell that right away. She will fit well into our team culture. She chose us over three Top 25 teams, four NCAA Tournament teams, and three B1G Ten teams. Saar will continue to move this program forward and we are so excited she is one of us.”
 
Bertels competes for Asterix AVO Beveren under coach Kris Vansnick, one of the top professional programs in the Belgian Liga A. The 6-foot-1 outside hitter has been a member of the Belgian National Team system for five years, representing her country at every youth age group since U16.
 
Internationally, she competed with the Belgian Senior National Team in the Volleyball Nations League, one of the highest-level international competitions in the sport. Bertels helped lead Belgium to a third-place finish at the 2024 CEV U20 European Championships, marking the nation’s first top-three result at a junior continental event. She was named the tournament’s Best Scorer and Best Spiker after totaling 287 points and averaging 3.99 points per set.
 
At the professional level, Bertels has appeared in the CEV Champions League twice, gaining experience against elite European clubs. Her club career includes multiple domestic titles, including the Belgian SuperCup, Belgian Cup, BeNe Cup, and the Belgian Liga A championship. She has competed in the CEV Cup and BeNe League, contributing to Asterix’s consistent presence in European competition.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUVolleyball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

 

FRÝDEK-MÍSTEK, Czech Republic (January 8, 2025) – North Alabama Volleyball’s Jolana Smidlova is continuing her career in the sport after signing a professional contract with Czech club TJ Sokol Frýdek-Místek.

Smidlova returns home to join the club, which is in the midst of the season in Czech Republic’s Women’s Volleyball Extraliga. TJ Sokol Frýdek-Místek was founded in 1978 and based in the city of Frýdek-Místek.

Since the Extraliga’s inception in 1992, the club has seen success during the 2003-04 and 2014-15 seasons with third-place finishes. The team is currently ninth in the Extraliga standings as of Jan. 8, 2026.

The Letovice native spent three season at Tulsa before playing her senior season with the Lions in 2025. Smidlova appeared in eight matches and tallied season totals of 20 kills, 12 blocks and seven digs. In 69 career collegiate matches, her totals include 205 kills, 70 blocks, 56 digs and one service ace.

“I’ve traveled the world for this game, but nothing beats the feeling of returning to your home country,” said Smidlova. “I’m beyond excited to pick up where I left off and play for the people who have been in my corner since day one.”

This marks the second time under UNA head coach Tristan Johnson that a player has gone to the professional ranks. Former standout Anna Katherine Griggs became the first under Johnson to sign a professional contract, joining French club Racing Club de Cannes for the 2024-25 season.

“We are very excited for Jolana and this opportunity for her to continue her career professionally, said Johnson. “Jolana is a highly competitive person and has a very high level of commitment to the game and performing at her best. This is also a great day for our program as we have another former student-athlete pursue their passion of being a professional athlete.  We are so proud of Jolana and excited to follow her career moving forward.”

For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Games 1 + 2
Lindenwood (0-0, 0-0 MIVA)

at  #3 Long Beach State (0-0, 0-0 Big West) | Vanguard (0-0, 0-0 MPSF)

Game Information:

Dates: Friday, January 9, 2026 | Saturday, January 10, 2026

Location: Long Beach, CA | Costa Mesa, CA.

Venue: LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid | Freed Center for Leadership

First Serve: 9:00 PM CT | 4:00 PM CT

All-Time Series: 0-5 | N/A

Last Meeting: L, 0-3 | N/A

Live Stats: Lindenwood @ Vanguard
Watch: ESPN+ | BIG+

Season Preview

The Lindenwood Men’s Volleyball team opens their 2026 campaign on the road when they take on Long Beach State and Vangaurd on Friday and Saturday this weekend. The Lions are coming off of a 10-15 season in 2025 and fell in the first round of the MIVA Tournament to Ohio State 3-1. Lindenwood returns their leading kills and points leader from a season ago in Senior Outside Hitter Brendan Louthain, who compiled 287 kills across 93 sets played for an average of 3.51 kills per set and finished the 2025 campaign with 326.5 points. Senior Setter Zach Solomon also returns for the 2026 season, who led the Lions in total assists in 2025 with 878 assists and was first on the 2025 squad in service aces with 36.

LU brings back 12 players from last season and welcomes six newcomers, including two time First Team All-IVA Selection Luke Kraft. Kraft played the last two seasons at Maryville University where he finished top 3 in the country for aces per set, compiled 613 kills, and ranked second on the team in aces (28) and digs (151) in the 2024 season during his time with the Louies. Gabriel Vieira is another notable newcomer who comes from St. Thomas Aquinas where he registered 339 kills during the 2025 season for an average of 4.40 kills per set and was named the East Coast Conference Men’s Volleyball Player of the Week on both February 17th and 24th. 

The 2026 squad was projected to finish in sixth place in the preseason MIVA polls on December 15 and will look to overcome those odds once the regular season begins. 

Scouting Long Beach State 

Long Beach State is coming off of a 30 win season in 2025 in which they won the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship with a 3-0 sweep over UCLA on May 12. The Beach have won three National Championships in the last seven seasons and they return the 2025 AVCA First Team All-American and All-Conference Opposite Hitter Skyler Varga. Varga led the Beach in kills last season with 270 kills across 99 sets played for an average of 3.44 kills per set. He also ranked fourth on the team in blocks with 70 and was second on the 2025 squad in service aces with 33. Long Beach State also returns Opposite Hitter Daniil Hershtynovich and Outside Hitter Alex Kandev who each had 200 or more kills a season ago and finished second and third on the 2025 squad in kills. The Beach enter the 2026 season ranked third in the country. 

