By: Len Skoros

Hempstead, NY – The CAA has announced the recipients of the Team Academic Excellence Awards for the 2024-25 academic year, and Hofstra earned a league-best eight awards with the baseball, men’s basketball, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, men’s soccer, softball, men’s tennis, and men’s track and field programs taking home the honor. 

“What a tremendous accomplishment for our athletic program to earn eight CAA Team Academic Awards,” said Hofstra Vice President and Director of Athletics Rick Cole Jr. “In a league that puts a great deal of emphasis on academics, it just shows how dedicated our student-athletes are to succeeding in all areas of their collegiate experience.” 



The Team Academic Excellence Award recognizes the institution with the highest collective grade point average in all 22 sports sponsored by the CAA. The team GPA is a calculation of the grade point average of each student-athlete who appeared on an institution’s roster throughout the final day of their respective championship seasons during the 2024-25 academic year.



Ten different schools had at least one team receive a Team Academic Excellence Award. Following the Pride’s eight winners, Campbell, Monmouth, UNCW, Northeastern, and Villanova had two teams honored. Charleston, Drexel, Elon, and North Carolina A&T each had one team recognized.



The Team Academic Excellence Award winner in 19 of the 22 sports recorded a team grade point average of 3.5 or higher.



The Hofstra women’s lacrosse program earned the Team Academic Award for the fifth consecutive year, while baseball, men’s lacrosse, and men’s track and field each claimed their second consecutive award. The women’s lacrosse team posted a 3.64 grade point average during the academic year. Baseball compiled a 3.35 GPA, while the men’s basketball team recorded a 3.23 GPA in 2024-25. The Pride men’s lacrosse program had a 3.51 GPA during the academic year with men’s track and field posting a 3.49 GPA. Men’s soccer compiled a 3.52 GPA, while softball posted a 3.59 GPA, and men’s tennis had a 3.82 GPA in 2024-25. 

The defending Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Champions Lindenwood women’s volleyball announced its full 2025 schedule on Thursday. The Lions will play 26 regular season matches, including nine inside Hyland Arena

Lindenwood’s season begins at the Hampton Inn and Suites Seahawks Classic in Wilmington, N.C. as the Lions take on UNC Wilmington and NC Central on August 29, followed by Virginia Tech on August 30.

The following week, the Lions head to Springfield, Mo. for the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational and will face Missouri State (September 4), DePaul (September 5), and UTSA (September 6). To conclude non-conference play, Lindenwood will compete in the Iowa Tournament, taking on East Texas A&M on September 20 and Iowa on September 21.

Conference play will begin with a pair of road matches at Eastern Illinois on September 26-27. The home opening series will be the following week against UT Martin on October 2-3, which will begin a stretch of five-straight home matches. The Lions will welcome SIUE on October 7 and Morehead State on October 10-11.

The Lions will hit the road for two matches against Tennessee State October 17-18 and return to the court 10 days later in a matchup with SIUE on October 28 in Edwardsville, Ill. Lindenwood comes back home to take on Western Illinois, October 31 and November 1, before traveling to Cape Girardeau to face SEMO on November 7-8.

Lindenwood will have its final two road matches the following week against Southern Indiana November 13-14, before concluding the regular season at home against Little Rock on November 18-19. The OVC Tournament is scheduled for November 23-25.

 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 17, 2025) – Two USA Volleyball beach teams are in Rhine Ruhr, Germany, for the 2025 World University Games, July 16-27. The beach volleyball competition will run from July 22-26, where the U.S. teams will compete against top collegiate athletes from around the world.

Representing the U.S. on the women’s side are Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig, both standout athletes from Florida State University. The duo has been on a roll this summer, winning gold at the U23 NORCECA Beach Continental Tour in the Cayman Islands. They followed that performance with another gold at their first Beach Pro Tour Futures event in Geneva, Switzerland, and added a bronze medal at the Futures stop in Montpellier, France. Koenig and Durish earned their spot in Germany by winning the 2025 World University Games Trials earlier this year.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with them (Alexis and Audrey),” said women’s head coach Patty Dodd. “They are a dynamic and steady duo.”

On the men’s side, Gage Basey (University of Colorado) and Thomas Hurst (UC Irvine) will compete for the red, white and blue. The pair has shown strong form in 2025, highlighted by a silver medal at the NORCECA U23 Intercontinental Tour in the Dominican Republic. They’ve also claimed top finishes at home, including winning the AVP Virginia Beach tournament and the men’s open division at the Pottstown Rumble. Basey and Hurst also won the 2025 World University Games Trials to secure their roster spots.

“I’m excited to work with USA Volleyball at the World University Games coming up,” said Dan Friend, head coach of the men’s team. “We have a great USA staff – coaches, trainer, analyst and lead. We also have some phenomenal and talented athletes that will represent the USA at the highest level, helping USA compete for medals.”

