EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Ohio Valley Conference announced Sunday evening that a pair of University of Southern Indiana Volleyball seniors have earned All-OVC honors in their final season as Screaming Eagles. Senior outside hitter Leah Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois) received the second-most votes from league coaches and communications directors to land on the first team while senior outside/right side hitter Abby Bednar (Chagrin Fall, Ohio) was first on the list for the second team.

The Eagles rebounded in 2023 after a disappointing 2022 season, sporting a 14-15 overall record and going 10-8 in the OVC, earning their first OVC Championship berth in program history. No. 5 USI will face No. 4 Morehead State University in the quarterfinal match on Monday at 10 a.m. in Charleston, Illinois.

Anderson had the best season of her collegiate career with a league-high 428 kills and 506.5 points. By the end of the regular season, the three-time OVC Offensive Player of the Week had her name in three OVC categories including second in points/set (4.48) and kills/set (3.79) while standing fifth in aces/set (0.41). With her senior season coming to an end, Anderson has stapled herself in the top five in three different categories in the USI Volleyball record book. She currently stands second in kills (1,659) and aces (213) while being fourth in digs (1,417) to become the fourth Eagle to rank in the top five in three categories in program history. This is Anderson’s fourth all-conference accolade in her five-year tenure.

Bednar kicked off her senior campaign on a hot streak, landing on the Bellarmine Invitational All-Tournament Team and capturing seven double-doubles by the first week of October. By the end of the season, Bednar has her name etched into three categories within the OVC, sitting in sixth in aces/set (0.38), seventh in points/set (3.91), and eighth in kills/ set (3.17). In 2023, she collected 355 kills, 217 digs, 71 total blocks, and 43 aces which are all career highs in her four-year stint. Bednar posted a career-high 24 kills at Western Illinois University while earning career highs against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with 18 digs and eight blocks. This is Bednar’s first career all-conference award.

Claiming OVC Player of the Year honors was Eastern Illinois University’s Giovanna Larregui Lopez who won the award last season. Also repeating a conference honor was Southeast Missouri State University’s Tara Beilsmith who nabbed Defensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season. EIU’s Catalina Rochaix was named Setter of the Year while SEMO’s Lucy Arndt secured Freshman of the Year. Sara Thomas of EIU was voted as OVC Coach of the Year after leading the Panthers to a regular season title.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Indiana swimming and diving closed out its midseason meet at the Ohio State Invitational Saturday (Nov. 18) night inside the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.

IU won the men’s team competition with 2,803 points, while the women finished second from 2,553 points.

The night ended with an epic relay performance by Indiana’s men. The field trailed Notre Dame after Chris Guiliano split 41.23 on the opening leg. IU junior Rafael Miroslaw opened for IU in 42.58. Senior Tomer Frankel’s 41.97 bit into the Fighting Irish lead, and senior Gavin Wight kept the Hoosiers in the hunt with a 42.52. Freshman Mikkel Lee leaped into the water behind by seven tenths and blasted the only anchor leg under 42 seconds. His 41.66 was just enough to touch in ahead of Notre Dame senior Tanner Filion by four hundredths of a second. IU’s 2:48.73 set a meet and pool record and earned an NCAA ‘A’ cut.

The women’s quartet of junior Anna Peplowski, senior Ashley Turak, sophomore Kristina Paegle and senior Ella Ristic also captured an NCAA ‘A’ cut in 3:12.86, within half of a second of the program record 3:12.39 they set together at the 2022 NCAA Championships. Paegle had the quickest split of anyone, going 47.21.

Junior Skyler Liu completed her dominant week on the diving boards with a winning performance on platform. Liu scored 351.00 points Saturday, outscoring second place by 40.85 points. Liu won on 3-meter springboard Friday and finished second on 1-meter Thursday.

Ching Hwee Gan kicked off IU’s evening with an NCAA ‘A’ cut in the 1,650-yard freestyle, going 15:48.70 to finish over seven seconds faster than second place. The NCAA runner-up last season, Gan was 2.5 seconds short of her personal best set at last year’s national meet.

