RHODE ISLAND FC’S home opener on May 3 at Centreville Bank Stadium was the first professional sporting event held in Pawtucket since the end of the Pawtucket Red Sox’s 2019 season. / PBN FILE PHOTO / JAMES BESSETTE
An announced sell-out crowd of 10,700 filled Pawtucket’s Centreville Bank Stadium for Rhode Island FC’s home opener.
The May 3 scoreless draw did not dampen the enthusiasm of many locals, who had to cheer the soccer team on from afar last year during stadium construction. The team last year played home games in its inaugural season at Bryant University.
Rhode Island has FC has 15 scheduled home dates this season.
Rhode Island FC hosted the New England Revolution in the U.S Open Cup Round of 32 on May 7. The Revolution won 2-1 before an estimated 9,500 fans.
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The stadium will also host the 2025 Major League Rugby Championship on June 28.
State and city leaders are hoping sell-out crowds will help spark commercial and residential development around the $128 million stadium.
The Pawtucket Red Sox moved to Worcester, Mass., in 2021. McCoy Stadium is being torn down to make way for a new high school.
MITCHELL, S.D. — Dakota Wesleyan Track & Field announces the addition of Robert Atwater to the coaching staff as an assistant, bringing with him a plethora of top-end experience as a former college competitor.
Atwater graduated from Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska, with a degree in Sports Management & Digital Marketing in 2025, which is also where he competed as a member of the Warrior Track & Field team for multiple seasons. Atwater is most notably a two-time national champion, claiming titles at the 2024 NAIA Indoor National Championships in the long jump and at the 2025 NAIA Indoor National Championships in the heptathlon. He is also a 12-time All-American, receiving such prestigious distinctions four times in the high jump, four more times in the long jump, twice in the heptathlon, and once in each the triple jump and pole vault. In total, Atwater holds 21 All-Conference honors from the Great Plains Athletic Conference and racked up seven total conference championships, making his winning pedigree a notable addition to the track and field program as a whole.
Coach Atwater also previously won two events at the historic Drake Relays during his time as a competitor and holds many impressive personal records, including a 7′ 2.5″ mark in the high jump, 25′ 3.5″ in the long jump, and a total score of 5396 in the heptathlon. Coach Atwater began his duties on December 22nd of 2025.
Don’t forget to follow Dakota Wesleyan University Athletics across all social media platforms! #RollTige
Friday, January 9 | BYU | Provo, Utah | Smith Fieldhouse | 9 p.m. | WATCH LIVE
Saturday, January 10 | BYU | Provo, Utah | Smith Fieldhouse | 9 p.m. | WATCH LIVE
OPENING SERVE VS BYU
Saint Francis and BYU will have their fourth meeting of all time during the opening weekend. These two teams faced each other once in 2010 when the Cougars won 3-1 and then in 2019 during a BYU sweep of the Red Flash. In 2019, Saint Francis finished the year with a 15-14 record, including a 3-2 win against #14 Ohio State.
THE WORD ON THE COUGARS
The Cougars are opening up their 2026 campaign after ending their 2025 season 19-10. BYU finished conference play with a 7-5 record after a close loss to Stanford in the MPSF Quarterfinals. Teilon-Jonathan Tufuga is one of the key returners for the Cougars standing at 6’5″ to grab 194 kills as an outside hitter. The junior had 134 digs, 40 blocks, and 25 aces to end the 2025 season. The second key player is BYU’s setter, Tyler Herget. Herget, the senior, assisted in the scoring by dishing out 818 assists.
PRESEASON POLL
Saint Francis men’s volleyball was picked to tie first in the NEC Preseason Poll. Daemen earned three first-place votes while the Red Flash claimed two. LIU and FDU both took a first-place nod to finish in third and fourth. Following behind, the newly added teams, Manhattan and UMES finish fifth and sixth. Rounding out the poll was D’Youville in seventh.
NEXT TIME OUT
The men’s team travels down to Kentucky to face Northern Kentucky on January 16 and 17.
RETURNERS TO TALK ABOUT
Brady Stump returns as one of the team’s top leaders in kills (266), digs (99), blocks (40), and aces (25). During the 2025 campaign, the All-NEC first team outside hitter was seventh in kills per set, eighth in points per set, and 10th in hitting percentage in the NEC.
Sam Lane also registered 135 kills and 65 blocks, coming in eighth in blocks per set in 2025. He was named to the All-NEC second team due to his dominant blocking abilities. Lane registered a season high of five blocks against Erskine back in April.
