Starting off with our Gulce Guctekin, who was recently announced as Big 10 Conference Freshman of the week (Sep.12th). So far, the Badgers have played six matches and Guctekin has played a crucial role in each one of them. She is currently leading her team in digs and is ranked 9th in the conference for digs per set with 3.71. Defensively, her career high thus far was against High Point University where she recorded 17 digs! We also can’t forget her amazing serving skills, as Gulce has picked up 12 aces so far. Even though being a freshman, Guctekin has been putting up some high-level numbers and is continuing to make us proud.In a recent match against the Florida Gators at home, the University of Wisconsin set a regular season crowd record with 16,833 people in attendance. This was also the first time in 25 years that these two teams went head-to-head. Let’s go Gulce!
After the successful completion of all requirements and obtaining the first FIVB license by a Greek law/representation firm, Nomos LLC continues its service with significant actions, which will be publicly disclosed over the next few weeks. The first summer motion for the current international transfers’ season was the agreement of the Greek national team middle blocker, Ariadni Kathariou, who just graduated from St. John’s University in New York, with the French league team based in Normandy, Évreux.
Ariadni reflected on her recent experiences in the following interview:
The commitment of Stavi Papadaki was announced by Stanford University last week. Stanford published Papadaki’s commitment through the women’s basketball team’s website. Within the article, Stanford’s legendary head coach, Tara VanDerveer (record holder and winningest coach in women’s collegiate basketball history), said about Papadaki: "We are very excited about Stavi choosing to attend Stanford."
The University of Hawaii of Chakas and Mouchlias wins it all for the 2nd consecutive year! After clinching the championship in their conference, the double-trouble swept through the brackets and came out 1st in all of America. And as if that wasn't enough, Chakas was named the MVP of the tournament, while they were both crowned All-Americans! Mandilaris won the Opposite of the Year award after a memorable last year in the States. Angelos managed to break a record in his last match! For more details read below:
MIVA and Big West Championships for Mandilaris's Ball State and Mouchlias-Chakas’ University of Hawaii! After an amazing season, the Greeks’ hard work paid off and was rewarded with the conquest of the championship and the ticket for the NCAA Championship! In addition to the trophy, Mandilaris and Chakas reserved their spot in the All-MIVA and All-Big West Tournament Team respectively, after their strong appearances in the tournament!
With a taste of Greece, the MIVA and Big West tournaments are being hosted by Mandilaris and Mouchlias-Chakas! After an amazing last season, Mandilaris received the All-MIVA First Team award! 4 months of competition were not enough for Mouchlias to break records, so he wanted to leave his mark in the last match of the regular season, and break 2 more with 31 kills and 5 blocks!
With a new record in aces, Mandilaris is now preparing for the championship! Along with the team’s ranking of 1st place in MIVA, Mandilaris has high personal rankings in his conference but also nationally. In his conference, he is 2nd for points and kills, 5th for hitting percentage, 9th for blocks and 10th for aces, while nationally he is 4th for kills/set and points. Along his side, the double-trouble from Hawaii have high standings too. In their conference, Mouchlias is 6th for points, 7th for hitting percentage and kills, 8th for aces and 11th for blocks. Chakas is 5th for aces, 7th for points, 8th for kills, 9th for hitting percentage, 18th for digs and 20th for blocks, while nationally he is 18th for aces/set!
The Greeks of America are setting the bar higher and higher, since they do not stop breaking records! Starting with Chakas, who with the new personal record of 24 kills, was named Player of the Match! But the next day he was followed by Mouchlias who with 70.6% hitting efficiency received the same award! Traveling a little further east, Kagialis and Kalagasidis had new personal records in kills with 13 and 5 respectively, with the 2nd scoring another double-double! Unstoppable Mandilaris being a top scorer in 3 of the 4 games, broke a record in blocks with 7!
Outstanding production came with new season highs for all Greeks in men’s volleyball in March! Starting with Mandilaris, who had 2 season highs in blocks and aces; he has significantly helped Ball State to earn an incredible 13-2. Then, in California's double-trouble, Kagialis had a season high in digs and Kalagasidis in kills and digs, with the 2nd one recording his first 2 double-doubles of the year! Finally, the unbeaten duo Chakas-Mouchlias, set new personal records in digs with 9 and 10 respectively, while they are in the top-15 in national rankings. Chakas is 13th for aces/set and Mouchlias is 15th for points/set.
