Bradford, Pa. – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford has hired Kelly Unverdorben, longtime successful head coach at Portville (N.Y.) High School, as the sixth head coach of the women’s volleyball program since joining the NCAA in 1999.

“I am very pleased to announce the hiring of Kelly Unverdorben as the leader of our women’s volleyball program,” said athletic director Bret Butler. “She brings invaluable amounts of experience, success, and knowledge of the game that will return this program to its rightful place, playing for championships.”

Unverdorben brings a wealth of volleyball coaching experience to Pitt-Bradford. For the past 11 years, she has created a dynasty at her alma mater, Portville High School. Unverdorben led the Portville Panthers to eight New York State Class C titles and 305 wins. At Portville, more than 65% of players continue playing volleyball in college, more than 15 times the national average.

 She also won a Class D State Championship at Ellicottville, N.Y., in 2012-13, where the Eagles were 35-2-3 in her two seasons at the helm. She has also been named the AVCA Regional Coach of the Year three times.

In addition to her success in the scholastic ranks, Unverdorben founded Octane Club, one of the largest volleyball clubs in Western New York. The club has sent numerous teams to the national indoor club volleyball tournament.

She started its offshoot, OC Beach Volleyball Club, with her daughter, Brooke, and her playing partner Beth Miller, who was the 2018 New York State Gatorade Player of the Year. The club has more than 200 participants and has sent 30 teams to nationals.

“It is very difficult to leave my alma mater, Portville, and the program that we have built there, but joining Pitt-Bradford and its beautiful, welcoming campus is very exciting,” Unverdorben said. “I can’t wait to work with the student-athletes to get this program back to competing for championships.”

Unverdorben replaces Mark Lucas, who has moved to Ithaca College to serve on their coaching staff. 

Outgoing seniors shared heartfelt stories — tied to current hot button issues — before they walked across the stage with nearly 500 other graduates to accept their diplomas Friday, June 6, at Menlo-Atherton High School. The ceremony, held on Coach Parks Field, marked the Atherton high school’s 74th commencement. 

One student speaker, Rose Klingsporn, talked about their personal growth from freshman to senior year, including coming out as transgender. 

“I didn’t really know anything about myself, and with the turbulent political and social climate around trans people at the time, I tended to keep to myself,” said the graduate. “I allowed myself to morph from a scared freshman to one of the cool seniors I had so admired. This year, I was the drummer for the spring musical, ‘Hadestown,’ and I made real, tangible connections to other students at every grade level.”

Another graduate, Wilder Perez Sanchez, detailed his 26-day journey to East Palo Alto from Guatemala at age 16 to pursue a better education. He also spoke about working 48 hours between two restaurant jobs while in high school to support his family. He said he never imagined graduating from high school in the U.S. 

“When I had to learn English, I wasn’t really sure if I was smart,” he said. “I didn’t know if I could actually learn a different language. But I did it with a lot of practice, effort and support. If you have come to this country recently and you still feel lonely, my advice is to ask for help. This friendly M-A community will support you. Be kind to others, especially while you’re getting used to your life here.”

During the ceremony, Principal Karl Losekoot presented an honorary diploma to the sister of Dylan Scirpo. Dylan, 17, was an M-A student and water polo player who died shortly before the start of his senior year in 2024. Losekoot also presented the family with Dylan’s framed water polo cap.

Losekoot encouraged students to “dream of a problem you want to solve, or dream of something you want to learn.” 

“Perhaps you want to learn how to use artificial intelligence, or figure out how artificial intelligence can improve education. Perhaps you want to learn how to write, or use your writing to help people. Our world needs big dreams now,” he said.

Graduates Isabel Zohar and William Knox performed “The Way I Am” by Ingrid Michaelson.

Superintendent Crystal Leach and Sathvik Nori, president of the Sequoia Union High School District Board of Trustees, were also in attendance. 

Check out this year’s list of Menlo-Atherton High School graduates and read our interview with Yandel Hernandez, one of the graduating seniors.

For all of our graduation coverage, go to our central graduation page.

Watch a video of the ceremony here:

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BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic women’s basketball Head Coach LeAnn Freeland added another skilled guard to the 2025-26 squad on Friday with the addition of Michiyah Simmons from South Alabama.
 
Simmons, from Pompano Beach, Florida, arrives in Paradise after three seasons at South Alabama.
 
“Michiyah is coming home to South Florida,” expressed Coach Freeland. “She was a highly successful player at Blanche Ely High School and Somerset Prep, winning three state titles during her prep career. She’s a dynamic guard who can play the point or shooting guard and is a high-energy defender on the ball. With her three years of experience on the court at South Alabama and her competitive spirit, we expect her to have a high impact on our program. Our coaching staff is excited to announce Michiyah is an Owl!”
 
This past season, Simmons played in 28 contests, making three starts for the Jaguars. The junior averaged 7.5 points per game and collected 2.8 rebounds per contest, in addition to 37 assists and 21 steals. Simmons recorded 10 double-figure scoring performances, scoring a career-best 22 points, including a career-high nine made field goals at Charleston Southern. Defensively, she tied a career-best eight boards vs. Faulkner and tied a career-high three steals at Georgia State.
 