Kyle Charles returns to collect more assists as he paced assists per set (9.97) in the NEC. He was announced as the NEC Rookie of the Year and All-NEC first team in 2025. The sophomore racked up three double double and had a season best of 62 assists versus Dominican. Charles collected 887 assists, 106 digs, 46 blocks, and 43 kills.
Back as a graduate student, Richard Kaminski continues to look for digs in the backrow. The libero recorded 10+ digs seven times, accumulating 142 digs and 37 assists in the previous season with the Red Flash. Kaminski finished third in the NEC with total digs and seventh in digs per set.
Nathan Zini returns after a season ending injury to compete in the 2026 campaign. In 2024, the opposite hitter was named NEC Player of the Year, All-NEC first team, and AVCA All-American honorable mention. He registered 410 kills, 125 digs, 63 aces, and 31 blocks. His 63 aces were the most across both Division I and Division II men’s volleyball.
WELCOME TO THE LO’
Eight freshman are looking for their collegiate debut this weekend: Gianluca Gomez (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Saint Joseph Metuchen), Derek Piatek (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mars Area), Tate Myatt (Chicago, Ill./Lane Tech), Luke Colquette (Highlands ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista), Alexander Owens (Tuscon, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic), Nate Duff (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial), Andre Pimienta (Los Angeles, Calif./Wisebum Da Vinci), and Jack Wolgemuth (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest).
ABOUT THE COACH
Mike Rumbaugh enters is 28th season as the Saint Francis men’s volleyball head coach in 2026. Rumbaugh is the second head coach in program history, after Gary Evangelisto, who guided the program for the first 15 years (1984-98). Rumbaugh was named the NEC Coach of the Year for the third-straight campaign. Prior to joining the NEC, Rumbaugh and the Red Flash was a member of the EIVA for the first 24 years as a head coach. Saint Francis registered a winning overall season 10 times during this stretch and participated in the EIVA Tournament 10 times, advancing to the EIVA Championship Game four times (2006, 2007, 2016, and 2017) and winning the EIVA Hay Division twice (2001, 2005). Rumbaugh arrived in Loretto in 1998 after serving a six-year term as an assistant coach with the men’s and women’s volleyball teams at Mercyhurst College. Rumbaugh is a certified official by the United States of America Volleyball Association. He has served as an instructor at USA High Performance and Regional High Performance Camps, and coached the USA Continental Youth Team against domestic and international opponents at the USA Select Competition.
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – The East Carolina track & field team will kick off the 2026 outdoor season this weekend at the Rod McCray Memorial Meet, hosted by the University of Kentucky. Although Kentucky is the host, the competition will take place in Louisville, Ky., at the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center.
The Rod McCray Memorial Meet features a field that includes multiple Power Four programs and strong regional teams, including Ole Miss, Ohio State, Indiana, etc. This provides the Pirates with significant early-season competition. Facing these high-caliber opponents gives ECU a chance to test its performance and establish an early-season benchmark across multiple event groups as they open their outdoor campaign.
The meet starts on Friday, January 9, at 11:00 a.m. EST, with the first event being Men’s and Women’s high jump. You can find the full meet schedule here.
Trent Moser walked off the court at Global Credit Union Arena in Phoenix on March 22 feeling pretty good. With help from his seven kills, the 6-foot-8 BYU transfer and his new team at Grand Canyon had just blanked the No. 6 Cougars, 3-0.
One month later, Moser and the Lopes were left with nothing but a blank stare after GCU abruptly cut its men’s volleyball program. Despite reaching the Final Four the previous season, everybody was out.
As a result, Moser is back at BYU and he brought three of his GCU teammates with him.
“Credit to him and his family,” BYU men’s volleyball coach Shawn Olmstead told the “Y’s Guys” livestream show this week. “It will be fun for him to finish this out and that’s a cool part to his story that I think the fans are excited about too.”
Moser, a 2023 member of the MPSF’s All-Freshman Team at BYU and a 2025 honorable mention All-American at GCU, will introduce his three colleagues to Smith Fieldhouse volleyball on Friday when the Cougars open the season against Saint Francis (7 p.m., BYUtv app).
“They have no idea what’s coming,” Olmstead said of the raucous environment that awaits 6-6 Kyle Zediker, 6-5 Connor Oldani and 6-6 Max Phillipe. “Trent tells them and it’s fun to see that interaction, but it will be a first.”
