By:

Matthew Purucker


Saturday, June 28, 2025 | 4:41 PM

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In April, the Valley News Dispatch recognized Katerina Tsambis as its girls basketball player of the year. Because of her additional excellence in soccer and track and field, she has earned the Valley News Dispatch’s Girls Athlete of the Year honor.

To Tsambis, sports are not just a hobby. They have been and will continue to be a major part of her life.

“Basketball has been my favorite forever. I have played basketball and AAU for years,” Tsambis said. “I played soccer just in high school (but) we had so many good memories going to championships. Same thing with track. I just love to compete.”

Tsambis shined on the basketball court, averaging 18.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.5 steals per game in her senior season to lead Riverview to a WPIAL Class 2A playoff berth. She was dedicated to the game, encouraging her teammates and playing her hardest every day, her coach said.

“One is her reliability. You knew what you were going to get every day. And the goal of a team is to win, and it didn’t matter how the win came,” former Riverview girls basketball coach Jill Catanzaro said. “Whether she scored five points or 20 points, she didn’t have to have the spotlight. She just did it. That makes her a very humble person.”

Although her best sport was basketball, her soccer career contributed to her achievement on the hardwood.

“I was always the main defender for basketball,” Tsambis said. “The technique is similar, so, yeah, I felt those two definitely correlated together.”

The Riverview girls soccer team enjoyed great success with the athleticism of Tsambis as a defender. Despite missing her freshman season because of injury and not playing in junior high because of a conflict with basketball, Tsambis helped Riverview reach the 2023 WPIAL and PIAA finals in Class A. Individually, she also received second-team Valley News Dispatch and all-WPIAL honors.

“Every year, she got better and better and became a staple in our defense,” former Riverview girls soccer coach Sean Abraham said. “She would take charge of the defense and lead it, trying to shut down everything that she could.”

In the spring, Tsambis took her talents to the track, where she specialized in the sprints. She competed in the 100, 200 and 400 meters and was a crucial member of the Riverview 1,600-meter relay team.

During her junior year, the relay team broke the school record that had stood since 1980 with a time of 4 minutes, 12.20 seconds. Then, it broke that record this season by running a 4:03.95. The unit placed third at the WPIAL Class 2A championships and eighth at the PIAA meet this spring.

“She’ll be truly missed next year. … Her leadership has made the girls’ team the last four years a remarkable contender,” Riverview track coach Dave Ilnicki said. “I’m glad she’s being recognized because she truly deserves it.”

Tsambis was a four-year letterwinner and was on girls track teams that had a 22-8 overall record and won two undefeated section titles in 2022 and 2023.

“She is an outstanding student-athlete. She excels in the classroom as well as the field, court or track,” Ilnicki said. “Whatever surface that she is playing on, she’s super. She’s been the heart and soul of the team.”

This fall, Tsambis will be attending Penn State to pursue a degree in kinesiology, the study of human movement, turning her passion for sports into a career.

“I’m gonna miss my friends for sure. I’m gonna miss my basketball coaches. They were the best,” Tsambis said. “Specifically, coach Jill Catanzaro. I had her seventh through 12th grade, so I’m gonna miss her a lot. Also, being a competitor on a team, I’m gonna miss that.”

Tags: Riverview

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – For the 2025 edition of Cheyenne’s Superday, Lions Park was filled with different sports. From an early morning 5K fun run and walk to a cornhole tournament that went until the end of the celebration.

Superday is a celebration to kick off National Parks and Recreation month in July, as well as promote the local recreational activities that Cheyenne has to offer.

Across Lions Park, it’s filled with amusement park rides and inflatables for kids and countless shopping and food vendors line the roads of the park.

For the sports, the Superday 5K fun run and walk took runners around Lions, doing two laps circling Sloans Lake for the 3.1 mile course. The winner of the race was Xavier Murdy while not too far behind was Abi Bever, the winner of the women’s race.

Both of the race winners commented on the heat they had to run in, but were glad to be outside along with their community.

“I think it’s fun, just get people out, get people seeing,” Bever said. “I know a lot of businesses come and have booths set up and I think it’s just fun to see familiar faces and see the community out.”

For Murdy, Superday and the people were the reason he chose to come out.

“I just love to be out in nature, to be out in what God’s given us, and to do it with people,” Murdy said. “I definitely wouldn’t have ran this 5K by myself, on a Saturday morning, heck no. So, I just love doing it, it means a lot.”

In the outfield of the Lions Park Softball field, a grass volleyball tournament put four teams against each other in a double-elimination bracket. The team named The Grasshoppers came out victorious, not losing a single match on the day.