In 2023-24, Simmons appeared in all 32 contests and made 19 starts during her sophomore season for the Jaguars. She averaged 9.3 points and 2.9 rebounds in 23.8 minutes per contest, in addition to adding 67 assists and 25 steals. Simmons posted 15 double-figure performances with a pair of 20-point games, including a season-high 21 points, with a trio of 3-pointers and eight free throws vs. Troy. She also tallied a career-high six assists vs. Texas State and knocked down a season-best eight field goals against Coastal Carolina during the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
 
During her freshman season, Simmons made 25 appearances and eight starts for the Jaguars. She recorded 5.8 points and 2.7 boards per contest and added 33 assists and 13 steals. Simmons posted five double-digit performances, recording a season-high 18 points at Southern Miss and against ULM. Defensively, Simmons collected a career-best eight rebounds in her second collegiate game at Auburn.
 
SEASON TICKET PACKAGES
Season tickets are now available for $80 and can be purchased here. For courtside season ticket seating, join the 2025-26 waitlist here. Season ticket renewals are also live, current women’s basketball season ticket holders can renew today by clicking here or calling the Florida Atlantic ticket office at 1-866-FAU-OWLS.
 
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For updates, follow @FAUWBB_Hoops on X and @FAUWBB on Instagram, or like Florida Atlantic Women’s Basketball on Facebook.
 

Universities are now allowed to begin paying their student-athletes directly, altering the current collegiate landscape and marking the beginning of a new era in college athletics.

On Friday night, 75-year-old California Northern District Judge Claudia Wilken approved the deal between the NCAA, its Power 4 conferences (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC) and lawyers representing all Division I athletes. The House v. NCAA settlement ends three separate federal antitrust lawsuits, which all claimed the NCAA was illegally limiting the earning power of college athletes.

“Despite some compromises, the settlement agreement nevertheless will result in extraordinary relief for members of the settlement classes. If approved, it would permit levels and types of student-athlete compensation that have never been permitted in the history of college sports while also very generously compensating Division I student-athletes who suffered past harms,” Wilken said as part of the 76-page opinion.

The House settlement will pay thousands of former athletes who played from 2016 to 2024 $2.8 billion in back pay for lost name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation.

Although paychecks can begin to be distributed from schools to athletes on July 1, the official start of the settlement implementation takes effect immediately.

“This is new terrain for everyone…Opportunities to drive transformative change don’t come often to organizations like ours. It’s important we make the most of this one,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a statement released Friday night. “We have accomplished a lot over the last several months, from new health and wellness and academic requirements to a stronger financial footing. Together, we can use this new beginning to launch college sports into the future, too.”

Every school is permitted, but not required, to share up to a certain amount of revenue annually with its athletes. According to the settlement agreement, this cap is calculated by taking 22% of the average of certain power school revenues — most notably ticket sales, television earnings and sponsorships.

The cap in the first year — July 2025 through June 2026 — is projected to be $20.5 million.

While the 22% cap will remain the same throughout the 10-year settlement agreement, the cap money figure will rise based on built-in escalators, with a 4% increase in the second and third years, scheduled recalculation after each third year and additional cash flows into athletic departments.

A new non-NCAA enforcement entity, an LLC mainly managed by the power conferences, will oversee and enforce rules related to the revenue-share concept.

The company, College Sports Commission, will be headed by a CEO and a head investigator for enforcement matters. The organization announced the hiring of MLB executive Bryan Seeley as its CEO on Friday night.

The commission will be required to ensure that schools remain under the cap and that third-party NIL deals with athletes are not booster-backed deals that have been prevalent over recent years. An enforcement staff is also expected to be hired to investigate and enforce rules related to cap circumvention, tampering and other subjects and will be required to levy stiff penalties.

Another aspect of the agreement is a Deloitte-run NIL clearinghouse that will have to approve all third-party NIL deals of at least $600 in value. The “NIL Go” clearinghouse will use a fair market value algorithm to create compensation ranges for third-party deals.

Head Coach Tim Dunsbee, alongside Assistant Coach Ian MacCullum and Team Manager Terri Halstead, have selected a group mixed with experience, skill and promising young talent that will be looking to secure their spot at next year’s Championships.

The squad contains five of the players that helped the team to tenth at the World Cup Water Polo World Cup in December, including Kameron Powell, Jordan Elliot and Tom Manley.

Drawn in Group A – one of four groups in the qualification phase – Great Britain will face the Netherlands, Poland, Czechia, and hosts Slovenia over three days in the countries third-largest city.

A top-two finish is required to advance to the finals, with the leading teams from each group forming Division Two of the European Championships, set to take place in Serbia in January 2026.

Success in Slovenia would see the men’s team join the women’s squad at the major event, following their historic qualification in 2024.

Despite a challenging group, the squad has been training intensively to prepare for the task ahead. A 13-11 victory over Sweden in an international friendly during an overseas training camp was followed up with testing fixtures against Ukraine (8-20 loss), Slovakia (7-20 loss), Slovenia (8-16 loss) and Israel (8-14 loss) at the Danube Cup in Slovakia as part of their final preparations.

Commenting on the team’s European Aquatics Qualification Round preparations following the Danube Cub, Head Coach Tim Dunsbee said: “It’s been a tough tournament with some hard-fought games, but we’ve seen clear improvement with each match. This is a young squad still finding its feet and the progress so far is encouraging. We’re building something and looking forward to taking the next step in Slovenia next week.”

Live streaming of matches is reported to be available through EuroAquaticsTV.com, with the full schedule and results available on the Microplus website.