HAMMOND, La. – A total of 65 members of the Southeastern Louisiana Athletics family had degrees conferred at the university’s Spring 2025 commencement exercises Saturday in the University Center.
 
The Southland Conference regular season champion Southeastern baseball team led the department with 12 graduates. The SLU football and track and field programs each saw 11 representatives of their respective programs graduate.
 
The two-time reigning SLC Tournament champion softball team graduated six student-athletes Saturday. The SLC champion indoor volleyball team and the national champion cheerleading squad each had four graduates apiece.
 
The Southland champion women’s basketball team was one of two SLU athletic programs with three graduates, along with women’s tennis. The Lady Lion soccer and beach volleyball programs had two graduates apiece, while men’s basketball had one graduate Saturday.
 
Along with the 59 student-athlete graduates, six members of the SLU Athletics support staff also received degrees Saturday. Among the 65 Southeastern Athletics graduates, six received master’s degrees.
 
Spring 2025 Southeastern Athletics Graduates
Name | Sport/Department | Major
Sara Bancevic | Soccer | Computer Science
Luke Barbier | Baseball | General Studies
Taylor Bell | Women’s Basketball | General Studies
India Bennett | Indoor Volleyball/Marketing Student Assistant | Industrial Technology
John Bilich | Marketing Student Assistant | Marketing
Halle Bouffard | Cheerleading | Nursing
Ryan Brome | Baseball | General Studies
Donroy Brown | Track and Field | General Studies
Allison Brunson | Softball | General Studies
Jakevion Buckley | Men’s Basketball | General Studies
Ethan Butler | Baseball | Kinesiology
Camryn Cangiolosi | Cheerleading | Health Sciences
Hailey Clayton | Athletics Student Assistant | Psychology
Kendall Cleveland | Track and Field | Information Technology
Jude Coats | KSLU Student Assistant | Communication
Parker Coley | Baseball | General Studies
Micah Crockett | Football | Criminal Justice
Michael Crockett | Football | General Studies
Bogi Csordas | Tennis | English and Communication
Cheyanne Daniels | Women’s Basketball | General Studies
Ryan Dawsey | Compliance Graduate Assistant | Business Administration*
Jacob Dobraska | Football | Kinesiology
Amanda Dos Santos | Women’s Tennis | Biological Sciences
Ainsley Driska | Indoor Volleyball | Human Sciences
Ivan Drobocky | Football | Business Administration*
Anna Ferrand | Track and Field | Communication
Keandre Fultz | Track and Field | General Studies
Dedrick Gant | Track and Field | Finance
Paige Gaubert | Cheerleading | Accounting
Ariel Gomez | Softball | General Studies
Lance Hamilton | Track and Field | Strategic Communication*
Makayla Hicks | Beach Volleyball | General Studies
Kibi Huggins | Indoor Volleyball/Marketing Student Assistant | Communication
Natalie Ioannou | Track and Field | Early Childhood Education Grades PK-3
Jayden Kirsh | Athletics Student Assistant | Communication Sciences and Disorders
Euan Lagan | Track and Field | Business Administration*
Britney Lewinski | Softball | General Studies
Darius Lewis | Football | General Studies
Shakespeare Louis | Football | General Studies
Tyler Mansfield | Football | General Studies
Leah Marshall | Softball | Biological Sciences
Haley Martin | Cheerleading/Marketing Student Assistant | Art
Mia Martin | Soccer | Criminal Justice
Blakey Miller | Football | Business Administration
Esther Nwanze | Track and Field | Biological Sciences
Kate Oborina | Tennis | Communication
Olufolabo Ogunyemi | Track and Field | Business Administration
Conner O’Neal | Baseball | General Studies
Arianna Patton | Women’s Basketball | Criminal Justice
Coryell Pierce | Football | Communication
Josh Randall | Football | Communication
TJ Salvaggio | Baseball | General Studies
Bailyn Sorensen | Baseball | Business Administration
Kennedi Steele | Beach Volleyball | Management
Damon Stewart | Football | General Studies
Cole Stromboe | Baseball | General Studies
Meghan Tilschner | Marketing Graduate Assistant | Business Administration*
Shenita Tucker | Softball | General Studies
Chance Vaught | Baseball | General Studies
Patrick Vienne | Baseball | General Studies
Aiden Vosburg | Baseball | General Studies
Logan Walters | Baseball | General Studies
Maddie Watson | Softball | Biological Sciences

