Honolulu, Hawaii – Loyola Chicago earned its first win of the 2026 season in dramatic fashion, knocking off No. 2 Hawai’i in a four-set thriller on Friday, Jan. 9. The Ramblers piled up 15 blocks on the way to victory, stunning over 6,650 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center. 

Aleksandar Sosa was a menace on the court, pacing Loyola’s attack with a match-high 19 kills on .378 hitting and earning himself Player of the Game. Setter Ryan McElligott recorded a double-double behind 40 assists and 11 digs. Libero JJ Sowa also reached double-digit digs (14) and from the front row, Aidan Klein, Daniel Fabikovic and Brad Bell each contributed six blocks. 

Coach Quote: Shane Davis

“I’m incredibly proud of how our guys responded tonight. This team showed toughness, maturity and belief. Aleksandar Sosa was huge for us tonight, he played with confidence and just had fun. This was a total team effort, between Ryan and Jake Read, our middles; it was a big step forward for us early in the season.”

How It Happened

SET 1 | The Ramblers set the tone early, trading points through the opening stretch before pulling ahead behind strong play at the net and service line. The front row had six blocks, led by Brad Bell (3), and McElligott served four aces, including the set-winner. Sosa powered the offense with eight kills and Loyola took the first set 25-23. 

SET 2 | Loyola built on a set-one win by securing a 25-22 victory in the second. Neither team led by more than two for most of the frame, which saw 15 tied scores and five lead changes. After the lead changed hands four times, the Ramblers took control at 22-21 and had the advantage through the end. Read stuffed the set-winning block to take a commanding 2-0 lead. 

SET 3 | Hawai’i refused to go quietly and avoided a sweep with a third-set win to make it 2-1. The Rainbow Warriors erased a seven point Ramblers’ lead and tied the nail-biting frame at 23-23 before taking it 26-24. 

SET 4 | Determined to close it out, Loyola jumped out early in the fourth set, using its block and serve to disrupt Hawai’i’s momentum. Fabikovic led the offense with five kills and helped the Ramblers’ defense frustrate the Rainbow Warriors into errors. Hawai’i made a late push, but Loyola answered every run and sealed the match on a block by Bell and Fabikovic. 

Inside the Box Score

• Read was a game-changer, contributing eight kills, eight digs, three blocks (one solo, two assists), two assists and an ace. 
• Klein recorded a career-high six blocks and his best hitting clip to date (.538). 
• McElligott had a career-high five services aces and matched his career-high 11 digs.

Up Next

The Ramblers head to the First Point Collegiate Challenge in Phoenix, Ariz. to face the Stanford Cardinals (Jan. 17) and UCLA Bruins (Jan. 18). 

PROVO, Utah — Trent Moser’s game-high 14 kills along with Tyler Herget’s 35 assists powered No. 8 BYU men’s volleyball over Saint Francis (25-22, 25-20, 25-18) in a 3-0 sweep.

For a team that lost a number of key contributors from last season, Moser’s return to the team after a season at Grand Canyon, combined with the emergence of both new and returning players, has the Cougars in a spot that Head Coach Shawn Olmstead is excited about.

“I’m happy for them,” Olmstead said. “They needed to get out here and shake their wings and get the rust off a little. I’m excited for everybody to see this team that we’ve seen, but it’s not close to the level these guys will be at.”

In the Cougar attack, returning junior Teilon-Jonathan Tufuga contributed nine kills in the victory. Freshman AJ Cottle cashed in eight kills on 10 swings and four blocks. Freshman Trevor Herget racked up three aces, including back-to-back aces on the first two serves of his collegiate career. Sophomore Connor Oldani added six kills and a career-high 10 digs. Oldani also transferred to BYU along with Moser.

“It feels so good to have this much support,” Moser said. “The first set today felt kind of weird, honestly. I felt like I was here yesterday. It’s been two years, so I’m happy to be back.”

BYU out-hit Saint Francis .310 to .164 in the win. The Cougars out-killed the Red Flash by 18 (42-24), digs by 14 (30-16), blocks by three (7-4) and had three less service errors (15-12).