Just down the road, Corn Bags and Brews hosted the cornhole tournament that hosted 16 games at once in the southeast corner of the park. The competition also had $2,440 up for grabs in the top-three placers for upper and lower brackets.

The team named Fran Jam would win the upper division, claiming $858 for the team, or $429 per player. Through $1,000 of sponsorship money, plus registration fees, the money pool was created.

Lastly, one of the longer events of the day was the pickleball tournament.

In the mixed division, Sarah and Matt Stephan would win the upper division. For the lower bracket, Marianne and Francis Shenefelt came out as winners. The Shenefelts, a very experienced pickleball couple, believe a day like Superday brings many different people together outside, especially in the sport of pickleball.

“I think it includes a lot of people, as you well saw, young people too and something to do,” Marianne said. “I saw a lot of cornhole going on and we like to do that too.”

“It’s just great to see the people of Cheyenne together as a community, it’s important,” Francis said.

For the men’s and women’s brackets of the pickleball tournament, Sarah Stephan would get another medal with her partner Mary Parsons, while they win the upper division. The men’s side allowed the youth of the tournament to shine as Isaiah Rigg and Jackson Cook went up with the first place medals.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 28, 2025) – The U.S. Men’s National Team dropped its first match of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) week to powerhouse Poland, 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-22) on Saturday before a sold-out crowd filled with fans of both teams at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

The U.S. (4-3) will complete the second week of action against Italy (5-2) tomorrow, Sunday, June 29 at 5:30 p.m. PT.

Poland held small advantages in kills (40-36) and blocks (7-6) with the U.S. serving two more aces (7-5). Poland made nine fewer errors.

“What we’ve been doing throughout VNL is to try to find solutions and a little bit of improvement. We found a little bit, but we didn’t find the right serving target enough. We tried to make something out of nothing too much and didn’t take care of the easy plays,” said head coach Karch Kiraly. “We are looking forward to playing a very good Italy team. They are going to challenge us. This was a really good team and it was not Poland’s best team. They play with discipline, and they really pushed us, so we are looking forward to being pushed again and learning, for example, when to challenge a really good block and when we need to be smart. We made too many unsmart plays tonight.”

Outside hitter Cooper Robinson led the U.S. with nine points on six kills and three aces, and middle blocker Merrick McHenry hit .556 with six kills and just one error in nine attacks, adding two blocks, to score eight points.

Outside Jacob Pasteur (six kills, one ace) and opposites Gabi Garcia (seven kills) and Kyle Hobus (six kills, one block) each scored seven points. Middle blocker Matthew Knigge added five points on two kills, a block and two aces.

Outside hitter Jordan Ewert paced the team with six successful receptions, while Robinson and libero Kyle Dagostino each recorded three. Micah Ma’a totaled 13 assists and added an ace after taking over for Quinn Isaacson, who had seven assists.

“We made some changes. The guys are always ready on this team and that is something that makes this team special,” Ma’a remarked. “It’s tough to play here against Poland, but it’s also the best. It’s tough when the match is short because you just want to play all night. I thought we put up a good fight at the end, and Poland is a great team.”

McHenry scored three consecutive points, the first on a kill and then on back-to-back blocks to cut a five-set deficit to two, 11-9, in set one. A strong serve by Isaacson led to a Pasteur kill on an overpass to make it 11-10 but the U.S. was never able to square the set. Pasteur scored six points on five kills and an ace that clocked in at 76 miles per hour. Hobus finished the set with five points on four kills and a block.

Poland took a quick 6-2 lead in the second set, forcing an early U.S. timeout. The lead was five (16-11) when the U.S. went on a 6-1 run with back-to-back aces by Knigge tying the set at 17. Poland scored the next three points and never trailed after that.

Robinson came in to the match after the early timeout in the second set and scored his fourth point on an ace (to go with three kills) to make it 21-20 and McHenry scored his sixth point to pull the U.S. back within a point at 22-21. Poland ended the set with a pair of aces. Knigge matched Robinson’s four points with a kill and a block to go with his two aces.

The third set featured the return of captain and libero Erik Shoji, who was returning to the court after leaving with an injury in Wednesday’s match against China. Neither team could separate themselves in the set. Garcia scored three of the U.S. points in a row to tie the set 13, 14 and 15. A Poland hitting error gave the U.S. a 16-15 lead, its first since 4-3.

Poland took a 21-18 lead before the U.S. scored twice, pulling within one on a Robinson ace. Down 22-20, Robinson delivered a kill on a play started on a perfect pass from Shoji. Garcia finished the set with five kills, while Robinson scored five points on three kills and two aces. Shoji registered four successful receptions in the set.

