FRÝDEK-MÍSTEK, Czech Republic (January 8, 2025) – North Alabama Volleyball’s Jolana Smidlova is continuing her career in the sport after signing a professional contract with Czech club TJ Sokol Frýdek-Místek.

Smidlova returns home to join the club, which is in the midst of the season in Czech Republic’s Women’s Volleyball Extraliga. TJ Sokol Frýdek-Místek was founded in 1978 and based in the city of Frýdek-Místek.

Since the Extraliga’s inception in 1992, the club has seen success during the 2003-04 and 2014-15 seasons with third-place finishes. The team is currently ninth in the Extraliga standings as of Jan. 8, 2026.

The Letovice native spent three season at Tulsa before playing her senior season with the Lions in 2025. Smidlova appeared in eight matches and tallied season totals of 20 kills, 12 blocks and seven digs. In 69 career collegiate matches, her totals include 205 kills, 70 blocks, 56 digs and one service ace.

“I’ve traveled the world for this game, but nothing beats the feeling of returning to your home country,” said Smidlova. “I’m beyond excited to pick up where I left off and play for the people who have been in my corner since day one.”

This marks the second time under UNA head coach Tristan Johnson that a player has gone to the professional ranks. Former standout Anna Katherine Griggs became the first under Johnson to sign a professional contract, joining French club Racing Club de Cannes for the 2024-25 season.

“We are very excited for Jolana and this opportunity for her to continue her career professionally, said Johnson. “Jolana is a highly competitive person and has a very high level of commitment to the game and performing at her best. This is also a great day for our program as we have another former student-athlete pursue their passion of being a professional athlete.  We are so proud of Jolana and excited to follow her career moving forward.”

For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Games 1 + 2
Lindenwood (0-0, 0-0 MIVA)

at  #3 Long Beach State (0-0, 0-0 Big West) | Vanguard (0-0, 0-0 MPSF)

Game Information:

Dates: Friday, January 9, 2026 | Saturday, January 10, 2026

Location: Long Beach, CA | Costa Mesa, CA.

Venue: LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid | Freed Center for Leadership

First Serve: 9:00 PM CT | 4:00 PM CT

All-Time Series: 0-5 | N/A

Last Meeting: L, 0-3 | N/A

Live Stats: Lindenwood @ Vanguard
Watch: ESPN+ | BIG+

Season Preview

The Lindenwood Men’s Volleyball team opens their 2026 campaign on the road when they take on Long Beach State and Vangaurd on Friday and Saturday this weekend. The Lions are coming off of a 10-15 season in 2025 and fell in the first round of the MIVA Tournament to Ohio State 3-1. Lindenwood returns their leading kills and points leader from a season ago in Senior Outside Hitter Brendan Louthain, who compiled 287 kills across 93 sets played for an average of 3.51 kills per set and finished the 2025 campaign with 326.5 points. Senior Setter Zach Solomon also returns for the 2026 season, who led the Lions in total assists in 2025 with 878 assists and was first on the 2025 squad in service aces with 36.

LU brings back 12 players from last season and welcomes six newcomers, including two time First Team All-IVA Selection Luke Kraft. Kraft played the last two seasons at Maryville University where he finished top 3 in the country for aces per set, compiled 613 kills, and ranked second on the team in aces (28) and digs (151) in the 2024 season during his time with the Louies. Gabriel Vieira is another notable newcomer who comes from St. Thomas Aquinas where he registered 339 kills during the 2025 season for an average of 4.40 kills per set and was named the East Coast Conference Men’s Volleyball Player of the Week on both February 17th and 24th. 

The 2026 squad was projected to finish in sixth place in the preseason MIVA polls on December 15 and will look to overcome those odds once the regular season begins. 