Set 1

After a 2-2 start, which included a Moser kill as the first Cougar point of the season, BYU went on a 3-0 run. Back-to-back aces were recorded by Tufuga. The Cougars then added on a 4-0 run after some back-and-forth scoring. Moser and Gavin Chambers added to the kill count in the run. At the media timeout, the Cougars led 15-8.

The Red Flash countered BYU’s attack with a 5-0 run of their own and three consecutive aces in the run. Out of a Cougar timeout, Saint Francis chipped away BYU’s lead and tied it up 16-16.

The Cougars regained their lead thanks to kills by Tufuga, Cottle and two by Moser to go up 21-18. BYU capped off the set 25-22 with Moser’s seventh kill at set point to take a 1-0 match lead.

Set 2

The Red Flash were first to make a statement and began the set with a 3-0 run that included two Saint Francis kills. A Tufuga ace would then tie it 3-3 before the Red Flash gradually increased its lead to five, 14-9.

BYU responded to the deficit with a 6-1 run and took its first lead of the set at 16-15. Kills by Chambers, Oldani, and Moser along with three Cougar blocks attributed to the momentum swing. 

After both squads traded points, the Cougar lead grew to four, 22-18, with freshman Trevor Herget posting back-to-back aces on the first two serves of his career. Tufuga closed out the set with three straight kills to help BYU win the second set 25-20. 

Set 3

Following a 3-3 draw to start the third, Saint Francis tacked on a 3-0 run which included three BYU errors. Cottle then recorded three kills as BYU fought back to tie it up 7-7.

Each team exchanged scores until the Cougars took charge with two Moser kills and an Oldani kill in the midst of a 4-0 run. Then, Cottle got a kill and shared a block to extend BYU’s lead to six, 18-12, forcing a Red Flash timeout.

A string of errors from both sides, five by Saint Francis and three by BYU, made the score 23-16 in favor of the Cougars. A kill by Trevor Herget to force match point and another kill sealed the set and match to give BYU the 3-0 sweep over the Red Flash. 

Up Next

These same two teams will face each other again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. The match can be viewed live on Big Ten Plus and on-demand at BYUtv.org and the BYUtv App after 10 p.m.

MITCHELL — After a 35-year coaching and teaching career, it won’t be easy for Deb Thill to retire.

It’s been the reward of helping kids succeed, grow and develop that has kept the Kernel coach involved in four decades.

Thill, who has been Mitchell High School’s only volleyball coach in Kernel history, formally announced her retirement on Friday, set to retire at the end of the school year from the only school district she’s ever worked for. Thill is also leaving her position as a physical education teacher at L.B. Williams Elementary and as the Kernels’ track and field head coach.

She joked Friday that retirement had to happen eventually, but she’s looking forward to having more time for herself and her family going forward.

“I’ve been in the education and coaching field for so long, and I thought it was probably time for me to do some other things before I’m too old to do it,” she said.

Thill’s volleyball coaching career included Class AA state championships in 1995 and 2003, and 15 trips to the state tournament, including a final trip in 2025. The first was in 1993, sending the Kernels to the state tournament in four different decades. She reached 500 career volleyball coaching victories in 2024 and she was the longest-tenured high school volleyball coach in Class AA volleyball history.

“Deb Thill’s impact on Mitchell athletics is truly extraordinary. As the first and only head volleyball coach in program history, she built a standard of excellence that continues to define our school,” Mitchell High School Activities Director Cory Aadland said in a statement. “Beyond the success of her teams, Deb’s greatest legacy is the countless student-athletes she mentored, inspired and prepared for life. Her dedication, leadership, and passion for education-based athletics will be felt in our community for generations.”

Mitchell Republic file photo

In an interview, Thill recalled that Mitchell and Yankton were the final two Class AA schools to start a volleyball program in 1991-92, and Mitchell had more than 100 girls out for volleyball, with only three levels of teams in the program to start.

“We kept growing as a program and there was a lot of interest and a lot of girls wanted to play volleyball,” Thill said. “In four years, we were vying for the state championship against Yankton, and that was pretty memorable. We were blessed with good athletes right at the beginning.”