U.S. Men’s Week Two Roster for 2025 VNL

No. Name (Pos., Ht., Hometown, College, USAV Region)
4 Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola Univ. Chicago, Great Lakes)
5 Kyle Ensing (Opp, 6-7, Valencia, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
6 Quinn Isaacson (S, 6-2, Plainfield, Ill., Ball State, Great Lakes)
7 Jacob Pasteur (OH, 6-4, Westminster, Md., Ohio State Univ., Chesapeake)
9 Gabi Garcia (OPP, 6-7, San Juan, Puerto Rico, BYU)
10 Kyle Dagostino (L, 5-9, Tampa, Florida, Stanford Univ., Florida)
12 Shane Holdaway (MB, 6-6, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State, Southern California)
14 Micah Ma’a (S, 6-3, Kaneohe, Hawaii, UCLA, Aloha)
15 Kyle Hobus (OPP, 6-7, San Pedro, Calif., CSUN, Southern California)
18 Cooper Robinson (OH, 6-7, Pacific Palisades, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
22C Erik Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford Univ., Aloha)
24 Merrick McHenry (MB, 6-7, Bedford, Texas, UCLA, North Texas)
25 Ethan Champlin (OH, 6-3, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
26 Matthew Knigge (MB, 6-7, New Egypt, N.J., Vassar, Garden Empire)
29 Jordan Ewert (OH, 6-5, Antioch, Calif., Stanford, Northern California)

Head Coach:  Karch Kiraly
Assistant Coach: Luka Slabe
Assistant Coach: Javier Weber
Performance Analyst: Nate Ngo
Physiotherapist: Aaron Brock
Senior Strength and Conditioning Coach: Tim Pelot
Senior Sports Dietitian: Shawn Hueglin
Mental Performance Coach: Andrea Becker
Team Manager: David Dantes
Consultant Coach: Chris McGown
Consultant Coach: Marv Dunphy
Team Doctors:  Eugene Yim, Mark Hutchinson, Michael Shepard, Warren Young

2025 Volleyball Nations League Schedule for Week 2
NOW Arena
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
All times PDT; Matches will be shown live on VBTV and either CBS Sports Network or Big Ten Network

June 25 USA def. China, 3-2 (25-22, 21-25, 19-25, 25-16, 15-11)
June 26 USA def. Canada, 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 30-28)
June 28 Poland def. USA, 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-xx)
June 29 at 5:30 p.m. vs. Italy

Week 1 Results
June 11: Ukraine def. USA, 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-23)
June 12 USA def. Iran, 3-2 (19-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-23, 17-15)
June 14 Slovenia def. USA, 3-1 (25-22, 27-25, 20-25, 25-23)
June 15 USA def. Cuba, 3-1 (25-22, 25-18, 18-25, 25-23)

KINGSTON — Canada’s under-19 girls’ volleyball team collected the bronze medal with an exciting victory over the Dominican Republic on Saturday at the Pan American Cup.

Canada won the best-of-five match 3-2, taking the tiebreaker 15-10 at Queen’s University Athletic and Recreation Centre.

The United States beat Mexico in the gold-medal final.

Canada led in attack points 58-50, blocking 10-4, while Dominican Republic had one more ace (11-10). Canada also made more errors 35-24.

Opposite Sydney Bell (16) and outside hitter Sol Henson (14) led in points for Canada. Ambar Hernández (16) and Julie Millaray Arias (13) were top scorers for the Dominican Republic.

“It was a great team effort for us,” said Canada’s head coach Gina Schmidt. “The Dominican team served tougher than they did in the previous match we played against them. We were in system a lot in our first match, and they added some service pressure today, which got us out of our rhythm with our offence.

“Once we kind of settled that down and put on more pressure from service from our side, we were able to work our way back into the match. I loved the way our team reacted in that fifth set. Everyone found a way to contribute, so that’s important as we head into the next tournament.”

Most teams, including Canada, at the Pan Am Cup were using the tournament to prepare for the FIVB Girls’ U19 2025 World Championship, which will be held in Serbia and Croatia in early July.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2025.

The Canadian Press

KINGSTON – Canada’s under-19 girls’ volleyball team collected the bronze medal with an exciting victory over the Dominican Republic on Saturday at the Pan American Cup.

Canada won the best-of-five match 3-2, taking the tiebreaker 15-10 at Queen’s University Athletic and Recreation Centre.

The United States beat Mexico in the gold-medal final.

