Head coach Dan Fisher and the Pitt volleyball program have received two commitments for the Class of 2027.

Over the last two days, Kyla Williams and Peyton Kubik have announced their commitments to the Pitt program.

Williams is a 6-foot-4 middle blocker along with playing on the right side and attends Gilmour Academy in Gate Mills, Ohio, 15 miles from Cleveland. This is the same high school that former Pitt standout Emmy Klika attended (2021-24).

Williams helped lead Gilmour Academy to a 2024 OHSAA Division III state championship and had a tremendous season with 183 kills, 2.1 kills per set and 59 total blocks.

Courtesy Kyla Williams

Williams is rated by Prep Dig as the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2027 from Ohio and the No. 12 overall player in the country.

Next week, Williams will play with Team USA at the NORCECA U19 Pan American Cup in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Kubik also announced her commitment to the Panthers program.

The 6’2″ outside hitter attends Blue West Valley High School in Overland Park, Kansas.

Courtesy Peyton Kubik

Last season, she led her team with 419 kills, 4.4 kills per set, 37 aces, 2.3 digs per set and only 12 reception errors on 423 attempts. This performance led Kubik to received 2024 MaxPreps Sophomore All-American honors.

Kubik is rated by PrepVolleyball as the No. 8 overall recruit in the Class of 2027.

The addition of Williams and Kubik give Pitt 7 commitments over the next two seasons.

Williams and Zubik join 2026 commitments Ayanna Watson and Trinity Thompson from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Jessica Smallwood from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Isabella Hoppe from Pine-Richland High School and Lola Sageer from Liverpool, New York.

COMMERCE – The East Texas A&M University athletics department recorded another stellar semester in the classroom, posting a 3.17 term grade point average during the Spring 2025 semester.
 
Across its 14 programs, the department holds a cumulative GPA of 3.21, with all but two programs recording a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or better. In the Spring 2025 semester, all but two programs posted a term GPA of 3.00 or better.
 
“This semester’s academic achievements underscore the exceptional dedication and discipline demonstrated by our student-athletes, in addition to the focused and supportive learning environment created by our faculty, staff and university community,” said Director of Athletics Jim Curry. “As we hit new academic heights within our athletics programs, we our confident that a strong foundation is in place that will support a comprehensive culture of excellence as we prepare to embark on full Division I membership status this fall.”
 
Individually, 229 student-athletes (which represents 72 percent of all student-athletes) posted term GPAs of 3.00 or better during the spring semester, including 70 student-athletes that posted perfect 4.0 GPAs. The 229 student-athletes with 3.00 or better term GPAs is the most for the department in the Division I era and most since the COVID-19 affected Spring 2020 semester.
 
Here is the list of the 10 programs that record term GPA of 3.00 or better during the Spring 2025 semester.
 

 

East Texas A&M also graduated 65 Lion student-athletes during May commencement ceremonies. In the fall, an additional 18 student-athletes participated in the December commencement ceremonies.
 
“Our student-athletes continue to raise the bar both on the playing surface and in the classroom. This semester’s achievements reflect the dedication of our student-athletes, as well as the support of our coaches and academic staff, and the strength of our university community,” said provost Dr. Tammi Vacha-Haase. “We are proud to celebrate their success as scholars and leaders on this campus.”
 
In the 2024-25 academic year, 230 student-athletes were listed on the SLC Commissioner’s Honor Roll, which is the most in an academic year since joining the conference. Following a record-breaking fall, 118 student-athletes in the spring and winter sports of men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s golf, women’s golf, softball, men’s track and field, and women’s track and field were named to the Southland Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll, which is a new record for the spring.
 
Below is the list of the 229 student-athletes that recorded a term GPA of 3.00 or above in the spring. Those marked with a ‘*’ earned a perfect 4.0 semester GPA.
 
 
MEN’S BASKETBALL

 
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

 
FOOTBALL

 
MEN’S GOLF

 
WOMEN’S GOLF

 
SOCCER

 
SOFTBALL

 
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY & TRACK & FIELD

 
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY & TRACK & FIELD

 
VOLLEYBALL

 

-ETAMU-

Penn State volleyball instantly received two class of 2027 commitments once coaches were legally allowed to contact rising juniors. Head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley is still dominating the recruitment field as the Nittany Lions received its third commit in two days.