This event marks a return to the World University stage for several members of the U.S. delegation. Both coaches, Dan Friend and Patty Dodd, led the U.S. beach teams at the 2024 FISU World University Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Durish earned a silver medal at that event alongside partner Xolani Hodel, while Basey and Hurst placed ninth overall.

Coaches and Support Staff
Men’s Head Coach: Dan Friend, Lewis University men’s indoor head coach
Women’s Head Coach: Patty Dodd, USA Volleyball Beach NTDP Coach, MB Sand
Medical Provider: Alexis Colon, Long Beach State
Performance Analyst: Will McDonald, Baylor
Team Lead: Chelsea Tupuola, USA Volleyball Beach NTDP Lead

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State men’s track & field athlete Ryan Schoppe was named College Sports Communicators (CSC) third team Academic All-American, the organization announced Wednesday.

This marks the second straight season Schoppe has been named to the CSC Academic All-America third team, becoming the fourth Cowboy track athlete to be named to the team on multiple occasions. Overall, Schoppe is the 132^nd OSU student-athlete to be named a CSC Academic All-American and the 25^th to be named to multiple teams.

On the track this season, Schoppe was a first team All-American as a member of the Distance Medley Relay indoors and helped the DMR run the second-fastest time in world history on tracks of legal length. He finished his track career as a two-time NCAA Champion as the DMR anchor in 2023 and 2024 and was a four-time Big 12 Champion.

Schoppe also scored the third most points in program history at the indoor conference meet with 41.5, finishing behind only Kirubel Erassa (2011-14, 59 points) and Alex Maier (2020-24, 54.75 points).

For more information on the Cowboys and Cowgirls, continue to check back with okstate.com. 

ABILENE – Abilene Christian will host the 2025 Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament at Moody Coliseum on Nov. 20-22, the league announced Thursday. It will mark the Wildcats’ first time hosting a conference volleyball tournament in 20 years and the first instance at the Division I level.

ACU previously hosted the Lone Star Conference Tournament in 2005, when it captured the second leg of back-to-back conference titles. At that point, it had also been 20 years since the LSC tournament was last played in Abilene in 1984 and 1985. Moody Coliseum’s capacity has since increased to 3,600.

“We are so excited to have the opportunity to host the last WAC championship this fall season,” head coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup said. “ACU has done an amazing job behind the leadership of President Schubert that we have top-in-the-nation facilities here in Abilene, Texas. I’m really excited to showcase our amazing facilities and have a home atmosphere while we compete for the WAC Championship. Our team has had our eyes set on winning a WAC Championship since I’ve taken this position and the opportunity to win it at home for us is huge. We can’t wait for the Abilene community to come out and enjoy a great weekend full of high-level volleyball and to have their support in our pursuit of a ring!”

The WAC Tournament has been played at a different site in each of the past four seasons and was hosted by UT Arlington in 2024.

ACU kicks off its third season under Moronu Alstrup with the Wildcat Classic on Aug. 29-30 at Moody Coliseum, taking on the likes of Missouri State, Incarnate Word and Oklahoma. The Wildcats will play 11 regular season matches at home, including six WAC contests.

ACU will prepare for the regular season with the Purple and White Scrimmage on Aug. 15 at Moody Coliseum before meeting Angelo State in an exhibition match on Aug. 23 at the Dodge Jones Youth Sports Center (AYSA).

The Wildcats retain a strong core from the 2024 campaign, including four of their five leaders in kills. Avery Thaler returns to the court following her WAC All-Freshman Team selection, while Hannah Gonzalez and Abby Christian look to build upon sophomore seasons with over 230 kills and 200 digs, respectively. Gonzalez doubled as last year’s leading blocker with 73 denials.

BERLIN — Three different Toreros tallied seven kills on Wednesday, but San Diego volleyball dropped a 3-0 decision to Team Italy while representing the United States to begin play in the 2025 World University Games, falling by 25-20, 25-9, and 25-17 margins at the Horst-Korber Sportzentrum.

Nemo Beach, Izzy Clark, and Kennedy Osunsanmi led the charge for USD on offense, and were followed by Minnesota graduate transfer Kali Engeman, who added six kills of her own and paced San Diego/Team USA with a pair of blocks. Clark also did her part on defense, chipping in a match-high 11 digs.

USD/USA nearly stole the first frame, cutting an early deficit to just two when Maya Kitna notched a clutch block to make it 22-20, but her team got no closer.

The Toreros/Team USA never led in a one-sided second set, but bounced back in the third to make things interesting, keeping pace with the Italians early on before ceding the match on a service error.

From July 16-27, 2025, San Diego volleyball will join around 8,500 other student-athletes and officials from over 150 countries in competing for medals in 18 sports at the World University Games, one of the largest multi-sport events in the world. The Toreros will be representing the USA as the nation’s sole women’s volleyball team in the Games.