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Pisco voted as male athlete of the year by Watson, panel

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WHITE PIGEON — Jordan Pisco has dreams of someday owning his own business.

He feels it will be something important to him, something he has a passion for at this point in his life. He will get a chance to get a good look into that future soon when he is taking classes at Glen Oaks Community College beginning in the fall, there he plans to major in business.

Pisco will also play basketball for Mike Elliott and the Viking program. But first, following his graduation from White Pigeon, Pisco earned one final award for his time while in high school.

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Calloway named 2025 Emrick/Mielcarek Female Athlete of the Year

Pisco has been named the Corky Emrick/Tom Mielcarek Male Athlete of the Year for 2025. The requirements for the award are to be a graduating senior at a school the Sturgis Journal covers in addition to competing in a sport during the fall, winter and spring sports for their respective schools as a senior as well.

“I’m excited for my future, for sure,” Pisco said on Friday afternoon. “I’m a little nervous about school and all that, but I’m also looking forward to it.”

The annual award is named after longtime Journal sports editor Corky Emrick, who passed away in 2019 and Tom Mielcarek, Journal sports writer for decades, who passed away in 2022.

PRESTIGIOUS SCHOLARSHIP: Sturgis grad earns full-ride to MSU with prestigious scholarship

Sports Editor Brandon Watson gives out the award yearly to both a male and female. In addition to earning a plaque for being the athlete of the year, each winner receives a $1,000 scholarship to use as they see fit. A panel of more than a dozen voters from communities in the Journal coverage area are appointed each year. If those voters represent a school in any way, they cannot vote a student-athlete from that school as the winner, they must vote for one from a different school.

Pisco excelled on the basketball court, football field and track during his time at White Pigeon. For track and field, he had a strong ending to his senior season. Pisco earned the prestigious Tim Baker MVP award at the 40th annual U.A.W. St. Joseph County All-Star track and field meet. There, he won the 110 hurdles and the high jump, plus finished second in the long jump as well as finishing inside the top five spots in a relay event.

Then, at the Division 4 MHSAA state finals, Pisco earned a handful of Top 10 finishes as well. He ran to sixth place overall in the 110 hurdles, was part of the eighth-place finishing 400 relay and claimed eighth overall in the high jump.

HOLTOM TO CONTINUE CAREER: Burr Oak’s Holtom to continue softball career at Defiance College

Not bad.

But when it came to his future in athletics, the round ball was the way to go.

“It (basketball) was the sport I grew up playing, knowing all about and I love it more than anything, really,” he said. “Football, track they were both fun but basketball has really always been my thing.”

Pisco said dedicating himself to continuing to get better as he got older was an important part of where he is now.

“When I saw you could do good things if you put the work in, that showed me something,” he said.

Pisco will live at home and commute to GOCC for his classes and hoops career. It’s not too far, obviously, and it works out just fine for him. He’ll miss his time spent at White Pigeon with his friends and teammates, but knows he could be off to some special things at the next level as well.

The Corky Emrick/Tom Mielcarek athletes of the year awards are given annually to a graduating senior who played three sports as a senior for their high school. Past winners of the male award include Brandon Crawford of Colon in 2021, Tyler Swanwick of Centreville in 2022, Simon Vinson of Colon in 2023 and Bennett VandenBerg of Constantine in 2024.

Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BwatsonSJ.



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Texas vs Indiana in Sweet 16

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12 minutes ago

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December 8, 2025

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Looking back, things couldn’t have gone any better for Texas volleyball during the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

The top-seeded Longhorns (24-3) flash a poised and precise offense befitting one of the top attacks in the country: They hit better than .400 in both matches while sweeping unseeded Florida A&M and No. 8 Penn State in the first- and second-round matches, respectively. They also flashed a relentless defense with an imposing block and impenetrable back row: On Friday, Florida A&M had more hitting errors than kills, and defending champion Penn State hit just .124 Saturday against Texas.

And in order to reach their ultimate goal of an NCAA championship, said All-American candidate Torrey Stafford, the Longhorns need to maintain that kind of balance entering the round of 16 this weekend at Gregory Gymnasium.