Terrell Webb | Track and Field | Health & Kinesiology*
 
* – Master’s degree
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Athletics, follow @LionUpAthletics on X and Instagram or like /Lionupathletics on Facebook.
 
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics has instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/clear.
 
 

INDIANAPOLIS- The NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross-Country Committee has announced the participants for the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships First Round competitions.
 
SIUE’s Grant Milbrath is set to compete in the first round of the Men’s West division for the hammer throw event. Earlier this season he had a PR hammer throw at the Ohio Valley Conference Championships, May15-17, with a distance of 62.07m (203-8). This puts him in third for the programs all-time performances.
 

The first-round competitions are scheduled for May 28 – 31. The University of North Florida, in Jacksonville, Florida will host the East First Round and Texas A&M University, in College Station, Texas will host the West First Round. The qualifiers out of these two regions will compete in the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships held June 11-14 in Eugene, Oregon.
 
The complete list of participants is available on the following website.

For more information regarding the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and to purchase tickets, log on to NCAA.com/trackandfield.

 

Emmy Klika, a recent alum of the Pitt Panthers women’s volleyball team, has been selected to play for the women’s U23 national team.

The libero joins 17 other athletes who will be training for the NORCECA U23 Pan American Cup.

The tournament takes place in Leon, Mexico from July 25-Aug. 2.

Two other Panthers will be competing overseas this summer as well. Outside hitter Blaire Bayless (U21) and middle blocker Abbey Emch (U19) will embark on similar journeys to Klika.

Bayless will be training in Colorado Springs, Colo., where 12 athletes will be selected to represent Team USA in Costa Rica.

Bayless, a junior, played for the U21 team last summer and in 2023 was named tournament MVP at the U19 Pan American Cup.

Emch, a freshman who joined the Panthers as an early enrollee this spring, will also train in Colorado. Selected athletes will then head to the Netherlands for additional training before traveling to play in Croatia and Serbia over the summer.

Klika helped Pitt reach the NCAA semifinals the past four seasons. She holds the program record of 64 digs in the NCAA tournament in 2024.

She was a two-time All-ACC member and now competes in the PVF (Pro Volleyball Federation) with the Orlando Valkyries. Her performance helpd Orlando earn the organizations’s first title last weekend. Klika has experience in the international competition after competing in the U21 Pan American Cup.

Twelve of the 17 athletes training in Anaheim, Calif., will be added to the team’s U23 roster when they head to Mexico later this summer.

By: Maddie Omana

HANOVER, N.H. – Six Dartmouth men’s and women’s track and field athletes have qualified for the NCAA First Round at the University of North Florida, as announced by the NCAA selection committee on Thursday afternoon. 

Student-athletes must be in the top 48 of their respective events to qualify for the first round. Following the first round, the top 12 in each event will advance to the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which are being held in Eugene, Ore., from June 11-14.

Madeleine Locher, Jada Jones, and Andie Murray will be representing the Big Green in the Sunshine State. On the men’s side, J’Voughnn Blake, Max Klein, and Albert Velikonja will be competing. This is all six student-athletes’ first time qualifying for the NCAA First Round. 

Locher punched her ticket to Jacksonville with a 33:39.91 finish in the 10,000m, putting her at 30th in the region. Jones, the reigning 200m Ivy League Champion, ranks 30th regionally after she ran a 52.99 in the 400m. Murray put herself at 48th in the 800m with a time of 2:05.32. 