From that standpoint, Thill isn’t that surprised that volleyball has grown as much nationally as it has, flourishing collegiately and with professional leagues popping up.

“Once you play the game, and if you have good people around you, you’re kind of hooked, between playing or watching or coaching because it is very much a team sport,” she said. “And the game itself has changed so that it’s much more fan friendly from when it first started.”

Thill has coached track and field since 2012 and been the head coach for four seasons, a role she will continue to do through May. She also was a girls basketball coach with the Kernels for 13 years, with 11 as an assistant for Gary Munsen and then two years as head coach after South Dakota switched its volleyball and girls basketball seasons, moving volleyball to the fall and basketball to the winter, which didn’t allow Munsen to coach both anymore.

Marcus Traxler / Mitchell Republic

Once again, it was the right place, right time for Thill, who led the Kernels to a state championship in her first season as head coach in 2003 and finished third in 2004, with Mitchell 43-3 under her leadership in two seasons. In 2004, she relinquished the girls basketball job to spend more time with her family.

“Looking back, it was a little much. At the Class AA level, it’s just pretty rare to find someone that will coach multiple sports,” Thill said on Friday. “And just in general, people don’t coach very long. To coach for 35 years, that’s probably an anomaly. … One of my goals was to be a good role model for young women to show you can have a career, you can have a family, you can do a lot of those things and make it work and do it well.”

Thill was the state’s volleyball coach of the year in 2003 and is a past president of the South Dakota High School Coaches Association.

In retirement, Thill said she’s looking forward to more time with her children and family and to be able to take some trips.

Aadland said the search for Mitchell’s next coaches for volleyball and track and field will begin immediately.

Marcus Traxler is the assistant editor and sports editor for the Mitchell Republic. A past winner of the state’s Outstanding Young Journalist award and the 2023 South Dakota Sportswriter of the Year, he’s worked for the newspaper since 2014 and covers a wide variety of topics. A Minnesota native, Traxler can be reached at mtraxler@mitchellrepublic.com.

Wesleyan Christian junior Nejari Crooks was named the N.C. Gatorade Player of the Year in volleyball.

Crooks is ranked as one of the top 15 juniors in the nation and has committed to Penn State.

She made the HighSchoolOT all-state first team this past season, her third time making the state’s top all-state team, featuring players from all associations, and the second time on the first-team.

List as six feet tall, the right-side hitter and setter is closing in on 1,000 kills and 1,000 assists in her career.

She was also an American Volleyball Coaches Association First Team All-American, and a member of the USA Volleyball Under-19 Women’s National Team that won the gold medal at the Pan American Cup in Canada last June.

According to a press release, Crooks has a 4.84 GPA.

This past season she posted 405 kills (a whopping 6.5 per set) with a 52.8 kill percentage and a 42.6 hitting percentage. She had 104 aces, 65 blocks, 216 digs (3.5 per set) and  351 assists (5.7 per set).

She made first-team all-state as a sophomore and was an honorable mention selection as a freshman.

Lynchburg, Va. – The University of Lynchburg indoor track & field teams hosted the Burg Open to resume competition for the 2025-2026 season at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex.

Although the Hornets competed in their third indoor meet, several distance athletes made their season debuts following an extended training block. On the field events side, Lynchburg posted 23 top-10 performances, including individual victories in the women’s weight throw and men’s high jump.

For the men’s team, Lamont Victoria and Alex Jordan earned first-place finishes against stellar competition. Victoria bested the field in the men’s high jump by clearing the 6′ 9″ (2.06m) bar, while Aidan Hipp finished second at the 6′ 5¾” (1.98m) height. Elijah Rose and Jaren Lee (6′ 3¾” or 1.93m) earned third and fourth, respectively.

Alex Jordan posted an 8:24.78 performance in the men’s 3,000m to win the race, which featured 11 Hornets. Jack Weddle clinched second with an 8:32.30 result, while Mercer Alden accelerated into third with an 8:45.82 finish.

Delaney Saulsbury led the women’s 3,000m coast-to-coast and registered a personal-best 10:40.53 for first place. Winter Tietjen posted 10:46.70 for second place in her collegiate track debut, while Mya Baker earned 10:48.84 for third.