Alongside right-side hitter Nejari Crooks and middle blocker Taylor Harrington, outside hitter Olivia Henry announced that she, too, will be heading to Happy Valley for her NCAA career.

Could Penn State volleyball have the No. 1 class of 2027 recruiting class?

All three front row players are high ranked recruits, with Harrington being the lowest at No. 16. Now with Henry joining the court, the Nittany Lions have the No. 2 overall recruit from the class of 2027. She’s also the No. 1 outside hitter of the class. Henry will also play with future teammate and incoming freshman Gabrielle Nichols before attending Penn State. The outside hitter, like Nichols, will play for the 2025 Girls U19 National Team.

For the next few seasons, the outside hitter group will have a lot to prove. Aside from the No. 2 class of 2027 recruit committing to Penn State, the Nittany Lions currently have two Big Ten All-Freshman Team and two incoming freshman vying for an open starter spot. Since Jess Mruzik graduated after the 2025-26 season, the outside hitter position will be up for grabs and can continue to change depending on incoming recruits.

Moving beyond the early stages of 2027 recruiting, eyeing back row players will round out Schumacher-Cawley class. Even though there are young defensemen that will likely stay with the program, the class of 2026 is scarce when it comes to defensive specialists. Libero Gillian Grimes is also graduating after the 2025-26 season, so having a defensive focus going further with the class of 2027 will prepare the Nittany Lions for years to come.

So what does this mean for Penn State?

After winning the championship title, it’s unsurprising that Schumacher-Cawley is dominating the recruitment realm, even beyond the class of 2026. Having representation on national levels outside of the NCAA, like the Girls U19 National Team and U19 Pan American Cup, keeps all eyes on Penn State.

Not only will Schumacher-Cawley have one of the top, if not the No. 1, 2027 recruitment classes but it should be expected for Penn State to be one of the top recruitment leaders for the next few years.

Having these early verbal commits from some of the top recruits in the nation mixed with high-profile transfers, like outside hitter Emmi Sellman, will only make the Nittany Lions stronger down the line. Even with a difficult schedule ahead for the 2025-26 season, and most likely for the next few seasons to come, the talent on the current and future rosters can live up to the challenge.

Another Big Ten title win is well within reach for Schumacher-Cawley’s group, and potentially more NCAA titles. Continuing to grow on the 2024-25 foundation will open doors for Penn State to become a consistently elite program as it was in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

In Vanhoy’s third full year at the helm, the Cal Poly men’s track and field team repeated as Big West Champions this spring using an astonishing 114 points from Vanhoy’s distance squad to claim their second Big West title in program history. Vanhoy’s distance crew won five individual conference titles on the men’s side (800, 1,500, 3,000 steeplechase, 5,000 and 10,000) to lead the way and set the tone for the Mustangs.

The Cal Poly men posted a program record 14 entries in the NCAA West Preliminaries and went onto qualify three athletes for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, tied for the most individual NCAA qualifiers by the Cal Poly men’s team in the Division I era, joining the 1979 squad. The three All-Americans, including a pair of First Teamers, allowed the Mustang men to earn their fifth highest team finish ever at the NCAA Division I meet and their best since 2000. Cal Poly finished in a tie with four other schools for 37th with 8 team points, tied for the second most team points the Mustang men have scored at the Division I meet. Vanhoy coached McCarthy to First Team All-American honors indoors and outdoors this year.

Speaking of McCarthy, the Pleasanton, Calif. native continued to add to his legendary career this spring, placing fifth overall in the men’s 800-meter at the NCAA Outdoor Championships to earn First Team All-American honors outdoors for the second time in his career and the first time since 2023. The performance outdoors coupled with his third-place finish at this year’s NCAA Indoor Championships allowed McCarthy to become the eighth three-time NCAA Division I First Team All-American in program history and first since Sharon Day-Monroe earned All-American status seven times across her career (2004-08). McCarthy also became the first Cal Poly athlete since Day-Monroe in 2008 to achieve a pair of Division I All-American finishes in the same event during a year.

This is the ninth time a Cal Poly athlete has won the Big West Men’s Track Athlete of the Year award and McCarthy is the Mustangs’ second multiple-time winner, joining five-time All-American Kaaron Conwright (1998, 2000).

