Indiana University Women’s Basketball headed to Greece for foreign trip in August
Indiana women’s basketball will take its first foreign tour in six years when it travels to Greece August 1-10. The trip will begin in Athens and make stops in the Gulf of Corinth where it will explore Nafpaktos and Delphi. A full day trip to Olympia is also on the agenda, where the group will experience the ancient Olympic Gymnasium and Stadium. The team will also play two games, one in Athens and one in the Patras during its time in Greece. The tour is made possible by the Indiana University Athletics Women’s Excellence initiative. The mission of Indiana University Athletics Women’s Excellence is to raise private support to elevate its 13 women’s varsity sports and to enhance the overall student-athlete experience of IU’s female student-athletes.
Indiana previously took a foreign tour under Moren in 2017 when it traveled to Italy. The NCAA allows teams to take a foreign tour once every four years. Indiana is allotted 10 practice days leading up to the trip, which will begin in July. The 2023-24 Hoosier roster will feature four returners from a team that won the regular season Big Ten Championship outright for the first time in 40 years. First team All-American Mackenize Holmes highlights Indiana’s roster for the upcoming season along with rising seniors Chloe-Moore McNeil and Sydney Parrish.
Indiana University Volleyball players Morgan Geddes and Camryn Haworth named to 2023 U.S. Women’s Colligate National Team Indiana outside hitter Morgan Geddes and setter Camryn Haworth were among the 20 players named to the 2023 U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team, as announced by USA Volleyball on Thursday afternoon. The Hoosier duo participated at the Women’s National Team Open Program in late February, parlaying their performances in Colorado Springs to a spot with the collegiate national team and a week of training in Anaheim later this month. By the end of the weekend at the open program in February, the 6-foot-2 rising senior Geddes was playing on the top court with the nation’s best athletes while the 5-foot-10 rising junior Haworth was among the best setters and most versatile athletes at the camp.
During the 2022 season, Geddes played in 27 matches with 25 starts. Despite missing a handful of matches and playing out of position due to injuries, she recorded 266 kills and was second on the team with 2.56 kills per set. She had a run of six of seven matches with double-digit kills including 11 at No. 4 Nebraska, 14 at No. 3 Wisconsin and a career-best 17 in a victory over Rutgers. She provided the game-winning kill in a match at Michigan State and delivered 16 kills in a late-season win over Illinois. Along with the likes of middle blocker Savannah Kjolhede and outside hitter Grae Gosnell, Geddes was a member of IU’s highest-rated recruiting class (No. 15) in program history in 2020. She has appeared in 71 matches through three seasons and owns 489 kills, 125 digs, 93 blocks and 24 service aces. A breakout 2022 season saw her and fellow outside hitter Mady Saris combine for 693 kills on the season and help lead IU to a 16-16 overall record and an eighth-place finish in the Big Ten Conference.
Haworth, a native of Fishers, Ind., was given the keys to the offense in 2022, starting every match and playing in every set as the program’s starting setter. She compiled 1,111 assists, 290 digs, 49 aces and 56 blocks across 32 matches and 123 sets. In a victory over Northwestern on Nov. 18, 2022, she recorded the team’s first triple-double since 2001 with 37 assists, 11 digs and 10 kills. She followed that up in IU’s win over No. 5 Ohio State with 45 assists, 16 digs and eight kills. Her efforts awarded her the title of AVCA National Player of the Week on November 22nd. She was one of three conference setters named All-First Team Big Ten following the season, IU’s first athlete named to the Big Ten First Team since Ashley Benson in 2010. Heading into the 2023 season, Haworth is No. 11 in program history in assists (1,615) and is tied for eighth all-time in aces during the rally era (91). She will be surrounded by a plethora of arms next year including Geddes, Saris, Kjolhede and graduate student middle blocker Kaley Rammelsberg. Geddes and Haworth will head to Anaheim, Calif. this summer from June 18-24 to train with her fellow national team athletes in an intensive, U.S. national team setting.
Indiana University Women’s Basketball player Yarden Garzon leads the Israel National Team at the FIBA Euro Basket Tournament
Indiana University Women’s Basketball Sophomore to be Yarden Garzon started for Israel in a 108-59 loss to Belgium at the FIBA Euro Basket Tournament in Tel Aviv Israel on Thursday. Garzon played 29 minutes and 40 seconds and scored 13 points. Garzon went 4-6 from the field 3-4 from downtown and 2-2 from the free throw line. She had 6 rebounds 2 assists 3 fouls and 1 turnover. Her older sister Lior who is a senior to be at Oklahoma State did not play in this game. Israel plays Italy today at 8:30am Bloomington Time and then wraps up Group B play with the Czech Republic on Sunday at 11am Bloomington Time. The 19-year-old earned all-Big Ten Freshman honors and set the school record for most three pointers made by a freshman. Garzon helped the Hoosiers win the Big Ten Regular Season Championship for the first time in 40 years and the school’s first number 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament where they lost to Miami Florida in the second round. Lior and her Oklahoma State team made a trip to Bloomington as the Cowgirls lost to Miami in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Lior hit a bank shot three pointer at the end of the first half with her younger sister watching in the stands after IU had beaten Tennessee Tech earlier in the day. Lior is two years older than Yarden and this the first time that they are playing together at any level.