Blake qualified for the men’s 800m after ranking 30th in the east with his 1:47.72 mark. Klein ranks 34th in the shot put following his 18.28m throw at the Outdoor Ivy League Championships. Velikonja qualified for the 5000m with his 13:46.44 finish, putting him at 39th in the region. 

The NCAA First Round is slated to start in Jacksonville, Fla., next Wednesday at 6 p.m.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Conference competition is set for Wake Forest volleyball this upcoming fall, as the program announced its 2025 Atlantic Coast Conference schedule on Thursday. Wake Forest will release the non-conference portion of its fall schedule at a later date.

The Demon Deacons will compete in 20 matches against league foes, including five versus Big Four opponents and 10 home showings. For the second straight year, fans will have the opportunity to purchase season tickets for courtside seating inside Varsity Arena.

“It is going to be another very competitive season in the ACC, and I am anxious to begin my first season at Wake Forest with the opportunity to play such outstanding teams at home,” said head coach Jeff Hulsmeyer. “Our first home conference weekend brings some very familiar foes. Then, for the first time ever, Stanford and California will make the trip to Winston-Salem. I can’t be more pleased to begin my Wake Forest tenure and my 10th season in the league this year. I look forward to being in the friendly confines of Varsity Arena with all the support from the fans and alums in attendance. If you haven’t been to a match in a while, I encourage you to make plans now to be a part of the Varsity Arena experience with our team.”

Wake Forest will open conference play on the road with a pair of Big Four matchups at North Carolina (Sept. 26) and Duke (Sept. 28). The Deacs are set to extend their two longest, ongoing series within program history, stepping into the 78th and 73rd meetings with the Blue Devils and Tar Heels, respectively.

The first week of October will see the team host three showings inside Varsity Arena, starting with an ACC home opener versus Florida State (Oct. 3) before taking on Miami (Oct. 5) and NC State (Oct. 8). Three days later, the Deacs and Wolfpack will meet again, in Raleigh, for a Saturday afternoon tilt.

A pair of home matches make up mid-October for Wake Forest, bringing in Georgia Tech (Oct. 17) and Clemson (Oct. 19). The Deacs are on a four-match win streak versus the latter. The following week will involve the team heading out of state for tests at SMU (Oct. 24) and Pitt (Oct. 26). Wake Forest will take on SMU in a true road match for the first time in program history.

Wake Forest will wrap October and kick off November with a four-match homestand, facing a mix of West Coast and Midwest foes – California (Oct. 31), Stanford (Nov. 2), Notre Dame (Nov. 7) and Louisville (Nov. 9). This fall will feature the second-ever meeting between the Deacs and both of the West Coast schools. Wake Forest has won its last pair of matches over Notre Dame at home. Louisville finished as the NCAA runner-up in the postseason tournament this past December.

Following its home stretch, the Deacs will spend two straight weeks out of state, heading to Syracuse (Nov. 14), Boston College (Nov. 16), Virginia Tech (Nov. 21) and Virginia (Nov. 23). Wake Forest has taken the last two meetings over Syracuse and seven of the last eight over Virginia, including three straight on the road. Versus the Hokies, the Deacs have finished victorious in three of the previous four matchups.

The team’s regular-season home finale will feature a rematch with Duke on Nov. 26 during Thanksgiving week. On Black Friday (Nov. 28), Wake Forest will close out the regular season with a visit to Notre Dame.

Fan Information

There will continue to be free admission for general admission seating for all home volleyball single matches. The team plays each home contest in Varsity Arena, located on the third level of Reynolds Gymnasium (21 Wingate Rd, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27109).

After debuting a year ago, courtside seating will make a return to Varsity Arena for the fall 2025 campaign. Wake Forest is set to house 28 padded floor seats for spectator viewing, placed opposite of the team benches and alongside the sidelines. Season tickets can be purchased for $150 apiece. In addition, courtside season tickets can be renewed by contacting the Wake Forest Ticket Office at (336) 758-3322 or tix@wfu.edu, as the priority renewal deadline is Friday, June 20.

