IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa women’s wrestling head coach Clarissa Chun released the full schedule for the 2024-25 season on Tuesday. The Hawkeyes will host two home duals inside of Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Hawkeyes capped off their inaugural season with six individual national champions and a team title. Four of those individual champions return for the 2024-25 season, including Emilie Gonzalez , Ava Bayless, Reese Larramendy, and Kylie Welker. Iowa returns nine of its 12 All-Americans including Lilly Luft, Ella Schmit, Sterling Dias, Jaycee Foeller, Emilie and Brianna Gonzalez, Bayless, Larramendy and Welker. The roster includes 11 newcomers with seven freshmen and four transfers. Two of the roster additions include 2024 Olympic Silver medalist Kennedy Blades and 2023 U23 World Silver medalist Macey Kilty.

2024-25 Women’s Wrestling Schedule

• Nov. 2 – Luther Hill Open – Indianola, Iowa
• Nov. 8 – Life Dual – Marietta, Ga.
• Nov. 9 – Eagle Madness Open – Marietta, Ga.
• Nov. 16 – Home Dual vs. William Jewell and Cornell College – Iowa City, Iowa
• Nov. 22-23 – Missouri Valley Open – Marshall, Mo.
• Dec. 7 – Jewell Dual Tournament – Liberty, Mo.
• Dec. 15 – NCC Open – Naperville, Ill.
• Dec. 29-30 – Soldier Salute – Coralville, Iowa
• Jan. 10-11 – National Duals – Cedar Falls, Iowa
• Jan. 18 – Home Dual vs. Augustana College and Grand Valley State – Iowa City, Iowa
• Jan. 25 – College Duals vs. Lock Haven, Sacred Heart, Presbyterian and Buffalo St. – Albany, NY
• Feb. 1 – Grand View Open – Des Moines, Iowa
• Feb. 22 – NCWWC Region VII Championships – Indianola, Iowa
• Mar. 8-9 – NCWWC National Championships – Coralville, Iowa

Reigning Missouri Valley Conference Player-of-the-Year Katie Dinnebier says the next step for the Drake women is to win a game in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs are favored to win a third straight Missouri Valley title but the last two years ended with an opening round loss in the NCAA Tournament.

Dinnebier says the Bulldogs are not satisfied by just getting to the tournament.

Drake’s biggest challenge may come from UNI. The Panthers have an experienced squad led by forward Grace Boffeli who is hoping for a healthy season.

Boffeli says experience is a strength.

The Panthers open November fifth against Wisconsin-Lacrosse. The Bulldogs open November fourth at North Dakota State.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State women’s basketball has sold out of reserved section season tickets for the 2024-25 season. 3,350 tickets were sold as part of the reserved season ticket sale in the lower bowl at Hilton Coliseum. General admission season tickets are still available for purchase here.

“Once again, Cyclone Nation has shown to be the best fans in the country,” said head coach Bill Fennelly. “All of us associated with Cyclone women’s basketball appreciate your continued support and look forward to another season of Hilton Magic.”

Single-game pre-sale for season ticket holders and Cyclone Club donors is available now. Single-game public on sale will begin on Wednesday, October 23 at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster.com. Click here on Wednesday to go to the public on sale.

Iowa State is one of three programs (UConn, Tennessee) to rank in the top 10 nationally for home game attendance in each of the last 24 seasons (does not include 2020-21 season). In the nine seasons prior to Coach Fennelly’s arrival in Ames, the Cyclones averaged 628 fans per contest. Since his arrival 29 seasons ago, he has seen attendance grow to over 10,000 fans every game.

Iowa State hosts Central College on October 30 for a preseason exhibition contest before welcoming Chicago State to Hilton Coliseum on Opening Day (November 4). The Cyclones will host seven additional non-conference games before opening the Big 12 slate on New Year’s Day against Kansas.

Class 1A Region 4

• Riverside – 3 vs Whiting – 0
• West Monona – 3 vs Woodbine – 0
• East Mills – 3 vs Heartland Christian – 0
• St. Albert – 3 vs West Harrison – 0
• Akron-Westfield – 3 vs South O’Brien – 0
• Remsen St. Mary’s – 3 vs George-Little Rock – 0
• Trinity Christian – 3 vs Harris-Lake Park – 0
• Gehlen Catholic – 3 vs Siouxland Christian – 0

Class 1A Region 5 

• Madrid – 3 vs Paton-Churdan – 1
• Coon Rapids-Bayard – 3 vs Audubon – 1
• St. Edmond – 3 vs Glidden Ralston – 0
• Gladbrook-Reinbeck – 3 vs Meskwaki Settlement – 0
• Waterloo Christian – 3 vs BGM – 0
• GMG – 3 vs Collins Maxwell – 0
• Baxter – 3 vs Colo-Nesco – 2

Class 1A Region 6 

• Southwest Valley – 3 vs Diagonal – 0
• Lamoni – 3 vs Bedford – 0
• Stanton -3 vs Orient-Macksburg – 0
• Lenox – 3 vs Mount Ayr – 0

Class 1A Region 7

• Boyer Valley – 3 vs Kingsley-Pierson – 0
• IKM-Manning – 3 vs Woodbury Central – 0
• River Valley – 3 vs Ar-We-Va – 0

