PITTSBURGH – The America East champion UMBC Volleyball team season came to end as No.4 Pitt swept an NCAA Tournament first round match-up (25-10, 25-17, 25-13) on Friday night. 

Jalynn Brown led the Retrievers with eight kills, while Pittsburgh-area native Hannah Dobbs added seven kills, three digs and a block. 

Hannah Howard tallied a match-best 11 digs and ended the season with 457 digs, the tenth most in a single season in UMBC history.

Laura Fuehrer had four kills and two blocks and finished the season with 114 blocks and 101 assisted blocks, good for sixth and fifth most, respectively, in a single season in program history. 

Claudia Lllamas picked up six kills, Helen Frankovich had four on .500 hitting with two blocks and Izzy Ostvig added a kill with 12 assists and a team-high three blocks

Serin Maden had 13 assists and finished her stellar career in the black and gold with 2,461 assists.

Ella McAllister chipped in with two digs and Ema Djordjevic also saw action in the contest.

This was both the Retrievers fifth America East championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in the past six seasons.

» Michigan swept Xavier in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

» Allison Jacobs tallied a match-leading 19 kills on a .326 hitting percentage.

» Maddi Cuchran recorded four aces, becoming just the fifth Wolverine with four or more aces in a tournament match.

» Serena Nyambio hit .583 with eight kills on 12 swings.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — The University of Michigan volleyball team swept eighth-seeded Xavier 25-19, 25-15, 25-23 on Friday (Dec. 5) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at the Petersen Events Center.

Michigan (22-10) was led by Allison Jacobs, who tallied a match-leading 19 kills on a .326 hitting percentage. She was the only player who recorded double-digit kills in the match. Ella Demetrician had nine kills, including Michigan’s final two and Serena Nyambio hit .583 with eight kills on 12 swings. Maddi Cuchran tallied four service aces to become just the fifth Wolverine in program history with four aces or more in an NCAA Tournament match. Morgan Burke and Camille Edwards led the U-M offense to a .287 hitting percentage, with Burke recording 17 assists and two aces while Edwards had 18 assists and one ace.

A kill from Nyambio opened the match, but Xavier (26-5) responded with a kill. The Wolverines used a kill from Jacobs and an ace from Cuchran to take the lead. Xavier tied the set at five and six, but U-M kept the Musketeers from taking the lead. Michigan followed with a 4-1 run, led by an ace from Burke and a block from Nyambio and Cymarah Gordon. Xavier brought the set to within one at 10-9, but a Nyambio kill ended the threat and jump-started four straight Michigan points. A block from Gordon and Jenna Hanes put Michigan up 15-11 going into the media timeout. The Musketeers took two of the next three points out of the timeout, and Michigan followed with a 5-2 run with kills from three different players and an ace from Burke to go up 21-15. Xavier took four of the next five points to force a Michigan timeout. Out of the timeout, Jacobs recorded a kill followed by a block from Hanes and Gordon to reach set point. The Musketeers called their second timeout of the set, and out of the timeout, Jacobs ended the set with a kill for a 25-19 set one win.

Xavier started the second set with two quick points to take an early lead, but it was all Michigan after that. A 5-0 run led by Cuchran, who recorded her third ace of the match, put the Wolverines ahead 8-3. After the teams traded points midway through the set, U-M went on a 4-0 run to build a 15-7 advantage, but Xavier countered with a 4-0 run of its own. A Nyambio kill and Musketeers attack error forced Xavier’s second timeout of the set, trailing 17-11. After the timeout, Michigan took eight of the final 12 points, with a kill from Demetrician finishing off the set 25-15.

In the third set, the Wolverines jumped out to an early lead, once again 8-3, led by service runs from Edwards and Jacobs. Xavier hung around and tied the match at 11 before taking the lead. A kill from Gordon tied the match at 12 and Cuchran’s fourth ace put Michigan back in front. From there, neither team held a lead bigger than two points the rest of the way, with the final 14 points alternating back and forth. Demetrician tallied the final two Michigan points as U-M took the third set 25-23 to advance to the second round.

The Wolverines will take on either top-seeded and No. 4-ranked Pittsburgh or UMBC on Saturday (Dec. 6) at 7 p.m. in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Petersen Events Center. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.

Holy Cross Richard L. Ahern ’51 Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Egetta Alfonso has announced the Crusaders’ 2025-26 indoor track & field schedule for the men’s and women’s programs.

The Crusaders are set to open the season on Saturday, Dec. 6 at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener hosted by Boston University and the Alden Invitational hosted by Brown. Next weekend, Holy Cross heads to New Hampshire for the Dartmouth December Invitational that will be held on Dec. 12 and 13.

