BUTTE, Mont. — Though the return of high school volleyball is still a couple months away, it’s fresh on the mind of Butte Central, who introduces a new face to lead their program this month–though, she’s hardly a new face to the city of Butte.

Call it a sort of homecoming for Karina Mickelson, the newest head coach of Butte Central volleyball. Though the California native has been a part of Butte since she started her All-Frontier Conference playing career at Montana Tech a decade ago, Mickelson considers a chance to coach as a significant step forward.

“It’s very special to be able to say, ‘Hey, I’m a coach and a big part of the community now,'” Mickelson said. “I played a small role at university. People look up to when you’re a player and everyone kind of knows you as that, but to be able to step into the coaching role, it’s really special.”

Mickelson has previously spent time coaching in Butte’s club volleyball ranks, but she also brings with her a rare experience, having most recently played professionally in the Czech Republic.

She plans on taking the lessons she learned abroad with her, including a unique take on teamwork.

“You have so many different cultures and languages and things, but you’re not so different at the end of the day,” Mickelson said. “To be a really good teammate on a team like that that has so many international and foreign player on it, it was probably the best part of it.”

As the Maroons rebuild off the heels of back-to-back single-win seasons, Mickelson hopes her team-building approach will return Butte Central to its former relevance.

“Fundamental skills number one, then just team bonding, the team experience,” Mickelson said. “These are high school girls. I had some of my favorite volleyball memories when I was in high school, so I’m looking forward to that being a thing.”

Mickelson’s first official practice as BC coach starts in August.

SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State women’s basketball standout Lacy Stokes (Mt. Vernon, Mo.) has been named as the recipient of the 2025 Missouri State Outstanding Female Athlete Award, announced by MSU Athletics on Friday (June 13).

First awarded in 1981, the MSU Outstanding Female Athlete Award is presented annually to the university’s top female athletic performer, as voted by the head coaches of the MoState’s 13 women’s intercollegiate programs.

 

Stokes received MVC Defensive Player of the Year, All-MVC first team, MVC All-Defensive Team and MVC All-Tournament Team accolades this year while leading the Lady Bears in scoring (14.4 ppg), assists (148), steals (90), free throw percentage (.793) and minutes (34.8 mpg). She turned in the fourth-best season assist-to-turnover ratio in program history (2.114) and captured the program’s career record for assist-to-turnover (2.06). Likewise, she played the second-most minutes in a single-season in Lady Bear history and ranked inside the top 25 in NCAA Division I in steals (19th) and steals per game (23rd).

Stokes helped lead coach Beth Cunningham‘s team to a 26-9 overall record this season. The Lady Bears earned a share of the MVC regular-season title and earned a berth in the WBIT for the second straight year.

She is the 13th basketball player to earn this award and the fourth Lady Bear in eight years to be so honored, joining recent recipients Danielle Gitzen (2019), Alexa Willard (2020) and Brice Calip (2021).

Other finalists for MSU’s 2024-25 Outstanding Female Athlete Award were: Camielle Day (soccer), EllaRose Goser (acrobatics and tumbling), Allyson Larkin (beach volleyball), Olivia Rogers (track and field), Morgan Sprague (volleyball) and McKenzie Vaughan (softball).

 

#GoBears

The University Interscholastic League once again tabled the biggest item on the docket during its annual summer Legislative Council.

There may be only one company that could get LeBron James, Tom Brady, Kevin Costner, Spike Lee, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, NBA star Victor Wembanyama, YouTuber Kai Cenat and dozens of other high-wattage names from the worlds of sports and entertainment under one roof: Fanatics, the sports merchandise, collectible and entertainment firm founded by Michael Rubin.

And they want fans to come along too.

Fanatics is bringing back its flagship live event, Fanatics Fest, to New York City on June 20-22, and in addition to a metric ton of sports stars, the company is doubling down on artists and entertainers (hence the likes of Costner and Lee).

“It’s a heck of a challenge, I wouldn’t say it’s fun. Most of what we do is fun, I don’t consider this to be fun,” quips Rubin in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, when asked about booking the stars that will congregate in the Jacob Javits Convention Center. “Look, what I will tell you is, there’s not another company in the world that could create Fanatics Fest, because putting it on the show is hard enough. But then, we’re going to have 300, 400 of the biggest athletes, celebrities, artists in the world come together. It’s really because of the broader partnerships that they have with Fanatics. Everyone coming here is someone that has a partnership with Fanatics, and that’s why they come.”

The event is stacked with programming, including live podcast and show tapings, including First Take with Stephen A. Smith, and guests that include NBA commissioner Adam Silver, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Ice Cube, and a slew of athletes. Panels that include athletes like Brady, James, Derek Jeter, Kevin Durant, the Manning brothers and others, and entertainers like Costner, Lee, Mark Wahlberg, Kenan Thompson and Keegan Michael-Key.

It is that mashup of sports and entertainment that Fanatics executives believe deliver the secret sauce for Fanatics Fest.