Rylee Turner also secured a pair of podium finishes, clocking 7.95 for third in the 60-meter dash finals and 26.02 for second in the 200-meter dash. In the 400m, Kaitlyn Ruiz crossed the line in 59.99 for second, while Parker Marshall finished fifth in the men’s race with a 51.33 result.

In jumping events, Kacey Kelly displayed her versatility with three top-10 finishes. The senior placed second in the women’s triple jump with a 36′ 3¼” (11.06m), fourth in the women’s long jump (16′ 8¾” or 5.10m) and sixth in the women’s 60-meter hurdles (10.84).   

First-year Audrey Lacombe joined Kelly with a sixth-place mark in the women’s triple jump (30′ 11″ or 9.42m) and an eighth-place finish in the women’s 60-meter hurdle final (11.11).

Kenzie Swicegood earned her third first-place finish of the season with an individual victory in the women’s weight throw, posting a 53′ 4½” (16.27m) throw. The former Old Dominion Athletic Conference Field Athlete of the Week also claimed a fourth-place finish in the women’s shot put with a 37′ 1″ (11.30m) performance.

The Hornets registered 11 top-ten finishes between the women’s weight throw and shot put, and Kya Rucker joined Swicegood on the podium for the weight throw with a 46′ 3¾” (14.12m) mark.

To round out the day, the women’s 4x400m relay team clocked 4:04.72  for second in the field, while the men’s 4x400m squad clinched 3:20.39 for second.

Lynchburg returns to action on Friday, Jan. 16 and Saturday, Jan. 17 with a split-squad weekend, traveling to the Virginia Tech Invitational and Finn Pincus Invitational, hosted by Roanoke College.

For full results from the Burg Open, click here.

Visit Lynchburg athletics’ home online, LynchburgSports.com, anytime for up-to-the-minute news on all Hornets sports and coverage from the Lynchburg Hornets Sports Network.

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–LYN–

GOLETA, Calif. — Joao Favarim and Hank Kaufman powered a balanced attack as CSUN defeated Harvard 25-16, 25-19, 26-28, 25-18 to improve to 2-0 at the Asics Invitational Friday afternoon at UCSB’s Rob Gym.

CSUN (2-0) struggled a times offensively, hitting .206 as a team, but controlled the match with steady serving and a strong block. The Matadors finished with a 9.5–7 edge in total team blocks as Favarim had a match-high six block assists. The sophomore middle also led the Matadors offensively with 10 kills on 17 swings to hit .471. Kaufman finished the match with nine kills (.065), two aces, and two blocks, while senior Shane Nhem chipped in six kills (.455) and a pair of blocks.

Setter Owen Douphner helped CSUN to a sizable 10-4 edge in team aces as he served a career-high five in the win. Doughner directed the offense with 30 assists and chipped in five kills, as CSUN placed four players in double figures in points. Shane Nhem added six kills on .455 hitting, and Joao Avila contributed a match-high 10 digs, seven kills (.214), and two aces.

CSUN jumped out early, rolling to a convincing win in the opening set behind efficient sideout play and four aces. The Matadors carried that momentum into the second set, pulling away late to take a two-set lead.

Harvard (0-2) extended the match by outlasting CSUN in a tightly contested third set, but the Matadors responded with their most complete effort in the fourth. CSUN broke open a close set with a decisive run midway through and closed the match on a kill by Grayson Albers.

Sawyer Nichols led Harvard with 15 kills, but the Crimson hit just .037 for the match and struggled to find consistency against the CSUN block and serve pressure.

HEAD COACH THEO EDWARDS SAID

“I thought we were inconsistent at times today. We had four guys out there that are starting to really learn how to do this and how to play at a consistent level. There were some great performances; Owen (Doughner) commanded the match for the most part. For me, it’s just about us learning and making progress throughout the season. Part of the struggle for us today was playing back-to-back days. We’re having some conversations about that and how to get the proper rest and get ready for tomorrow.”

UP NEXT

CSUN concludes the 2026 Asics Invitational on Saturday afternoon, meeting Kentucky State (0-1) at 4:30 p.m.

#GoMatadors