Canada led in attack points 58-50, blocking 10-4, while Dominican Republic had one more ace (11-10). Canada also made more errors 35-24.

Opposite Sydney Bell (16) and outside hitter Sol Henson (14) led in points for Canada. Ambar Hernández (16) and Julie Millaray Arias (13) were top scorers for the Dominican Republic.

“It was a great team effort for us,” said Canada’s head coach Gina Schmidt. “The Dominican team served tougher than they did in the previous match we played against them. We were in system a lot in our first match, and they added some service pressure today, which got us out of our rhythm with our offence.

“Once we kind of settled that down and put on more pressure from service from our side, we were able to work our way back into the match. I loved the way our team reacted in that fifth set. Everyone found a way to contribute, so that’s important as we head into the next tournament.”

Most teams, including Canada, at the Pan Am Cup were using the tournament to prepare for the FIVB Girls’ U19 2025 World Championship, which will be held in Serbia and Croatia in early July.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2025.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

photo by: Journal-World Sports Staff

The Journal-World All-Area Teams.

Coach of the Year: MaryJo Swann, Eudora

Eudora’s girls track and field team placed second overall in the 4A state meet with three state champions in four events.

Player of the Year: Hanna Keltner, Eudora

Hanna Keltner

Keltner finished her Eudora career as a state champion in the 3200-meter run and the 1600-meter run. She took third in the 800-meter run at the state meet and set school records in those three events. Keltner will go on to run track and cross-country at Kansas State as one of the most prolific athletes in Eudora history.

Izzy Brunkow, Eudora

Izzy Brunkow

Brunkow won the 4A state championship in pole vault as a sophomore, setting a school record for pole vault during the season. Throughout the 2025 season, Brunkow consistently won pole vault events and was one of the team’s better sprinters.

George Hagan, Eudora

George Hagan

Hagan placed third in the triple jump at the 4A state meet, an event in which he set a school record for in the 2025 season. Hagan broke the school record three times, with his best coming in the state meet with a jump of 44 feet, 10.25 inches.

Adalyn Hemphill, Eudora

Adalyn Hemphill

Hemphill concluded her Eudora career as a state champion in the triple jump and a third-place finisher in the long jump. Hemphill is the school’s record holder in the two jumping events, and she was also the team’s highest scorer in 2025 with over 190 points.

Riley Howell, Lawrence

Riley Howell

Howell bounced back from injuries to finish his Lawrence career strong in the 100-meter sprint. He placed third with a 10.78-second time.

Irelyn Kennedy, Baldwin

Irelyn Kennedy

Kennedy placed second in the 3200-meter run and the 1600-meter run, while helping set a new school record in the 4×800-meter relay and the 4×1600-meter relay in her junior year.

Tucker McGuire, Tonganoxie

Tucker McGuire

McGuire concluded his Tonganoxie career as a state champion in the discus throw, as he managed a 172-foot, 6-inch throw in the state meet, which was two feet farther than any other 4A throw.

Kami Moore, Baldwin

Kami Moore

Moore was the runner-up in the 800-meter run and was a part of Baldwin’s 4×400, 4×800 and 4×1600-meter relay teams.

Sadie Reynolds, Free State

Sadie Reynolds

Reynolds finished her sophomore campaign as a regional and state champion in the discus, an event in which she set a school record earlier in the season.

Adalyn Schooler, Tonganoxie

Adalyn Schooler

Despite being just a sophomore Schooler won a state title in the discus throw with a throw of 130 feet, five inches. Schooler also qualified for the state meet in high jump.

Sienna Wesley, Lawrence

Sienna Wesley

Wesley, a sophomore, was the 6A runner-up in the long jump with an 18-foot, 0.25-inch jump. Wesley was also a dominant sprinter for the Lions throughout the track and field season.

Juliana Yaluk-Shults, Veritas Christian

Juliana Yaluk-Shults

As a freshman, Yaluk-Shults led Veritas in scoring for the season. She placed in every meet she competed in and showcased her versatility by competing in seven different events throughout the season. She broke the school record in the 200-meter dash–twice–and placed first in the 200 and second in the 100 at the KASC State Track Meet.

Honorable Mention: Hudson Andrew (Free State); Cayman Barnes (Free State); Austin Drewry (Free State); Tyler Dye (Lawrence); Alex Gonzalez (Eudora); Parker Jones (Free State); Grant Lichauer (Free State); Brenden O’Connor (Baldwin); Elias Salmeron-Dominguez (Veritas Christian). Reece Schmidt (Tonganoxie); Nate Steinlage (Eudora).