“I feel like it’s easy to put a big emphasis on either offense or defense, but we try to do both,” Stafford said after Saturday’s 25-16, 25-9, 25-19 sweep over Penn State. “And in order to be a great offensive team, we need to be great defensive team, too.”

Stafford and her teammates certainly looked great against the Nittany Lions while reaching the Sweet 16 for a 20th consecutive season. Stafford fired 21 kills with just one hitting error while fellow attackers Cari Spears and Abby Vander Wal combined for 19 more kills with just three hitting errors.

“I just felt like everyone was on the same page tonight,” said setter Ella Swindle, who dished out 21 assists. “I think we just had a really clear picture of what we were trying to do, and I think all of our hitters did a really good job of just being ready in any situation and also just going after the shots that they wanted.”

Now, Texas will take the best shot from surprising Indiana (25-7), which reached the round of 16 for just the second time in program history by sweeping Colorado. The Hoosiers boast a balanced squad steeled by playing in arguably the country’s deepest conference, the Big Ten. They ranked fifth in the Big Ten this season with a .283 hitting percentage, and they boast a veteran attacker in Candela Alonso-Corcelles, a 6-foot-2 senior from Spain who averages 3.54 kills a set.

But the key to the Hoosiers could be setter Teodora Kričković, said UT coach Jerritt Elliott. The 6-foot-2 freshman from Serbia emerged as one of the top young setters in the nation this season while averaging 10.67 assists per set. Her size also gives Indiana a presence at the net, much like Texas has with the 6-2 Swindle; Kričković has 52 kills as well as 50 blocks.

Elliott said he caught “about 15 minutes” of Indiana on TV earlier this season, but is looking forward to diving into the film study.

“I think they’re a fast team, I think they’ve got good setting, (and) I think they’re pretty efficient,” he said. “They’ll be a good challenge.”

Texas will face No. 4 Indiana Friday at noon at Gregory Gymnasium. With a win, the Longhorns will play a final home game this season Sunday against either No. 2 Stanford or No. 3 Wisconsin. The winner of that match qualifies for the Final Four Dec. 18-21 in Kansas City, Mo.



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#11 Creighton Volleyball to Meet #8 Arizona State in Sweet 16 in Lexington

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December 8, 2025

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Courtesy of Rob Anderson, Creighton Athletics

OMAHA, Neb. — The NCAA has announced that the No. 11 Creighton Volleyball team will meet No. 8 Arizona State on Thursday, Dec., 11 in Lexington, Ky. The teams will square off at 12 p.m. Central inside Memorial Coliseum.

Winners of 22 straight matches, Creighton is 27-5 this fall. The Bluejays are making their fifth Sweet 16 appearance, and third consecutive. Arizona State is 28-3 this fall and making their second Sweet 16 in the past three seasons. The only previous meeting between the programs came in 2002.

Thursday’s match will be broadcast on ESPN2.

Second-ranked Kentucky (27-2) will host Cal Poly (27-7) at 2:30 p.m. Central on Thursday.

The Regional Final featuring Thursday’s winners is scheduled for Saturday, with a time and broadcast plans to be announced following Thursday’s results.

For those fans interested in acquiring tickets to the NCAA Lexington Regional, all-session tickets will be on sale Monday at 9 a.m. Central with single-session tickets on sale Tuesday at 9 a.m. CT on UKathletics.com. 





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Serve receive dooms Arizona Wildcats volleyball 2nd rd NCAA Tournament

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December 8, 2025

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Arizona Wildcats volleyball players Haven Wray (8), Carlie Cisneros (12), and Brenna Ginder (3) smile during a Second Round NCAA Tournament match against Stanford on Dec. 6, 2025

Arizona Wildcats volleyball players Haven Wray (8), Carlie Cisneros (12), and Brenna Ginder (3) smile during a Second Round NCAA Tournament match against Stanford on Dec. 6, 2025
Photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics

The Stanford Cardinal didn’t have their starting setter against Arizona on Saturday evening, but they did have a powerful serve. The Wildcats couldn’t handle or match it in a 3-1 (25-16, 25-27, 25-17, 25-20) loss in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Volleyball Tournament.