The IU men’s breaststroke group swept the podium spots for a second straight night, this time in the 200-yard event. The trio of senior Jassen Yep, junior Josh Matheny and junior Maxwell Reich repeated their order as IU dominated event with six top-10 finishers. Yep’s NCAA ‘A’ cut 1:50.71 obliterated the pool record (1:51.73) and meet record (1:54.69) and makes him the third-fastest man in program history behind Ian Finnerty (1:49.90) and Matheny (1:50.12). Matheny went 1:51.13 and Reich a personal best 1:51.89.

Junior Brearna Crawford won the women’s 200 breast in 2:07.62. In the morning, she dropped a personal best 2:29.09 in the long course preliminary.

Indiana had strong showings in both the men’s and women’s fly, combining for nine top-10 finishers between the two races. The women had five of those, led by freshman Ava Whitaker’s second-place finish in 1:56.51. Sophomores Katie Forrester (1:58.06) and Avery Spade (1:58.28) placed fourth and fifth, and senior Anna Freed (1:58.46) was right behind them in sixth. Another sophomore, Lily Hann, was ninth in 1:59.60.

On the men’s side, seniors Tomer Frankel (1:41.94) and Armando Vegas (1:42.80) went 1-2. Sophomore Drew Reiter made it three Hoosiers in the top four with a 1:44.03, and freshman Dylan Smiley placed eighth in 1:46.42.

The women had five top-10 finishers in the 200-yard backstroke. Junior Anna Peplowski (1:52.94) was second, sophomore Mya DeWitt (1:54.39) third and junior Elyse Heiser (1:55.75) fifth. Senior Anna Freed (1:56.79) and freshman Jessica Cheng (2:00.48) finished seventh and 10th, respectively.

TEAM SCORES

Men

1. Indiana – 2,803
2. Ohio State – 2,459
3. Louisville – 1,985.5
4. Notre Dame – 1,797.5
5. Cincinnati – 1,247
6. Pittsburgh – 341
7. Cal – 214

Women

1. Ohio State – 2,666
2. Indiana – 2,553
3. Louisville – 2,022
4. Notre Dame – 1,459
5. Cincinnati – 1,317
6. Pittsburgh – 253
7. Ohio – 199
8. Cal – 171

HOOSIER WINNERS

Men

Tomer Frankel – 200 butterfly (1:41.94), 400 freestyle relay (2:48.73)

Mikkel Lee – 400 freestyle relay (2:48.73)

Rafael Miroslaw – 400 freestyle relay (2:48.73)

Gavin Wight – 400 freestyle relay (2:48.73)

Jassen Yep – 200 breaststroke (1:50.71)

Women

Brearna Crawford – 200 breaststroke (2:07.62)

Ching Hwee Gan – 1,650 freestyle (15:48.70)

NCAA CUTS

A: Women’s 400 freestyle relay (3:12.86); Men’s 400 freestyle relay (2:48.73); Ching Hwee Gan – 1,650 free (15:48.70); Jassen Yep – 200 breast (1:50.71).

B: Toby Barnett – 200 breast (1:55.13); Luke Barr – 200 breast (1:55.18); Warren Briggs – 1,650 free (15:04.72); Jackson Carlile – 1,650 free (15:17.28); Mason Carlton – 1,650 free (15:24.49); Brearna Crawford – 200 breast (2:07.62); Mya DeWitt – 200 back (1:54.39); Tristan DeWitt – 1,650 free (15:00.62); Katie Forrester – 200 fly (1:58.06); Tomer Frankel – 200 fly (1:41.94); Anna Freed – 200 back (1:56.79), 200 fly (1:58.46); Lily Hann – 200 fly (1:59.60); Mikkel Lee – 100 free (42.67); Josh Matheny – 200 breast (1:51.13); Kacey McKenna – 200 back (1:53.96); Rafael Miroslaw – 100 free (42.54); Elyse Heiser – 200 back (1:55.75); Kristina Paegle – 100 free (47.96); Leo Pelaez – 1,650 free (15:22.79); Anna Peplowski – 200 back (1:52.94); Maxwell Reich – 200 breast (1:51.89); Drew Reiter – 200 fly (1:44.03); Avery Spade – 200 fly (1:58.28); Ashley Turak – 100 free (48.78); Ava Whitaker – 200 fly (1:56.51); Gavin Wight – 100 free (43.01); Armando Vegas – 200 fly (1:42.80).