The career best finish at the NCAA outdoor meet capped off an incredible year by McCarthy. The three-time NCAA West Preliminaries qualifier earned Big West Men’s Track Athlete of the Meet honors this year after scoring 20 team points in Cal Poly’s conference championship victory. He broke the Jack Rose Track facility record in the 800 (1:46.62) en route to claiming his third career Big West title in the event, joining Mark Schilling (1973-77) as the only athletes in conference history to win three championships in the event. He also obliterated the Big West meet record in the men’s 1,500 by over three seconds (3:39.35) to capture his first conference title in the event, helping him become just the fifth Big West athlete ever to sweep the men’s 800 and 1,500.

This year, McCarthy broke school records in the outdoor 800, indoor 800, indoor 1,000 and mile, became the third men’s Division I indoor All-American in school history and first since 1973, and ran the fastest indoor 800 by an American in collegiate history (1:45.19) at the BU Last Chance National Qualifier.

The year to remember for McCarthy comes after he missed the entire 2024 outdoor season and nearly the entire indoor season due to a stress fracture in his foot. McCarthy will return next season and has one year of eligibility left in both indoor and outdoor track, and no eligibility remaining in cross country.

Andee Poteet resigned as the head coach of the Beckville Ladycats volleyball team and will take an assistant coaching position at Longview she announced on Monday.

Poteet, who led Beckville the last three seasons, cited her four-year-old son Beckham and Longview being less than a mile from her home as the reasons for making what she called a very difficult decision to make in leaving Beckville.

“It has to do with Beckham, I need to start spending more time with him,” Poteet said. “I get ‘I miss you mommy all the time’ and it tugs at your heart strings.”

In her three seasons Poteet kept the blue train rolling by compiling a record of 97-41 with three-straight undefeated district titles, three-straight district Coach of the Year titles and making it to the third round of the postseason each season.

Poteet will be teaching Physical Education at Longview.

“I’m not leaving because I knew I we weren’t going to be good this year,” Poteet said. “They are still going to be good this year and can make a complete run in the playoffs this year. That was hard because they are still going to be a stellar program.”

This season Beckville will return the likes of soon-to-be senior and middle blocker Kellen Weaver who as an all-state selection a year ago.

Along with Weaver the Ladycats return Carli Tuttle, Adyson Davis, Emily Grandgeorge and Kaitlyn Mauritzen.

Poteet said she did a lot of crying on Monday because Weaver, Grandgeorge and Mauritzen were all freshmen when she first came to Beckville.

“I told (the team) that I was given an opportunity to be closer to home and to be able to spend more time with Beckham,” Poteet said. “You’re going to have to make hard decisions in your life and this was one that was a hard decision.

“I wish them nothing but the best and told them that they are going to be great this year. That’s how I told them.”

Poteet had topsy-turvy run that started when she inherited a team that previously won the 2A state title back in 2021.

That season was a state title or bust team talent wise but untimely injuries derailed Beckville with a brutal five-set loss to Iola in the regional semifinals that year.

In what was expected to be a rebuild season Poteet led a very youthful and inexperienced Beckville team continuing their unbeaten district streak that dates back to Oct. 12 of 2012 going and a return trip to the regional semifinals.

This past season Beckville looked very much like the teams the over the last decade and a half but with the classes getting split into two divisions, Beckville fell to Iola in the regional quarterfinals.

“It was awesome,” Poteet said of her three years coaching at Beckville. “Each year brought me different stress and each year brought me different joys. My first year everybody wanted us to go back to state and we had the injuries and that next year there’s no way they could keep this up after they lost six seniors and to prove them wrong. That was probably one of my favorite years I’ve had as a coach.”

At Longview Poteet will be able to spend more time with Beckham and being an assistant coach is a completely different approach according to Poteet.

“Big thing is the stress level,” she said. “I feel like a lot of stress has been taken off. Trying to keep that district winning streak alive at Beckville is a lot of stress in itself. The work load has gotten a lot lighter on me, it’s night and day.”

Poteet’s tenure at Beckville was brief and over that span she showed she knew how to coach.

From being able to win over a community and fan base who expected a state title her first year, to overachieving her second year and to showing that Beckville regardless of school size is still one of the premier volleyball teams in all of East Texas in her final season.

Poteet will always be thankful for her time at Beckville.

“You can’t ask for a better community than Beckville,” Poteet said. “In my letter I said that I appreciated the privilege of working alongside such an exceptional team and I’m extremely grateful for the all encouragement I received. Coming into a town like this they swooped me up and showed nothing but courage and lovingness towards me and the whole coaching staff. It was a hard, hard decision.”