Scouting Long Beach State 

Long Beach State is coming off of a 30 win season in 2025 in which they won the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship with a 3-0 sweep over UCLA on May 12. The Beach have won three National Championships in the last seven seasons and they return the 2025 AVCA First Team All-American and All-Conference Opposite Hitter Skyler Varga. Varga led the Beach in kills last season with 270 kills across 99 sets played for an average of 3.44 kills per set. He also ranked fourth on the team in blocks with 70 and was second on the 2025 squad in service aces with 33. Long Beach State also returns Opposite Hitter Daniil Hershtynovich and Outside Hitter Alex Kandev who each had 200 or more kills a season ago and finished second and third on the 2025 squad in kills. The Beach enter the 2026 season ranked third in the country. 

Lindenwood is currently 0-5 all time against the Beach with their most recent match taking place last season in Hyland Arena where the Lions were swept 3-0, but LU lost all three sets by close margins by scores of 23-25, 22-25, and 21-25. Brendan Louthain finished that match tied for the team lead in kills with 11 on a .368 hitting percentage while  Zach Solomon finished with a match-high 33 assists. 

Scouting Vanguard

Vanguard finished the 2025 season 8-18 overall in their first year of Division I Men’s Volleyball. They were defeated in the first round of the MPSF Tournament by CUI 3 sets to 1, but they return their top kills leader and digs leader from a season ago in Opposite Hitter Logan Freemon. Freemon registered 240 kills and 122 digs in 95 sets played last season as a true Freshman. Meanwhile, Vanguard also returns their number two kills leader from a season ago in Middle Blocker Micah Sybesma, who finished the 2025 campaign with 219 kills across 96 sets and hit .428 on the season.

Former Vanguard Middle Blocker and current Lindenwood Lion Nick Dvorak played his Freshman season at Vanguard in 2025 and will return to his old stomping grounds on Saturday as a member of the Lions. Dvorak hit .368 last season at Vanguard and recorded 127 kills in 89 sets played. Lindenwood and Vanguard will meet for the first time in their all-time series on Saturday.

Up Next

Lindenwood returns to St. Charles for their home opener in Hyland Arena which is set for Friday, January 16 at 7 p.m. CT

 

 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – After a month-long hiatus, the Atlantic Coast Conference indoor track & field season will resume on Friday, January 9. Three ACC squads – Clemson, Louisville and Syracuse – will compete throughout the second weekend of new year.
 

Louisville will remain in the Derby City for the two-day Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational, hosted by Kentucky. The events are slated to begin on Friday at noon ET and Saturday at 11 a.m. ET. After each breaking school records in the Cardinals’ season opener, Alba Cuns Iglesias and Elsingi Kipruto were named ACC Indoor Track & Field Performers of the Week.
 

Clemson will host the Clemson Invitational, which will take place on Saturday. The Tigers opened the season in December 2025 with the Clemson Opener. Kimeka Smith won the women’s shot put with a mark of 15.06m (49-5) on her way to being named the ACC Women’s Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Week on December 9. Coverage of the Clemson Invitational will be streamed on ACC Network Extra, beginning at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday.
 
Syracuse will travel to Ithaca, New York, to compete in the Southern Tier Invite, hosted by Cornell. The Southern Tier Invite will begin at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday. The Orange opened its season in Ithaca in December at the Greg Page Relays, highlighted by Elijah Mallard’s school-record in the 300-meter dash.  
 
ACC Indoor Track & Field Weekly Schedule
Friday, January 9
Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational; Louisville, Ky.
Louisville
 
Saturday, January 10
Clemson Invitational; Clemson, S.C.
Clemson
 
Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational; Louisville, Ky.
Louisville
 
Southern Tier Invitational; Ithaca, N.Y.
Syracuse
 

VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota volleyball invites the public to help celebrate another outstanding year of Coyote volleyball at the team’s annual banquet on Saturday, January 31 in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center Dome Club.

When: Saturday, January 31

Time: 9:30am-11:30am

Where: Sanford Coyote Sports Center Dome Club

Cost: $40/person

Attire: RED, as we look to cheer on our basketball teams to a couple of wins later in the day. 