Another AJ?
AJ Cottle, left, will make his freshman debut Friday at Smith Fieldhouse. | Rebeca Fuentes/BYU
The Marriott Center is home to freshman sensation AJ Dybantsa. At 6-8 with a 7-foot wingspan, the projected top pick in June’s NBA draft has men’s basketball flying high. Down the road at the Smith Fieldhouse, AJ Cottle, also 6-8 with a wide reach, is ready to make his freshman debut.
“We joke every day, he’s the ‘real AJ,” laughed Olmstead. “That’s our joke — with our humor.”
Just as Dybantsa plays above the rim, Cottle can occupy the air space up to 12 feet, which is 4 feet above the net.
“Mark my words, he’s going to be a standout,” Olmstead said. “He’s going to be one of the guys people are going to pay to come watch play in our gym.”
Olmstead first spotted Cottle after his Timpview graduation. Needing time to mature and grow into his body, and with some prodding by Olmstead, Cottle attended Utah Valley University before serving a two-year church mission to Rosario, Argentina.
“Mark my words, he’s going to be a standout. He’s going to be one of the guys people are going to pay to come watch play in our gym.”
— BYU coach Shawn Olmstead of Cougar freshman AJ Cottle
In a head-to-head dunk contest between both AJ’s, Olmstead believes his guy would make it interesting.
“Our AJ is probably a little raw. Nothing against AJ (Dybantsa), I’m not questioning his personality, but this kid (our AJ) is unbelievable,” Olmstead said. “This kid would take it on and say, ‘Heck yeah! Let’s go!’ He’d try something dumb probably, but he’s so long and athletic he’d probably make it. It would be fun.”
Opening night
As a player, Olmstead won a pair of national championships at BYU in 2001 and 2004. His coaching run on campus started in 2008 with the women’s program. He moved over to coach the men in 2016. All those seasons have seasoned Olmstead with a grateful heart for the fans that will pack the fieldhouse again on Friday.
“I leave those games or I’m sitting there before they start, and I’m seeing people I’ve seen for the last 20 years, back to when I was a player — the same husband and wife and maybe their kids are now a little older and they are bringing their kids. That means so much to me, more than people know,” he said. “I walk in there and there is a sense of gratitude that people on a Friday and Saturday night will put everything aside to come support and watch and partake and be around our team.”
BYU men’s volleyball fans pack in the Smith Fieldhouse to watch the Cougars play Grand Canyon on Feb. 17, 2024, in Provo. | Abby Shelton/BYU
Olmstead’s Cougars are ranked No. 8 in the preseason coaches poll and projected to finish fifth in the highly competitive Mountain Pacific States Federation. BYU will host the MPSF Tournament at the end of the regular season.
“What a time to be at BYU. It’s wild. It’s a crazy, exciting time to be part of BYU with what’s going on in every sport,” Olmstead said. “The movement, the excitement, the wins. It’s just crazy.”
Heather Olmstead
When Olmstead shifted to men’s volleyball after the 2015 season, it opened the door for his assistant coach and sister, Heather, to lead the women’s program for the next 11 years. After 279 victories and a trip to the Final Four, Heather Olmstead and BYU agreed to part ways on Dec. 11.
“I love her. She has done a phenomenal job. It was an unbelievable opportunity for us to be together and be around each other,” he said. “Heather is unbelievably driven, unbelievably successful. She is going to go do whatever she wants right now and I’m excited for her. I’ll be her biggest fan forever.”
BYU hired Rob Neilson on Dec. 23 to succeed Olmstead as women’s head coach. Neilson is a former assistant for the Cougars and was one of Shawn Olmstead’s teammates on the 2004 national title squad.
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com
LAFAYETTE ― McCutcheon volleyball senior setter Lexi Shondell embraced the challenge of expanding her role in 2025.
More kills, more blocks and greater ways of impacting the game. While the bid to win the IHSAA sectional title fell short, Shondell succeeded in each of these roles.
For her efforts, Shondell has been named the Journal & Courier Big Schools Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.
SUMNER, Neb — SEM Senior Taryn Arbuthnot committed to UNK for Volleyball on Wednesday at Sumner High School.
Arbuthnot who returned from tearing an ACL injury during her junior season to lead the Mustangs to a third place finish at the NSAA state volleyball tournament this past season.
She led the Mustangs with over 560 kills and 120 blocks.
The senior who shines on the hardwood and the track is averaging 24 points per game this season.