Former IU Women’s Basketball player Aleska Gulbe scored 14 points for Latvia as the upset the 4-time Champion Spain 67-63 on Thursday in Group A play in Tel Aviv Israel. Gulbe played at IU from 2018-2022 is 23 years old and plays professionally in Spain. Gulbe helped the Hoosiers to back-to-back sweet 16 appearances in 2021 and 2022 along with an Elite 8 Appearance in 2021. The Riga, Latvia native started and played 26 minutes and 40 seconds going 6-11 from the field, 0-2 from three-point range and 2-2 from the free throw line. Gulbe pulled down 7 rebounds along with an assist and a block. Lativa will play Greece today at 11:15am Bloomington time and wrap up group play Montenegro on Sunday at 5:15 am Bloomington Time
The Tournament is also being played in Ljubljana Slovenia where the Group C and D games are taking place. Germany, Great Britian, Slovenia and France are in Group C while Turkey, Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia are in Group C. The Top teams in each group go through the quarterfinals on June 22, while the second and third place teams will advance to the Round of 16 with Group A and B playing in Tel Aviv on Monday and Group C and D playing in Ljubljana on Tuesday. The Semifinals are June 24, and the final is June 25. Once the tournament hits the quarterfinal round it will all be played in Slovenia.
Southern Indiana Bobcats get a Forfeit win over the Columbus Bredren Knights
The Southern Indiana Bobcats Semi Pro Football Team has been given a 2-0 forfeit win over the Columbus Bredren Knights taking the Bobcats record to 2-2 on the season. The Bobcats were to make the long trip to Columbus Ohio on Saturday, but the Bredren Knights announced on June 5, that they were ceasing operations for the rest of the season. The Breden Knights had to forfeit their first two games of the season with the Northern Kentucky Wolfpack and Columbus Gladiators. The Knights were to host the Wolfpack May 20, but they were not able to secure a home field. The game scheduled for June 3rd against the Columbus Gladiators was canceled due to not enough players available. All teams remaining on the Bredren Knights schedule will get a forfeit win and the remaining four teams in the Eastern Conference will make the postseason.
The Bobcats are coming off a 20-0 home loss to the Indy Bison Red last Saturday Night at Edgewood HS. The Bobcats have a bye week on June 24, before a rematch with the Bison Red on July 1, at Noblesville HS. The Bobcats lost to the Indiana Tornados 28-6 on May 20 at Edgewood HS and beat the Kentucky Spartans on the road 29-14 in Owensboro Kentucky June 3. The Bobcats are battling through injuries and are using the extra time off to recover and prepare for July 1 game which will be the start of a six-game stretch before the post season starts in August.
Four Indiana University Baseball Players earn ABCA All-Region honors
Honors have started to roll in for the Indiana baseball program as the American Baseball Coaches Association tabbed four Hoosiers a part of the Midwest All-Region Team earlier this week. The quartet of senior Phillip Glasser, freshman Devin Taylor, sophomore Brock Tibbitts and sophomore Luke Sinnard were each honored as second-team All-Region selections from the ABCA. Head coach Jeff Mercer is a part of the ABCA NCAA Div. I All-America & Coach of the Year Committee, which coordinates the Midwest Region nomination and voting, along with selecting the organizations All-America teams.
Just the eighth Hoosier to score 70-plus runs in a season, Glasser also finished tied for No. 5 on the single season hits chart with 95 and equaled the longest reached base streak at Indiana since at least 2005 as he reached in 45 straight games to start the season. The 11th Hoosier all-time and first since 2012 to reach the 90-hit mark, Glasser reached base safely in 61 of 63 games with a hit in 49 of those. He posted 32 multi-hit games and 19 multi-run scored games on the season. Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Taylor finished the season with the most RBIs (59) for an Indiana freshman in program history and finished No. 2 on the freshman home run charts with 16. Overall, he led all Big Ten freshmen in nine major stat categories, which included batting average (.315), OPS (1.080), home runs (16), RBIs (59), total bases (130) and walks (36) to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors. His 16 home runs are No. 3 all-time by a freshman in Big Ten history behind teammate and 2022 Freshman All-American Carter Mathison and Iowa’s Brad Carlson (21; 1999)
The sixth Hoosier in program history to reach 60 runs scored, 85 hits and 65 RBIs in a single season, Tibbitts earned second-team All-Big Ten in his sophomore campaign. His 68 RBIs are tied for No. 6 all-time at Indiana and he drove in at least one run in 35 games in 2023, with 22 games of both a run scored and RBI. He reached base safely in 58 of 63 games with a hit in 48 of those contests. His 20 multi-RBI games mark just the third time since 2005 a Hoosier hitter produced 20-plus multi-RBI games. A second-team All-Big Ten pick, Sinnard made a start on the mound in each of the 16 weekends of the season and set the program record for strikeouts in a single season (114). His 114 punchouts were the most in the Big Ten in 2023, ranked No. 18 nationally and broke an 89-year-old IU record set by Vernon “Whitey” Wilshere in 1934 at 109 and equaled by Eric Arnett in 2009. He walked just 25 batters and ranked No. 2 in the conference with a 4.56 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He tied for a team-high with six victories and logged a team-best 86 1/3 innings of work.
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