It wasn’t a disappointment for Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs, who was making her first appearance in the tournament as a head coach and leading the program to its first since 2018. The Wildcats won a match, giving them their first win in the tourney since 2016. They just couldn’t make it to the Sweet 16 for the first time since the same year.

“We took each day and the challenge that was before us, and we just gave it everything we had, which is exactly what you want,” Stubbs said. “You know, you want to battle and compete the entire time. And I like to think we exposed some issues that Stanford has, so that’s exciting.”

But that serve and pass game wasn’t one of them. Stanford had eight aces against nine service errors. The Wildcats committed 10 errors without serving a single ace.

“Before I went in, I was like, it’s all about the serve and pass,” Stubbs said. “And we were missing too many balls to the libero when we did serve it in, and then the serves just weren’t tough enough. And so I told them in the fourth set before we started, I was like, I don’t care if we miss a serve, we just got to be aggressive. And we missed the serve and wasn’t aggressive.”

The Wildcats still fought through it despite starting just one senior and one junior. The starting group of four sophomores and a freshman, along with the three seniors and one junior who subbed in, never let go of a set even when they looked to be buried by the Cardinal.

“It wasn’t for lack of effort,” Stubbs said. “It was just you got to be used to it,and then what I shared with them is that we have to go through things like this to get to our next. So much of this is still new for us with this group. The difference is your seniors are finished, and so now it’s about competing and doing better than we did this year next year to honor the seniors. That’s the direction we’re going.”

Stanford led wire-to-wire in the first set. The Cardinal never went on a big run. The biggest run was four points, but by that time they had put enough small runs together to build a nine-point lead at 22-13. It was the largest of the set and ended as the final margin.

Arizona didn’t fold despite Stanford running out to a 4-0 lead in the second set. The Wildcats used their own 4-1 run to tie the set at five points each. It stayed tight throughout, but Arizona got to set point at 24-23.

The Cardinal wiped away two set points, but they couldn’t string two points together to earn one of their own. The Wildcats put their third one away to even the match with a 27-25 second set.

Arizona never really bothered Stanford in the third. The Cardinal were able to put together larger runs and eventually led by 10 at 22-12. The Wildcats cut into the lead a bit, but they still dropped the set by eight and were one set from ending their season.

Things were tight early in the fourth set, but a critical call went against Arizona and seemed to turn the tide. At 7-5, Stanford’s Elia Rubin hit an attack that was called out. The television replay didn’t appear to show a touch by Arizona. It certainly didn’t appear to show anything definitive enough to overturn the call on the floor.

Stanford challenged and won the challenge. The call was overturned and the point went to the Cardinal. A one-point gap became three points. From there, they went on an 8-2 run to take a 16-7 lead.

The Wildcats knew it was their last chance. They continued to fight. The teams traded points for a while, then Arizona started to string a few together. A 5-1 run cut the lead to four points at 23-19.

The service errors raised their ugly head again. Giorgia Mandotti’s error gave Stanford several match points. Jordan Wilson’s final kill of her college career saved one, but that’s as far as it went. Jordyn Harvey put the next point away to win it for the home team.

Wilson finished her college career with a match-high 17 kills, seven digs, and two total blocks (one solo). That gave her 499 kills, 269 digs, 26 aces, 10 assists, and 44.0 total blocks in 108 sets this season. The outside hitter took over 9th place in total kills in a season, surpassing Kendra Dahlke’s 496 in 2016, the last year Arizona won an NCAA Tournament match. She also grabbed 10th in kills per set in a season with 4.62, knocking out Barb Bell’s 1994 season (4.51 k/s).

In her three years as a Wildcat, Wilson had 1,191 kills, 593 digs, 55 aces, 27 assists, and 127 total blocks in 310 sets over 86 matches. Her 3.84 kills per set (minimum of 200 sets played) over her Arizona career place her fifth in Wildcat history, surpassing the 3.82 of Tiffany Owens (2007-10).

Carlie Cisneros had 12 kills on .275 hitting, committing just one hitting error in four sets. Her nine digs kept her just shy of a double-double. It was the third straight match with 10 or more kills for Cisneros and the eighth in the last nine matches.