The banquet includes a full breakfast, speeches, interactions with team and coaches, silent auction, and more! 

RSVP Link: https://forms.gle/HBfRHVfcbW3SiCav7

 

The Coyotes ended the 2025 season with a 20-9 mark and a 12-4 record in Summit League play, marking the third time in the last four years they’ve hit the 20-win total and the 10^th straight year with double-digit conference wins. The Yotes lone senior, Kamryn Farris, repeated as the Summit League’s Defensive Player of the Year and was also named to the All-League First Team, All-Tournament Team and to the AVCA Northwest All-Region First Team. Lauren Medeck joined Farris on the conference’s All-League First Team and was also named an AVCA Northwest All-Region Honorable Mention. Avery Van Hook, Morgan Bode and Amanda Loschen were represented on the All-League Second Team, while Ava Ball earned a spot on the All-Freshman Team.

 

Farris became the sixth Coyote to eclipse 1,500 career digs, Van Hook was one of five in the NCAA with 1,000+ assists, 300+ digs and 100+ kills, while Bode set a new four-set program record with 13 blocks at Denver. The Yotes ended the year ranked No. 18 in the NCAA in digs per set (16.68) and No. 21 in total digs (1,885).

 

Off the court, the Coyotes took care of business in the classroom by posting a 3.74 team GPA. South Dakota led the conference with three student-athletes landing on the Summit League Academic All-League team in Farris, Van Hook and Loschen. The trio of Coyotes, alongside Morgan Bode, were also named to the AVCA Academic All-District Team.

 

Contact Michael Runde (Michael.runde@usd.edu) with any questions regarding this year’s banquet.

 

THIBODAUX, La. – Nicholls State University outside hitter Tamara Chavez was selected to the 2025 Louisiana Sports Writers’ Association (LSWA) All-Louisiana Second Team as the organization announced its all-state superlatives on Thursday.

This accolade comes after the Lima, Peru native became the first Colonel to be named All-Southland since 2021. All-Louisiana honorees were nominated and voted on by the state’s volleyball athletics communications directors. All collegiate volleyball players at Louisiana institutions are eligible.

Chavez joined the Colonels this season after transferring and made an immediate impact. This season, she saw action in 95 sets across 29 matches and recorded totals of 420 kills, 179 digs, and 34 blocks. Her 420 kills are the 10th most in program history and is the most in a single season since 2006.

Chavez recorded a season high of 29 kills in a win over Arkansas Pine-Bluff and had seven double-doubles this season. Additionally, earlier this season, she tallied her 1,000 career kills during a win over Grambling. She was one of the most dominant offensive players in the nation as she led the SLC in kills per set (4.45) which ranked 26th nationally. Chavez was named SLC Offensive Player of the Week twice including the final week of the season where she recorded 47 kills (6.7k/s) while hitting .324 as the team split contests against Southeastern and UNO.

 

2025 LSWA All-Louisiana Women’s College Volleyball Team

Player of the Year: Jurnee Robinson, LSU

Libero of the Year: Kala Emanuelli, Loyola New Orleans

Newcomer of the Year: Nia Washington, LSU

Freshman of the Year: Isis Harink, Loyola New Orleans

Coach of the Year: Robert Pitre, Loyola New Orleans

 

First Team

OH – Jurnee Robinson, LSU

OH – Avery Burks, Tulane

OH – Kyra McKelvey, Southeastern Louisiana

MB – India Bennett, Southeastern Louisiana

OH – Cailin Demps, Louisiana-Lafayette

S – Jordan Felix, Southern

Libero – Kala Emanuelli, Loyola New Orleans

 

Second Team

OH – Tamara Chavez, Nicholls

OH – Ariana Brown, Southern

MB – Isis Harink, Loyola New Orleans

OH – Nia Washington, LSU

MB – Jessica Jones, LSU

S – Ryleigh Garis, Louisiana-Layayette

Libero – Dayla Ortiz, Tulane