Following a break for the holidays, the team returns to action on Jan. 17 at the URI Invitational and the Suffolk Ice Breaker on Jan. 18. The women’s team will compete on Jan. 30 at the David Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston followed by the men on Jan. 31 with the order of events staying the same for the River Hawk Invitational hosted by UMass Lowell on Feb. 6 and 7.

Holy Cross will then compete in meets at Boston University/URI (Feb. 14) and Brown (Feb. 21) in preparation for the 2026 Patriot League Indoor Track & Field Championships that will be hosted by BU on Feb. 28 and March 1.

The annual New England Indoor Championships are slated to be held on March 7-8 at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston

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LYNCHBURG – Coming home with a pair of event titles and several personal bests, the Elon University women’s track and field team wrapped up competition Friday at the Liberty Kickoff inside the Liberty Indoor Complex.
 
Isabella Johnson led the Phoenix in the shot put with a fourth-place finish. The sophomore recorded a personal-best throw of 13.99m, moving into fifth on the program’s indoor performance list. Adriana Clarke placed fifth with a personal-best toss of 13.01m.
 
On the track, Elon earned two event wins as Jasmine Young and Winter Oaster claimed titles in the 5,000 meters and the mile, respectively. Young posted a time of 17:26.66, while Oaster crossed the line in 5:10.95. Shayla Cann added a sixth-place finish in the 500 meters with a time of 1:15.63.
 
In the high jump, Hannah Schonhoff finished third after clearing 1.68 meters. Newcomer Eloise Mulready placed fifth with a clearance of 1.63 meters. In the 400 meters, Duna Viñals finished fourth with a time of 57.73 while Mary Sollars took sixth in a personal-best 58.74.
 
Caden Cerminara finished seventh in the pole vault, clearing 3.75m, while Ja’Mia Johnson placed eighth in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles with her time of 8.91.
 
ON DECK
Select members of the Phoenix distance group will compete at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Opener tomorrow, hosted at Boston University.
 

— ELON —

The Hillsdale College men’s track and field team got off to a strong start in the throws on Friday, kicking off the 2025-26 indoor season at the GVSU Holiday Open.

All four of Hillsdale’s season-opening provisional qualifying marks came in the shot put and weight throw at the meet, showing why the Chargers are one of the best throws programs in NCAA DII.

Leading the way was senior and defending NCAA DII weight throw national champion Ben Haas, who began his title defense by taking second overall and first among collegiate throwers in the event on Friday with a provisional qualfying throw of 21.33 meters. 

Haas was joined in setting a provisional qualifying mark in the weight throw by not one, but two teammates on Friday. Redshirt freshman Dominic Scharer had an collegiate debut to remember on Friday, opening his career with a 20.02 meter mark that makes him the just the fourth Charger in program history to break 20 meters in the weight throw. Along with Scharer, junior Dimitry Ermakov had a massive new personal best in the weight throw to earn a provisional mark in the event for the first time with a distance of 18.58 meters. That mark gives Ermakov the sixth-best weight throw mark in Hillsdale College history as well.

Along with his performance in the weight throw, Haas also started strong in the shot put, placing fourth with a throw of 17.24 meters to give himself a second provisional mark on the day. Scharer also had a notable debut in the shot put, with a top throw of 14.99 meters that gives him the eighth-best mark in program history as well.

On the track, Hillsdale had a few notable standouts. Senior Gabriel Phillips ran well against an elite field in the fastest heat of the 5,000m run, finishing ninth in a new personal best time of 14:30.62, the fourth-best mark in the event in program history. Freshman John Richardson also had a strong first collegiate 5K, finishing in a strong time of 15:02.60 for the Chargers as well, and junior Caleb Youngstedt also ran a new personal best in the 5K of 15:06.17 for Hillsdale.

Two freshmen put together impressive first races as well for the Chargers. Watson Magwenzi had a debut to remember for Hillsdale, becoming just the 11th Charger in program history to go under seven seconds in the 60m dash with a time of 6.99, and also running a solid 22.53 in his first collegiate 200. In the 400m dash, freshman Jack Polizzi also started fast for Hillsdale, placing sixth in 49.48 just ahead of teammate Zealand Tarrant, who ran a new personal best 49.77 to take ninth.  Magwenzi also was pushed in the 60 and 200 by sophomore Sam Jones, who a personal best 7.03 in the 60 and a 22.63 in the 200.

Senior Mark Masaka placed 10th (1:56.19) and freshman Wyatt Widolff placed 14th (1:57.48) in the 800m run as well for Hillsdale, and freshman Luan Kummle took 14th in the long jump (6.26 meters).

Hillsdale now heads into the Christmas break, and will pick back up in 2026 with the Al Campbell Invite hosted by the University of Akron on Jan. 16.