Down two sets to none in the inaugural Minnesota State High School League boys volleyball championship, the top-seeded Eagles stared down elimination.

“In our last timeout to end the third set, we talked about not giving up, getting one point at a time and trusting our team and skills,” head coach Steph Chapek said.

With a roaring crowd assisting, the Eagles engineered a stunning reverse sweep, winning the next three sets to seal Eden Prairie’s place in history Thursday night at St. Thomas’ Schoenecker Arena.

The Eagles’ 21-25, 19-25, 27-25, 25-20, 15-9 victory over Rogers delivered the first-ever MSHSL-sanctioned title in boys volleyball, completing what Chapek called “one of the greatest matches I have been a part of in my whole playing and coaching career.”

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The championship seemed unlikely after Rogers rallied from deficits to win the opening sets. But the Eagles found their rhythm midway through the third set behind senior Avi Kommalapati’s 19 kills and senior Gabriel Hernandez’s 16. The turning point came when Eden Prairie fended off two match points to steal the crucial third set 27-25.

“It was intense to defend off two match points, but winning that third set gave us the confidence boost we needed going into sets four and five,” Chapek explained. The dramatic swing fired up the loud Eden Prairie crowd that packed the arena.

“I was so excited to see all of the EPHS students come through and show up,” said senior captain Deion Lange. “Having them there made it more like a home game than anything else. It was not just the students who showed up, we had family, friends, and EPHS Staff all over the gym supporting us the whole game.”

The Eagles’ composure under pressure showed the chemistry built over years of playing together. They entered the tournament as the top seed, and even as Rogers kept battling back throughout the match, Eden Prairie stuck to their defensive game and stayed together as a team.

“We are a great team in all sense of the word team,” Chapek said. “The players genuinely like and care for each other on and off the court. The group has been playing together for a few years now and they know each other well. We don’t need to freak out when things get tough.”

The team culture stems from Chapek’s leadership approach, according to players. “Coach Steph has very high expectations for her team, always believing we can do better,” Lange said. “Her ability to coach all 16 players during practice, keeping everyone involved, shows why she is a true leader. Before each state tournament game, Coach Steph encouraged the team to do some form of bonding or hang out together. She understands how important strong team chemistry and good relationships on the court are.”

Beyond the comeback victory, Chapek emphasized the moment’s broader significance.

“Our whole program is so grateful for the opportunities this season,” Chapek reflected. “It was so much work to get it sanctioned, and so many great people from the last four to five years helped build boys volleyball to this point. It’s such an honor to play this season – and to top it off with the state title is beyond special.”

Three Eagles earned All-Tournament Team honors: senior captains Hardhik (Avi) Kommalapati and Deion Lange, along with junior Ghauthamasankar Padmanaban.

BUTTE, Mont. — Though the return of high school volleyball is still a couple months away, it’s fresh on the mind of Butte Central, who introduces a new face to lead their program this month–though, she’s hardly a new face to the city of Butte.

Call it a sort of homecoming for Karina Mickelson, the newest head coach of Butte Central volleyball. Though the California native has been a part of Butte since she started her All-Frontier Conference playing career at Montana Tech a decade ago, Mickelson considers a chance to coach as a significant step forward.

“It’s very special to be able to say, ‘Hey, I’m a coach and a big part of the community now,'” Mickelson said. “I played a small role at university. People look up to when you’re a player and everyone kind of knows you as that, but to be able to step into the coaching role, it’s really special.”

Mickelson has previously spent time coaching in Butte’s club volleyball ranks, but she also brings with her a rare experience, having most recently played professionally in the Czech Republic.

She plans on taking the lessons she learned abroad with her, including a unique take on teamwork.

“You have so many different cultures and languages and things, but you’re not so different at the end of the day,” Mickelson said. “To be a really good teammate on a team like that that has so many international and foreign player on it, it was probably the best part of it.”

As the Maroons rebuild off the heels of back-to-back single-win seasons, Mickelson hopes her team-building approach will return Butte Central to its former relevance.

“Fundamental skills number one, then just team bonding, the team experience,” Mickelson said. “These are high school girls. I had some of my favorite volleyball memories when I was in high school, so I’m looking forward to that being a thing.”

Mickelson’s first official practice as BC coach starts in August.

SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State women’s basketball standout Lacy Stokes (Mt. Vernon, Mo.) has been named as the recipient of the 2025 Missouri State Outstanding Female Athlete Award, announced by MSU Athletics on Friday (June 13).

First awarded in 1981, the MSU Outstanding Female Athlete Award is presented annually to the university’s top female athletic performer, as voted by the head coaches of the MoState’s 13 women’s intercollegiate programs.