“In the past, athletes were up there talking about the game-winning hit, the game-winning drive. What we tried to do is bring culture, entertainment, even entrepreneurialism and sport, together, and mash it up in interesting ways,” says Lance Festerman, the CEO of Fanatics Events. “Even having these sorts of athletes and cultural icons on stage interacting in itself was pretty original. I think there was a lot we were proud of last year. And to Michael’s point, there’s a lot to be proud about this year with the content. I think the kind of creation and invention of this sort of an original platform was really cool. And I don’t think people had seen things like it before.”

“The content is 10 times better this year than last year,” Rubin adds. “It’s blow away great this year.”

One of the defining characteristics of Fanatics Fest is putting fans under the same roof as some of the most famous people in the world. As athletes join actors and musicians as global celebrities, the desire for fans to connect with them only grows more important.

That is reflected in the panels, photo ops and autograph signings, as well as events like the Fanatics Games, where athletes, creators, celebrities and fans compete head to head in skill-based challenges. And Fanatics will bring back the 40/40 Club, a temporary pop-up of Jay-Z’s infamous New York City hotspot, constructed inside the Javits Center, exclusively for the biggest stars and highest rollers … though fans are free to gawk from a distance.

“It’s for people that are really important to Jay and to us, and that really is the athletes, celebrities, artists that are there, and then our most important VIPs across Fanatics’ business,” Rubin explains. “It’s something that’s made to be highly curated. You know, there’s 100,000-plus people at Fanatics Fest, the people that come into 40/40 are measured in the hundreds.”

But the event is also Fanatics’ big bet on the experience economy, on connecting sports (and increasingly pop culture) fans in real life, not only with stars, but with each other.

“The fact is, you don’t have to get off your couch or leave your house for anything anymore, everything will come to you,” Festerman says. “Therefore, the impetus is on us to build something that is absolutely mind-blowingly cool and immersive and experiential … We know that Millennials, Gen Z, they want immersive experiences. They don’t want stuff, they want to feel something, they want a unique moment. And that’s what we’re doing, we’re building that moment that people can share on a mass level that is beyond the screen, and they feel something and they feel a connection to each other, to the content, to the celebrities, to the athletes.”

OREM, Utah — Utah Valley University head women’s volleyball coach Sam Atoa announced the 2025 schedule on Thursday, highlighted by in-state rivalries and a strong nonconference slate that includes six postseason teams from last year.

The Wolverines will face all NCAA Division I in-state opponents, including home matches against Utah State and BYU. The schedule features four teams that competed in the NCAA Tournament and two others that participated in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC).

“It’s hard to believe we’re already approaching another season,” Atoa said. “I’m excited for the challenge ahead and the strong schedule we’ve put together. We’re building on what we accomplished last year and have high expectations for this group.”

Utah Valley opens the season by hosting the Utah Valley Invitational. The home opener is set for Friday, Aug. 29, against Montana at 12:30 p.m. MT, followed by a matchup with Navy at 7 p.m. inside Lockhart Arena. The opening weekend wraps up with a regional showdown against Boise State on Aug. 30. The Broncos went 19-10 last season and finished sixth in the Mountain West Conference.

UVU hits the road for the first time in 2025 at the Outrigger Invitational, hosted by Hawaii. The Wolverines will face San José State, St. John’s, and host Hawaii, the defending Big West Tournament champions, who finished 21-10 last season and fell to TCU in the NCAA first round. St. John’s finished 24-13 in the Big East and made the semifinals of NIVC.

Utah Valley’s in-state schedule kicks off with a trip to Utah on Tuesday, Sept. 9. The Utes advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and finished 25-6 in their first season in the Big 12. UVU then travels east to face Duke on Sept. 12 and Coastal Carolina on Sept. 13. The week before conference play features a string of in-state contests, starting at Weber State (Sept. 16) in Swenson Gym. The nonconference schedule concludes at home against Utah State (Sept. 18) and BYU (Sept. 20). BYU finished 19-10 and 12-6 in the Big 12 before falling to Loyola Chicago in the NCAA first round.

The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) schedule includes 12 matches in a home-and-home format. UVU opens league play with home matches against Abilene Christian (Sept. 25) and Tarleton State (Sept. 27). October begins with a road trip to Utah Tech for the Old Hammer Rivalry, followed by a home match against UT Arlington, the defending WAC champions, on Oct. 9. Later in the month, the Wolverines will travel to face California Baptist (Oct. 16), and Southern Utah (Oct. 18).

Utah Valley’s final three WAC home matches form one of the team’s longest home stands of the season, hosting Utah Tech (Oct. 25), Southern Utah (Oct. 30), and California Baptist (Nov. 1).

UVU will then head to Texas for two final road trips. The first includes Tarleton State (Nov. 6) and UT Arlington (Nov. 8), followed by a match at Abilene Christian on Nov. 15.

The Wolverines will host the 2025 WAC Tournament at Lockhart Arena, set for Nov. 20–22, with an automatic NCAA Tournament bid on the line.