Class 1A Region 8 

• East Buchanan – 3 vs Clayton Ridge – 1
• North Linn – 3 vs Central City – 0
• Edgewood-Colesburg – 3 vs Cedar Valley Christian – 0
• Sidney – 3 vs Nodaway Valley – 0
• Griswold – 3 vs Essex – 0
• Fremont-Mills – 3 vs Hamburg – 0
• Exira-EHK – 3 vs CAM – 0

Class 2A Region 2

• Central Decatur – 3 vs Interstate 35 – 0
• Underwood – 3 vs AHSTW – 0

Class 2A Region 8

• Earlham – 3 vs West Central Valley – 1
• West Branch – 3 vs Louisa-Muscatine – 0

The Exira-EHK Spartans Volleyball team is moving on to the Class 1A Region 8 Quarterfinal after their three-set sweep of the CAM Cougars. Despite being a sweep, every set was close and tightly contested. CAM played a spirited and high intensity match and even held multiple leads throughout the night but were never able to push it across the finish line. Meanwhile Exira-EHK’s big was never deterred and always came through in big moments to seal the victory and move on.

Outside of the first few rallies, set one belonged to the Spartans from start to finish. However, the set was never out of reach.  Cam constantly battled back as neither team could go on a long-extended runs. The Spartan’s largest lead of the set was five, but it teetered between two and four for much of the set. Despite the intensity, the Spartans never lost control and won set one by a score of 25-23.

Looking to take control of the set early, Exira-EHK jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in set two. Despite this CAM refused to go down without a fight. Led by Courtney Follman, Maddie Richter, and Krista James the Cougars offense scored 13 of the next 18 points to take a 13-10 lead. A lead they would hold for the next several rallies. However, the calm and collected Spartans led by Jaelynn Petersen would go on a 7-0 run to establish a 22-18 lead that they would not relinquish. They went on to win the set 25-23. Petersen would finish the night with 14 kills on 19 attempts.

Set Three would see CAM get out to an early lead scoring the first point of the set for the first time. However, like the first two, the set remained closed as neither team could establish more than a two-point lead. However down 11-12 Exira-EHK would find the run they needed. Led by some terrific defensive play from Mayne Jorgensen who had 17 digs, Exira-EHK had firm control of the match. Although CAM (as they had done all night) battled back, the Spartans would walk away with a 25-21 win to take the match 3-0.

Head Coach Derek Reischauer was proud that his team pulled off another close conference matchup.

Reischauer says although the game was fun to watch he knew he group had to be focused on the goal at hand.

Although the Petersen cousins were dominant, Reischauer knows it was a total team effort.

Exira-EHK will take on Fremont-Mills in the Class 1A Region 8 Quarterfinal Wednesday at 7 pm.

The Riverside Bulldogs team looked as sharp as ever in their Class 1A Region 4 first round match against Whiting sweeping the Warriors 3-0. The Bulldogs came out swinging in the first controlling the tempo consistently dominating the front row with sets from Bently Rone and swings from Elly Henderson. The first set was easily won by Riverside 25-4 thanks to Rone with her 17 assists and 8 aces on the evening.

In the second and third sets Riverside stuck to their formula with diverse serves and aggressive swings. The Bulldogs were aided by Ashley Kelley with 12 assists/2 aces and Elly Henderson with 8 kills, and 6 aces. Both found success targeting the back and front row with their serves. The last two sets were easily won with scores of 25-6 and 25-3.

Riverside Head Volleyball Coach Brooke Flathers credited her team’s discipline and the way they minimized mistakes throughout the match.

Looking ahead to Wednesday’s match against West Monona coach Flathers wants her team to have a mindful practice.

Coach Flathers message to her squad after the match was stick to their style and be consistent for Wednesday.

Riverside’s matchup against West Monona is scheduled for Wednesday at 7:00pm.

It will be the end of long-standing rivalry on Saturday when Northern Iowa hosts Missouri State. The Bears are moving to the FBS level and Conference USA next season. UNI and Missouri State have been conference rivals since both were part of the Mid-Continent Conference beginning in 1981.

That’s UNI coach Mark Farley who says Missouri State’s move to FBS shows just how important college football has become.

Missouri State is 3-0 in the Valley and ranked 18th. Farley says their roster reflects the coming move to Conference USA.

At 2-5, the Panthers are in a spot they have not been in for several years. The last time UNI lost more than six games in a season was the first season of division-one football back in 1978.

Entering week eight this will be UNI’s third home game and Farley believes similar situations will be avoided in the future.

Farley believes down the road the Panthers won’t be required to play as many road games.

(Radio Iowa) – The Des Moines venue where hundreds of sports and other events are held is getting a new name. The Wells Fargo Arena and Iowa Events Center will be renamed the Casey’s Center as the Ankeny-based convenience store chain signed a 10-year deal for the naming rights.

The 17-thousand seat arena opened in 2005 and took over hosting the boys’ and girls’ state basketball, and boys’ state wrestling tournaments from Veterans Auditorium. It has also hosted the N-C-A-A men’s basketball tournament multiple times.

(Radio Iowa File photo of Wells Fargo Arena)

The name will be changed on July 1st, and it is the first naming rights deal for Casey’s started with stores in Iowa, and now has them in 16 other states.