The development of Cisneros as a regular scoring threat was huge for the Wildcats in the tournament and down the stretch of the regular season. It also gives Stubbs hope for next season when Wilson is gone.

“That happened at Kansas, as well,” Stubbs said. “When Jordan struggled, she stepped up. It happened against Texas Tech when Jordan didn’t play. So, you know, she definitely wants to be the go-to player, and has shown that she’s capable of doing it.”

As has so often bee the case this season, it was a true team effort. Twelve members of Arizona’s 17-player roster made an appearance in the match, including all four seniors. Six players had at least two kills. Seven had at least one block. Eight had at least one dig.

“I was pleased with us and how we competed and how people that went in tried to make a difference and did a good job,” Stubbs said.

Journey Tucker once again showed that she can be a dominant force in the middle. The junior had four kills on .400 hitting and led the team with five total blocks.

Fellow junior MB Sydnie Vanek didn’t start, but she also made an impact when she came in. Vanek also had four kills. She tied for second on the team with three total blocks.

The match may have ended the season and the college careers of Wilson, Haven Wray, and Ana Heath; Mandotti still has a year of eligibility left either at Arizona or elsewhere. There were still a lot of positives to walk away with.

“I’m just grateful,” Stubbs said. “I’m grateful for the fact that Haven did it five times, and that Jordan transferred in, and that Ana stuck with it through the ups and downs of not having a position, per se. After her setting years, made the commitment to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to do this and commit to it.‘ It just says a lot about who they are as people, and you just always want the best for them, which is why I told them not to hang their heads. The best thing we can do to honor them is to be good from here on out, so that this was not for naught.”



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How to watch Nebraska volleyball’s Sweet 16 match vs. Kansas

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December 8, 2025

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NCAA Volleyball Regional Schedule Set

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December 8, 2025

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The fourth-seeded Indiana volleyball team (25-7, 14-6 B1G) will play in the Sweet 16 for just the second time in program history. The NCAA announced start times and dates for next week’s regional semifinals on Sunday (Dec. 7) afternoon. The Hoosiers will play top-seeded Texas at Gregory Gymnasium on Friday (Dec. 12) afternoon at Noon ET on ESPN.

 

Following the greatest regular season in program history, IU was awarded a top-16 national seed and the chance to host the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers made quick work of their first two matchups, sweeping Toledo and fifth-seeded Colorado in Bloomington to advance to the Sweet 16.

 

IU is one of five Big Ten programs remaining in the NCAA Tournament. Of the 16 schools left in the big dance, IU is one of two teams (Cal Poly) that didn’t make the big dance last year. The Hoosiers have already set a single-season program record for wins (25) and will attempt to advance to the regional final for the first time in program history.

 

The other matchup in the Austin Regional will pit second-seeded Stanford and third-seeded Wisconsin against each other. Their match will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of IU’s. The winners of both regional semifinals will meet on Sunday (Dec. 14) afternoon for a spot in the national semifinals in Kansas City.



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Louisville volleyball NCAA Tournament bracket, Texas A&M vs UofL game

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4 hours ago

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December 8, 2025

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Dec. 6, 2025Updated Dec. 7, 2025, 6:08 a.m. ET

After defeating Marquette 3-2 in the second round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament on Saturday night, No. 2 Louisville will travel to Lincoln, Nebraska, and take on No. 3 Texas A&M in the Sweet 16 at 7 p.m. Friday.

This will be the Cardinals’ seventh consecutive regional appearance but first with Dan Meske as head coach.

Here’s everything you need to know to keep up with the match from home:

No. 2 seed Louisville versus No. 3 seed Texas A&M will be broadcast live on ESPN or ESPN2.

Authenticated subscribers can access ESPN2 via TV-connected devices or by going to WatchESPN.com or the WatchESPN app.

Those without cable can access ESPN2 via streaming services, with Fubo offering a free trial.

Buy Louisville volleyball tickets here

After defeating Marquette, UofL will play Texas A&M in the Lincoln, Nebraska, Regional Friday at 7 pm. Here’s a look at the tournament schedule:

  • First and second rounds: Dec. 4-6
  • Regionals: Dec. 11-14
  • Semifinals: Dec. 18 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri
  • Championship: Dec. 21 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri



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