Lindenwood is currently 0-5 all time against the Beach with their most recent match taking place last season in Hyland Arena where the Lions were swept 3-0, but LU lost all three sets by close margins by scores of 23-25, 22-25, and 21-25. Brendan Louthain finished that match tied for the team lead in kills with 11 on a .368 hitting percentage while  Zach Solomon finished with a match-high 33 assists. 

Scouting Vanguard

Vanguard finished the 2025 season 8-18 overall in their first year of Division I Men’s Volleyball. They were defeated in the first round of the MPSF Tournament by CUI 3 sets to 1, but they return their top kills leader and digs leader from a season ago in Opposite Hitter Logan Freemon. Freemon registered 240 kills and 122 digs in 95 sets played last season as a true Freshman. Meanwhile, Vanguard also returns their number two kills leader from a season ago in Middle Blocker Micah Sybesma, who finished the 2025 campaign with 219 kills across 96 sets and hit .428 on the season.

Former Vanguard Middle Blocker and current Lindenwood Lion Nick Dvorak played his Freshman season at Vanguard in 2025 and will return to his old stomping grounds on Saturday as a member of the Lions. Dvorak hit .368 last season at Vanguard and recorded 127 kills in 89 sets played. Lindenwood and Vanguard will meet for the first time in their all-time series on Saturday.

Up Next

Lindenwood returns to St. Charles for their home opener in Hyland Arena which is set for Friday, January 16 at 7 p.m. CT

 

 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – After a month-long hiatus, the Atlantic Coast Conference indoor track & field season will resume on Friday, January 9. Three ACC squads – Clemson, Louisville and Syracuse – will compete throughout the second weekend of new year.
 

Louisville will remain in the Derby City for the two-day Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational, hosted by Kentucky. The events are slated to begin on Friday at noon ET and Saturday at 11 a.m. ET. After each breaking school records in the Cardinals’ season opener, Alba Cuns Iglesias and Elsingi Kipruto were named ACC Indoor Track & Field Performers of the Week.
 

Clemson will host the Clemson Invitational, which will take place on Saturday. The Tigers opened the season in December 2025 with the Clemson Opener. Kimeka Smith won the women’s shot put with a mark of 15.06m (49-5) on her way to being named the ACC Women’s Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Week on December 9. Coverage of the Clemson Invitational will be streamed on ACC Network Extra, beginning at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday.
 
Syracuse will travel to Ithaca, New York, to compete in the Southern Tier Invite, hosted by Cornell. The Southern Tier Invite will begin at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday. The Orange opened its season in Ithaca in December at the Greg Page Relays, highlighted by Elijah Mallard’s school-record in the 300-meter dash.  
 
ACC Indoor Track & Field Weekly Schedule
Friday, January 9
Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational; Louisville, Ky.
Louisville
 
Saturday, January 10
Clemson Invitational; Clemson, S.C.
Clemson
 
Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational; Louisville, Ky.
Louisville
 
Southern Tier Invitational; Ithaca, N.Y.
Syracuse
 

VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota volleyball invites the public to help celebrate another outstanding year of Coyote volleyball at the team’s annual banquet on Saturday, January 31 in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center Dome Club.

When: Saturday, January 31

Time: 9:30am-11:30am

Where: Sanford Coyote Sports Center Dome Club

Cost: $40/person

Attire: RED, as we look to cheer on our basketball teams to a couple of wins later in the day. 

The banquet includes a full breakfast, speeches, interactions with team and coaches, silent auction, and more! 

RSVP Link: https://forms.gle/HBfRHVfcbW3SiCav7

 

The Coyotes ended the 2025 season with a 20-9 mark and a 12-4 record in Summit League play, marking the third time in the last four years they’ve hit the 20-win total and the 10^th straight year with double-digit conference wins. The Yotes lone senior, Kamryn Farris, repeated as the Summit League’s Defensive Player of the Year and was also named to the All-League First Team, All-Tournament Team and to the AVCA Northwest All-Region First Team. Lauren Medeck joined Farris on the conference’s All-League First Team and was also named an AVCA Northwest All-Region Honorable Mention. Avery Van Hook, Morgan Bode and Amanda Loschen were represented on the All-League Second Team, while Ava Ball earned a spot on the All-Freshman Team.

 

Farris became the sixth Coyote to eclipse 1,500 career digs, Van Hook was one of five in the NCAA with 1,000+ assists, 300+ digs and 100+ kills, while Bode set a new four-set program record with 13 blocks at Denver. The Yotes ended the year ranked No. 18 in the NCAA in digs per set (16.68) and No. 21 in total digs (1,885).

 

Off the court, the Coyotes took care of business in the classroom by posting a 3.74 team GPA. South Dakota led the conference with three student-athletes landing on the Summit League Academic All-League team in Farris, Van Hook and Loschen. The trio of Coyotes, alongside Morgan Bode, were also named to the AVCA Academic All-District Team.

 

Contact Michael Runde (Michael.runde@usd.edu) with any questions regarding this year’s banquet.