NCAA ZONE QUALIFYING SCORES (FINALS)

Platform: Skyler Liu – 351.00, Maxwell Weinrich – 319.80

UP NEXT

Indiana’s final meet of the fall is set for December 1 when the Hoosiers host Cincinnati in dual meet action inside the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana senior outside hitter Leah Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois) and junior setter Carly Sobieralski (Indianapolis, Indiana) were awarded their third Ohio Valley Conference weekly accolade this season with Anderson named Offensive Player of the Week and Sobieralski earning Setter of the Week.

The Screaming Eagles closed out the season on a four-match winning streak and went 2-0 in the final week of conference play. USI put up over 16 kills per set and a stellar .259 hitting percentage against the University of Tennessee at Martin. The Eagles’ defense posted 23 digs per set and over two blocks per set. With USI playing efficiently in the season finale, the Eagles clinched an OVC Championship berth for the first time in program history.

Anderson’s offense led the conference with 36 kills with over five kills per set in the two-match span. On Wednesday, Anderson secured 19 kills and 25 digs for her 10th double-double of the season with her 25 digs being a season high. During Thursday’s outing, Anderson secured 17 kills and had a whopping .405 hitting percentage that lifted her to her ninth straight double-digit kill performance. Anderson, who won Offensive Player of the Week last week, leads the OVC in total kills (428) and points (506.5) going into the postseason. Anderson has won the weekly award three times with her first on October 2 and second on November 13.

Sobieralski led the passing game in the conference with 89 assists and nearly 13 assists per set in the two wins over UT Martin. In Wednesday’s victory, Sobieralski nabbed 51 assists for her fourth 50+ assist match of the season. On Thursday, the setter secured 38 assists to staple her ninth straight 35+ assist performance. On the defensive end, Sobieralski put up the second-most digs on the team with 18 digs and 15 digs, respectively, to post back-to-back double-doubles. Sobieralski has taken the Setter of the Week title three times with her first on October 2 and second on October 23.

Anderson and Sobieralski look to lead the Eagles to a first-round victory in the OVC Championship against Morehead State University. USI, who is the five seed, is 0-2 against the Eagles this season after dropping the series on the road in early October. Morehead State, who claims the four seed, makes its eighth straight tournament appearance and looks for its first title since 2020.

Evansville, In.:  With a heavier offensive tempo, the Thunderbolts had more offensive opportunity and more shots, yet were victimized again by hot opposing goaltending and explosive Quad City offense, losing 6-1 to the Storm on Saturday night at Ford Center.  The Thunderbolts next home game will be on Friday, December 1^st against the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs, puck drop at 7:00pm CT.

After a single goal in the first period from Quad City’s Matt Ustaski, the Storm opened up a 5-0 lead in the second period, as Leif Mattson potted a pair of power play goals in less than a minute just over five minutes into the period, followed by goals from Cole Golka and Chris Perna, the latter coming in the final minute of the period.  The third period was Evansville’s best, as Scott Kirton broke the shutout to get Evansville on the board from Mike Ferraro and Colton Kalezic at 7:26, before the Storm responded two minutes later with Golka scoring to make it 6-1.  Sean Kuhn stopped 12 of 15 shots before being replaced by Michael Herringer, who finished with 17 shots on 20 saves.  The Thunderbolts and Storm meet once again on Wednesday, November 22^nd at Vibrant Arena.