 

Stokes received MVC Defensive Player of the Year, All-MVC first team, MVC All-Defensive Team and MVC All-Tournament Team accolades this year while leading the Lady Bears in scoring (14.4 ppg), assists (148), steals (90), free throw percentage (.793) and minutes (34.8 mpg). She turned in the fourth-best season assist-to-turnover ratio in program history (2.114) and captured the program’s career record for assist-to-turnover (2.06). Likewise, she played the second-most minutes in a single-season in Lady Bear history and ranked inside the top 25 in NCAA Division I in steals (19th) and steals per game (23rd).

Stokes helped lead coach Beth Cunningham‘s team to a 26-9 overall record this season. The Lady Bears earned a share of the MVC regular-season title and earned a berth in the WBIT for the second straight year.

She is the 13th basketball player to earn this award and the fourth Lady Bear in eight years to be so honored, joining recent recipients Danielle Gitzen (2019), Alexa Willard (2020) and Brice Calip (2021).

Other finalists for MSU’s 2024-25 Outstanding Female Athlete Award were: Camielle Day (soccer), EllaRose Goser (acrobatics and tumbling), Allyson Larkin (beach volleyball), Olivia Rogers (track and field), Morgan Sprague (volleyball) and McKenzie Vaughan (softball).

 

#GoBears

The University Interscholastic League once again tabled the biggest item on the docket during its annual summer Legislative Council.

There may be only one company that could get LeBron James, Tom Brady, Kevin Costner, Spike Lee, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, NBA star Victor Wembanyama, YouTuber Kai Cenat and dozens of other high-wattage names from the worlds of sports and entertainment under one roof: Fanatics, the sports merchandise, collectible and entertainment firm founded by Michael Rubin.

And they want fans to come along too.

Fanatics is bringing back its flagship live event, Fanatics Fest, to New York City on June 20-22, and in addition to a metric ton of sports stars, the company is doubling down on artists and entertainers (hence the likes of Costner and Lee).

“It’s a heck of a challenge, I wouldn’t say it’s fun. Most of what we do is fun, I don’t consider this to be fun,” quips Rubin in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, when asked about booking the stars that will congregate in the Jacob Javits Convention Center. “Look, what I will tell you is, there’s not another company in the world that could create Fanatics Fest, because putting it on the show is hard enough. But then, we’re going to have 300, 400 of the biggest athletes, celebrities, artists in the world come together. It’s really because of the broader partnerships that they have with Fanatics. Everyone coming here is someone that has a partnership with Fanatics, and that’s why they come.”

The event is stacked with programming, including live podcast and show tapings, including First Take with Stephen A. Smith, and guests that include NBA commissioner Adam Silver, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Ice Cube, and a slew of athletes. Panels that include athletes like Brady, James, Derek Jeter, Kevin Durant, the Manning brothers and others, and entertainers like Costner, Lee, Mark Wahlberg, Kenan Thompson and Keegan Michael-Key.

It is that mashup of sports and entertainment that Fanatics executives believe deliver the secret sauce for Fanatics Fest.

“In the past, athletes were up there talking about the game-winning hit, the game-winning drive. What we tried to do is bring culture, entertainment, even entrepreneurialism and sport, together, and mash it up in interesting ways,” says Lance Festerman, the CEO of Fanatics Events. “Even having these sorts of athletes and cultural icons on stage interacting in itself was pretty original. I think there was a lot we were proud of last year. And to Michael’s point, there’s a lot to be proud about this year with the content. I think the kind of creation and invention of this sort of an original platform was really cool. And I don’t think people had seen things like it before.”

“The content is 10 times better this year than last year,” Rubin adds. “It’s blow away great this year.”

One of the defining characteristics of Fanatics Fest is putting fans under the same roof as some of the most famous people in the world. As athletes join actors and musicians as global celebrities, the desire for fans to connect with them only grows more important.

That is reflected in the panels, photo ops and autograph signings, as well as events like the Fanatics Games, where athletes, creators, celebrities and fans compete head to head in skill-based challenges. And Fanatics will bring back the 40/40 Club, a temporary pop-up of Jay-Z’s infamous New York City hotspot, constructed inside the Javits Center, exclusively for the biggest stars and highest rollers … though fans are free to gawk from a distance.

“It’s for people that are really important to Jay and to us, and that really is the athletes, celebrities, artists that are there, and then our most important VIPs across Fanatics’ business,” Rubin explains. “It’s something that’s made to be highly curated. You know, there’s 100,000-plus people at Fanatics Fest, the people that come into 40/40 are measured in the hundreds.”

But the event is also Fanatics’ big bet on the experience economy, on connecting sports (and increasingly pop culture) fans in real life, not only with stars, but with each other.

“The fact is, you don’t have to get off your couch or leave your house for anything anymore, everything will come to you,” Festerman says. “Therefore, the impetus is on us to build something that is absolutely mind-blowingly cool and immersive and experiential … We know that Millennials, Gen Z, they want immersive experiences. They don’t want stuff, they want to feel something, they want a unique moment. And that’s what we’re doing, we’re building that moment that people can share on a mass level that is beyond the screen, and they feel something and they feel a connection to each other, to the content, to the celebrities, to the athletes.”