Kentucky Volleyball is headed to the national championship after a hard-fought five-set win over Wisconsin on Thursday night, as the Wildcats defeated the Badgers 3-2 in a match that tested every ounce of their resilience.

The opening set belonged to Wisconsin as the Badgers took control early and forced Kentucky to play from behind. The Wildcats struggled to find their rhythm but quickly regrouped. Kentucky responded in the second set with improved offensive execution and steady defense to even the match and shift momentum back in their favor.

Wisconsin answered by taking the third set and once again putting pressure on Kentucky with the season hanging in the balance. Facing a must-win fourth set, the Wildcats jumped out to a 13 to 10 lead and appeared ready to take control. Wisconsin refused to fold and battled back until the set was tied at 24 to 24. With the moment at its biggest, Kentucky delivered two straight points to force a decisive fifth set.

The Wildcats opened the final set on fire, racing out to a 9 to 2 lead. Wisconsin made one last push and closed the gap late, but Kentucky held its composure and finished off the match with a 15 -13 win to secure a spot in the NCAA National Championship Game.

Kentucky was led by Eva Hudson, who turned in a dominant performance with a season high of 29 kills. The SEC Player of the Year and National Player of the Year finalist consistently rose to the moment and carried the Wildcats offensively when they needed it most.

Defensively, Molly Touzzo anchored the back row with 17 digs, providing stability and extending key rallies throughout the match.

There is no question that head coach Craig Skinner has built something special in Lexington. Kentucky Volleyball has established itself as a national power, and Thursday night’s win was another example of the toughness and belief that define this program.

The Wildcats will now face Texas A&M in the national championship match on Sunday at 3:30 PM ET as the BBN continues to rally around this team.

Kentucky volleyball is one win away from the ultimate prize.

GRAPEVINE, Texas – An extraordinary season produced by Arkansas sprinter Jordan Anthony was deemed worthy of The Bowerman, collegiate track & field’s highest individual honor, as announced by USTFCCCA on Thursday evening at the Gaylord Texan Resort.

Anthony becomes the third Razorback to achieve the prestigious honor as he joins Jarrion Lawson (2016) and Jaydon Hibbert (2023) as previous Arkansas winners of The Bowerman. Three other men’s programs – Florida, Florida State, and Oregon – have had a pair of winners each since the award was first presented in 2009.

The Bowerman 2025 men’s finalist included Auburn’s Ja’Kobe Tharp and Baylor’s Nathaniel Ezekiel, who would have been the first recipient of the honor for their respective schools.

In becoming the first sprinter to claim NCAA titles in the 60m indoors and 100m outdoors during the same season since 2017, Anthony generated UA records in both events. His remarkable campaign included a pair of national sprint titles and three SEC titles while claiming high point honors at both SEC Outdoor and NCAA Outdoor Championship meets.

Anthony ran 6.47 in the NCAA Indoor 60m prelims before winning the final in 6.49. The 6.47 performance was just off the collegiate record of 6.45 shared by three sprinters.

Outdoors, Anthony improved the UA record in the 100m to 9.95 as he swept the 100m and 200m at the SEC Outdoor Championships, producing a 19.93 in the 200m as the second fastest time in Arkansas history behind a 19.89 by Wallace Spearmon Jr.

Anchoring the Razorbacks to a SEC third-place finish in the 4 x 100m relay, Anthony totaled 21.5 points and earned the Commissioner’s Trophy as the men’s high point scorer in the conference meet.

Anthony was named SEC Outdoor Runner of the Year via voting by league coaches and became the first Razorback to earn the honor since 2012. An additional honor for Anthony during the 2025 season included South Central Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.

Under all-conditions, Anthony blazed to an equal second fastest time ever by a collegian in the 100m with a 9.75w (2.1 wind) during the NCAA West First Round. That time equaled the world-leading mark for the 2025 season under all-conditions.

Multiple Winners | Men’s Programs

GLASSBORO, NJ — For the fifth year in a row, Rowan was represented by Matthew Conway on the Philly-SIDA Academic All-Area Men’s Cross Country Team.

The Philly-SIDA Academic All-Area teams are nominated for, and voted on, by the sports information directors at 30 institutions in the Philadelphia region. Student-athletes must be in at least their second year at their current institution and hold a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.30 or higher to be considered for nomination.

Conway, a chemical engineering major, capped his final cross country season with a second-straight appearance in the NCAA Division III Championship, where he placed 94th in this year’s nationals. He was a seventh-place finisher at the NCAA Metro Regional to help the Profs place fifth overall. A first-team All-NJAC selection after runner-up finish at the conference championships where Rowan was second.