New at the Helm

Named the 13th head coach in program history on Jan. 9, 2025, Jeff Hulsmeyer will enter his first season this fall. The Louisville, Ky. native brings over three decades worth of coaching experience at the collegiate volleyball level. Hulsmeyer’s arrival to DEACTOWN came following 10 seasons at Florida State, where he served as associate head coach while helping guide the Seminoles to nine straight NCAA tournament appearances and the 2023 ACC Championship. In addition to his time at FSU, Hulsmeyer previously was the offensive and recruiting coordinator of Kansas State volleyball for six years, following head coaching stints at both Georgetown College and Purdue University. The late 1990s involved him being an assistant coach at Illinois, preceded by three years apiece as head coach of Arkansas State and Western Kentucky, where he began his coaching journey as a graduate assistant for the latter.

Who’s Back?

A quartet of four-year program members headline the fall 2025 roster – Emma Farrell, Paige Crawford, Rian Baker and Olivia Murphy. The group has combined for 313 appearances over the last three years. A standout libero, Farrell has been the team leader in digs for three consecutive seasons. The Norcross, Georgia, native finished sixth in the conference in digs (4.05/set) by the end of 2024, resting in the top-7 for a second straight year, while also ranking second in that same area among all individuals for ACC play only (4.37/set). Crawford, an outside hitter, has paced the Deacs in kills each season since her freshman campaign, finishing with 335 this past fall. Additionally, Crawford has led Wake in service aces for the past two seasons. Her 39 total aces in 2024 tied with Hanna Lee (2015) for the 14th-best mark in a single season within program records. Orchestrating the offense at setter, Baker has led Wake Forest in assists for the past two seasons, having reached over 2,000 for her career last November. She became the eighth all-time player in program history to notch the milestone. Baker also finished second on the roster in service aces (34) and third in digs (199) as a junior. Murphy made her return to the court prior to the 2024 season after missing all of 2023. She was named to the 2024 Wake Forest Invitational All-Tournament Team after the first weekend of the season and played in 28 of the team’s 31 matches, making 15 starts, while ranking fourth on the roster in both kills and blocks.

Olivia Fish and Elena Dragani are set to step into their upperclassmen years. Fish took a redshirt year this past season with an injury. Sbe appeared in 24 matches as a freshman with seven starts and totaled 118 kills and 27 blocks. A rising junior, Dragani has appeared in 13 matches in her first two years, competing at the setter spot.

Two more Deacs will return as sophomores in 2025 – Becca Bellows and Dhru Lalaji. Bellows played a key role as a setter during her first collegiate season, finishing second on the roster in assists (528) and leading the team in assists on 13 separate occasions. She racked up four double-doubles on the year while playing in all but one of the team’s 31 matches, including 13 starts. Lalaji, a defensive specialist, appeared in 46 sets across 19 matches as a freshman, posting a season-best eight digs twice in conference play.

Nothing Easy at the Net

By the conclusion of the 2024 season, Wake Forest finished sixth in blocks as a team among league member schools, totaling a 2.45 per-set average. The team was the only ACC program to have multiple players rest in the top 10 in blocks among all conference individuals. The Deacs had one of their best all-time seasons in defending at the net, as their totals in assisted blocks (468) and total blocks (289.0) ranks second and fifth in program history, respectively. Within the current 25-point rally scoring era, those same totals stand first in a single season, up to date.

Non-Con Nuggets

The Deacs went 8-3 against non-conference competition in 2024. Wake Forest has won at least eight non-conference, regular-season matches in each of the last three seasons. Since the start of the 2019 campaign, the program has totaled a 44-11 record versus non-conference opponents. Additionally, the program has gone 15-2 at home against such foes during that span. Non-conference play did not take place during the spring 2020 season.