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United States Excellence in Women’s 200 Backstroke is Off Charts

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United States Excellence in Women’s 200 Backstroke Gets Another Boost at World Junior Championships

The gold-silver finish by teenagers Audrey Derivaux and Charlotte Crush in the 200-meter backstroke at the World Junior Championships on Thursday was the latest display of American excellence in the event.

Using a strong back half, Derivaux claimed victory in the 200 backstroke in Otopeni, Romania, with her winning time of 2:06.99 making the 16-year-old the eighth-fastest performer of the year. Meanwhile, the 17-year-old Crush grabbed the silver medal in 2:07.83, her effort more than two seconds clear of bronze medalist Milana Stepanova of Russia, who was timed in 2:09.99.

The United States boasts an incredible amount of depth in the backstroke events, but the 200 distance might be where Team USA is the strongest. Of the top-11 times in the world for 2025, eight belong to American athletes. While Aussie Kaylee McKeown ranks No. 1, the U.S. holds positions two through five, seven through nine, and No. 11.

2025 World Rankings – Women’s 200 Backstroke

  1. Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 2:03.33
  2. Regan Smith (USA) – 2:04.29
  3. Claire Curzan (USA) – 2:05.09
  4. Leah Shackley (USA) – 2:05.99
  5. Phoebe Bacon (USA) – 2:06.79
  6. Summer McIntosh (CAN) – 2:06.82
  7. Kennedy Noble (USA) – 2:06.97
  8. Audrey Derivaux (USA) – 2:06.99
  9. Charlotte Crush (USA) – 2:07.05
  10. Peng Xuwei (CHN) – 2:07.22
  11. Tess Howley (USA) – 2:07.79

Before Derivaux and Crush went first and second at World Juniors, Regan Smith and Claire Curzan were the silver and bronze medalists, respectively, at the World Championships in Singapore. More, Leah Shackley and Kennedy Noble won gold and silver, respectively, at the World University Games.



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Tennessee volleyball signs Georgia State transfer

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Dec. 25, 2025, 12:30 p.m. ET

Tennessee announced the signing of Georgia State volleyball transfer Marta Lazzarin. She earned 2025 Sun Belt Conference Libero of the Year honors as a freshman.

“We are really excited to add Marta to our program and have her train with us this spring,” Tennessee head coach Eve Rackham Watt said. “She is an elite serve receiver and will step in right away to add stability in our passing unit.

“I am looking forward to her bringing maturity, consistency and high-level international experience to our gym. Our staff believes Marta’s development will blossom on Rocky Top and she will help us in pursuing championships.”

The 5-foot-4 libero is from Venice, Italy.



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Gators Perform Well in Classroom During Fall 2025 Term

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. – University of Florida student-athletes performed well in the academic arena this fall, with collectively earning a 3.39 term grade point average.
 
A GPA of 3.0 or higher was turned in by 18 programs this fall with 81 percent of the student-athletes reaching that mark.
 
Through The Gators Experience program, all 21 sports logged 1,931 community service hours. This includes purchasing and distributing more than 400 new pairs of shoes and socks to children in the Gainesville community earlier this month for the annual Gator Tracks program.
 
This fall, 22 student-athletes graduated with a bachelor’s degrees while another seven earned a master’s. Eight graduated with honors.
 
Gators Classroom Success Numbers

Four programs set or equaled GPA records this past semester: men’s basketball (3.19), football (3.51), gymnastics (3.76) and men’s swimming & diving (3.51).
 

Sharing the high GPA of 3.51 for UF men’s programs for the fall term is men’s swimming & diving and football – a first for football. Gymnastics turned in the top term GPA (3.76) for the women’s teams for the third consecutive semester.
 
The fall 2025 team leaders also topped the fall 2024 and spring 2025 rankings to earn the cumulative high:
Men:         Cross Country (3.55 cumulative)
Women:  Gymnastics (3.72 cumulative)
 
UF Student-Athlete Fall 2025 Semester Highlights

  • 18 programs earned a 3.0 or better fall semester GPA
  • Overall Male Term GPA – 3.31
  • Overall Male Cumulative GPA – 3.31
  • Overall Female Term GPA – 3.48
  • Overall Female Cumulative GPA – 3.49 (Record)
  • 4.0 fall 2025 GPA by 50 student-athletes

 
 



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Syracuse.com winter girls volleyball rankings (through Week 4): 2 new teams enter top 10

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Tully High School Girls’ Volleyball Holiday Tournament
The Tully girls volleyball team enters the rankings after defeating Christian Brothers Academy and Fabius-Pompey over the last week. (Anthony Caimano | Contributing photographer)(Anthony Caimano | Contributing photographer)

Syracuse, N.Y. — As we approach the midway point of the winter girls volleyball regular season, two new teams climbed into the latest syracuse.com rankings.

Tully enters the rankings after defeating Christian Brothers Academy and Fabius-Pompey since last week’s rankings and Cooperstown rounds out the top 10 after defeating Sauquoit Valley last week.

The top eight spots of the rankings remained unchanged. There is, however, an upcoming matchup between Little Falls and Canastota that could mix things up.

Syracuse.com’s girls winter volleyball rankings will run every Thursday through the end of sectionals.

Here’s how the teams land this week.

I’m the managing producer for high school sports coverage at syracuse.com. I’ve been covering Section III athletics for nearly a decade. I graduated from Utica University in 2017 and bring a unique perspective…



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Kentucky VB adds an All-American honorable mention, loses Brooke Bultema to portal

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The college volleyball offseason has only just officially begun, but moves are already being made.