Conway was joined on the team with Owen Bluman, Micah Lachman, and Torin Pelton-Flavin from Haverford, Sebastian DeSimone from Gwynedd Mercy, Jacob Dinerman from Rutgers-Camden, Bryan Hernandez from Williamson College of the Trades, Cohen Manges from Swarthmore, and Ryle Mellinger of Eastern. Dinerman was voted the performer of the year.

 

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WAFF) – University of Alabama track and field athlete Doris Lemngole won the Bowerman Award, becoming the first UA student to receive collegiate track and field’s highest individual honor.

The 23-year-old claimed the prestigious award Thursday night after being named a semifinalist last year.

Lemngole is a four-time national champion and five-time SEC champion.

The Bowerman Award recognizes the top collegiate track and field athlete in the country.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Texas A&M volleyball program had never appeared on a stage like the one it graced Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena, playing for a spot in the national championship match.

Pitt, meanwhile, had been here in a semifinal four times in the past four seasons. 

So much for the importance of big-match experience.

The upstart Aggies rolled past the battle-tested Panthers, 29-27, 25-21, 25-20. Four days after Texas A&M upset No. 1-ranked Nebraska on its home court, coach Jamie Morrison’s team took its game up a notch.

It will face Kentucky on Sunday in an all-SEC final. The Wildcats (30-2) outlasted Wisconsin in five sets, winning the fifth 15-13 in the second semifinal.

A&M (28-4) earned a No. 3 regional seed in the 64-team tournament and needed five sets against Louisville in the regional semifinal — and five more to dispatch the previously unbeaten Huskers.

On Thursday, the Aggies swept the Panthers, one of four top seeds in regional play, behind the relentless attack of Ifenna Cos-Okpalla in the middle, Kyndal Stowers on the left pin and Logan Lednicky on the right.

“Literally, why not us?” Lednicky said. “We are considered the underdog in a lot of these moments, just because we haven’t been here before. But we know we have all the right pieces.”

Cos-Okpalla slammed the final kill against the Panthers on Thursday to secure a fifth loss in the national semifinal round since 2021 for Pitt (30-5). Cos-Okpalla, a first-team All-American, finished with eight terminations on a lethal .538 hitting efficiency.

Lednicky recorded 14 kills. Stowers had 16, including nine on .750 hitting in the marathon first set.

Stowers notched two kills among the clinching 3-0 run for the Aggies after Pitt took a 27-26 lead on a kill by Olivia Babcock, the reigning AVCA player of the year, in that tone-setting first set.

So, how was Stowers feeling?

“Every time someone asks me, genuinely, I have no idea,” the sophomore transfer from Baylor said. “I have no idea. Pure gratitude. This is crazy. This is an absolutely crazy experience. We have had faith in ourselves all year. From the first game of the season, we knew we were capable of this.

“Now living it, it’s like, ‘Wow, this is insane.’ It’s really cool.”

The Aggies split two matches this season against Texas, a No. 1 regional seed. Another top seed, Kentucky, beat Texas A&M in their only matchup. Morrison has encouraged the Aggies simply to be themselves on the big stage.

They’ve had practice.

“The more we’re in it,” he said, “the more we get comfortable (and) the more we’re used to being ourselves.”

It works.

“Just be us,” Cos-Okpalla said. “Not only just us as a team, us as individuals.”

Morrison, 45, took over the Aggies in 2023 after he spent much of his coaching career as an assistant with the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams.

He directed A&M to the NCAA Tournament in his first year, then to the Sweet 16 last season.

It’s in position to win a national championship, Morrison said, because his players bought into what he teaches.

They didn’t pick A&M for the promise of name, image and likeness riches. In addition to Cos-Okpalla, Stowers and Lednicky received second-team All-America recognition this week. Setter Maddie Waak was a third-team selection.

“These girls came here for nothing,” said Morrison, named Wednesday as the AVCA coach of the year. “Really, they came here because they love the school, they love the institution. They wanted to be developed.”

Before this fifth semifinal loss in five years, Pitt lost twice in this round against ACC rival Louisville and twice against Nebraska.

The Panthers mounted an 8-0 run in the second set to take a 15-11 lead before A&M responded with a 9-2 run. In the third set, the Aggies scored the final 4 points after the last of Babcock’s match-high 22 kills brought Pitt to within 1 point.