Kentucky head coach Craig Skinner kicked things off by signing an All-American honorable mention for next season’s group. UK announced the addition of Notre Dame outside hitter Morgan Gaerte through the transfer portal on Wednesday morning. A 6-foot-5 native of Indiana, Gaerte was named a 2025 AVCA All-American Honorable Mention and a First Team All-ACC performer. She’ll help ease the loss of Eva Hudson — the lone senior on Kentucky’s national runner-up team this past season — on the outside.

Gaerte, who will have two years of eligibility remaining with the Wildcats, set a Notre Dame record last season with 4.64 kills per set (13th nationally). She’ll be expected to play on the opposite side of All-American outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye for the ‘Cats in 2026. Skinner is already reloading.

Gaerte was a rare star for Notre Dame volleyball. A team captain, she started all 28 matches in 2025 as a sophomore for the Fighting Irish, finishing the year with 497 kills, the third-most ever in a season in Notre Dame history and the most since Christy Peters in 1997. Her First Team All-ACC nod was the first by a Notre Dame player since 2020. She reached 20 or more kills in 11 matches, also a program record for one season.

But where the transfer portal can give, it can also take. Kentucky lost a piece of this past season’s roster when redshirt sophomore middle blocker Brooke Bultema announced on Wednesday her intentions to transfer out of Lexington. After a redshirt freshman campaign in 2024 that saw her named to the SEC All-Freshman Team, Bultema did not see as much playing time in 2025 as she would have hoped for.

She likely won’t be the last outgoing transfer for Kentucky, either. Skinner is expected to return eight of his top nine rotation players from last season (barring an unexpected transfer), with the only departure being Hudson to graduation. And now that Gaerte is in the fold, the top half of the roster is in good shape once again. Don’t be shocked if other current Wildcats deeper on the bench elect to look elsewhere in the coming days/weeks.

Skinner shows love to the BBN

Coming off a disappointing loss in the national championship match to Texas A&M, Craig Skinner reminded us all how truly magical the 2025 campaign still was. Kentucky won its ninth straight SEC Championship, won the SEC Tournament, finished with 30 wins on the season, and went perfect (15-0) during conference play. UK made just the program’s second-ever national title match and first since winning it all in 2020 along the way.

Skinner sent out a few social media posts on Wednesday morning, thanking the Big Blue Nation for all their support throughout the season. He says over 38,000 total fans showed up to home matches inside Memorial Coliseum in 2025, where the ‘Cats did not drop a single match.

Let’s run it back in 2026, shall we?

Join KSR Plus! With a KSR Plus membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.





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St. Mary’s College Volleyball Quartet Garner Academic All-District Honors

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ST. MARY’S CITY, Md. – Four members of the St. Mary’s College of Maryland volleyball team were honored by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) as members of the CSC Academic All-District® Team, the organization announced in a release Tuesday (Dec. 16).
 
Senior Julia Bobrowski (California, Md./Leonardtown), juniors Camilla Galeano (Germantown, Md./Damascus) and Lauren Panageotou (Baltimore, Md./Mercy), and sophomore Stella Marrero (Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Christian Life) all earned the award for the 2025 season.
 
Bobrowski is the lone repeat selection.
 
The 2025 Academic All-District® Volleyball Teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom.

The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes volleyball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and NAIA.
 
Outstanding student-athletes are nominated for Academic All-District® recognition by communications directors and must have a minimum 3.50 GPA plus meet high athletic standards.
 
Bobrowski owns a 3.74 GPA as a sociology major and business administration minor for her second straight Academic All-District award. The 5-6 outside hitter ranked sixth in the United East Conference with 55 service aces and 14th with 0.52 aces per set. She was named to the United East All-Sportsmanship Team (Nov. 24).
 
Galeano, a computer science major with a 3.87 GPA, tied for 14th in the conference with 42 service aces while tying for 17th with 0.49 aces per set. The 5-4 setter led the Seahawks with 402 assists while registering 20-plus assists five times this season.
 
A psychology major and educational studies minor, Panageotou boasts a 3.7 GPA. The 5-10 setter was second on the team with 291 assists while adding 101 digs, 12 service aces, and six kills in 30 matches.
 
Marrero picked up her first Academic All-District award with 3.96 GPA as a neuroscience and psychology double major and biology minor. The 5-7 defensive specialist ranked 10th in the United East with 303 digs while sitting 20th with 2.78 digs per set. She was also second on the team with 45 service aces.
 
St. Mary’s College (17-15, 8-2 UEC) captured the program’s first-ever conference tournament championship title by taking the 2025 United East tournament crown with a 3-2 road win over top-seeded Penn State Harrisburg. The Seahawks also gained the program’s first-ever berth in the NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Tournament.



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Cruttenden named to PVCA All-State volleyball team | Free Press-Courier

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Wellsboro junior Madison Cruttenden was recently named to the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association’s, PVCA, Class 2A All-State team.

Cruttenden was one of three NTL and District IV volleyballers (Aryana Andrus and Alli Bailey from Troy) to make the team.

Cruttenden received 536 serves, made 37 assists and had 341 digs this season. She also scored 163 points to go along with 54 aces.

Over the course of her career she has made 1,197 receptions, 56 assists, 784 digs, 407 points (112 aces) and 6 kills.

“This is a well-deserved honor for Maddy,” head coach Darci Pollock said. “She has been a consistent back row player for us the past two seasons. She continues to work hard in the off season. I’m very proud of her work ethic and dedication to the team!”

Cruttenden is the ninth Wellsboro player to earn a spot on the PCVA All-State team. Cruttenden joins Carrie Gorda, Rachel Patt, Hannah Zuchowski, Kirsten Florio, Caitlyn Callahan, Megan Starkweather, Paige Logsdon and Lexi Urena.



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