As the semester comes to an end, let’s look back at the different sports that have and are continuing to compete for Southern Utah University. From record-breaking seasons to new coaches, it has been an exciting start to SUU’s final season in the Western Athletic Conference.
Football
After going 7-5 overall and 7-2 in conference play in 2024, head coach DeLane Fitzgerald and the T-Birds followed that season up with another 7-5 year in 2025. After starting 1-5, SUU rattled off six-straight wins to finish above .500 for the third-straight year.
One of the biggest strengths this SUU team leaned on was the run game. Southern Utah ranked No. 14 in the nation, averaging 202 rushing yards per game. A large reason for this success was running back Joshua Dye.
The sophomore from Gilbert, Arizona finished second in the nation with 1,832 yards and was first with 28 rushing touchdowns. This broke a school record for most rushing touchdowns in a single season.
Defensively, even though SUU had moments where they struggled, the T-Birds were home to one of the best defensive ends in the league. Senior Lando Brown finished No. 2 in the nation with 14 sacks and was first in the nation with 1.27 sacks per game.
As a team, Southern Utah had seven players earn United Athletic Conference Postseason Awards. The following players and their awards go as:
— Brown earned UAC Defensive Player of the year and Unanimous First Team All-Conference
— Dye was awarded UAC Offensive Player of the Year
— Graduate center Edward Riley was named First Team All-Conference
— Offensive lineman Sirri Kandiyeli, wide receiver Shane Carr, linebacker Sebastian Adamski and Long snapper Gavin Lipkin all won Second Team All-Conference
Southern Utah will compete in the Big Sky Conference starting next season.
Volleyball
SUU named Danielle Jensen their new head coach of the women’s volleyball team on July 10, 2025 following the resignation of the previous head coach Kacey Nady. Despite winning just 24% in her first three years as coach, Nady led the team through a conference realignment and got them to a 10-18 record in her final year.
Jensen was chosen thanks to her strong tenure at Utah State University Eastern, where she held a career record of 190-88 and had turned the school into a powerhouse in the National Junior College Athletic Association. She won top-ranked finishes, a conference coach of the year award and multiple national tournament appearances, making her a clear-cut choice.
Unfortunately for Jensen and the team, her debut season saw the T-Birds record their fewest wins in a season in team history. They held a 3-21 record and their season ended in the first round of the Western Athletic Conference tournament to rival Utah Tech University.
It wasn’t all bad for the team, with Kaitlyn Hoelker getting named to the All-Freshman Team in the WAC after ranking second on SUU in kills. She and Swayzee Mason are two of the best freshmen in the conference and give SUU a bright future tolook forward to.
Some of the team’s best players, like kill leader Victoria Zibecchi and dig and ace leader Aleeya Jones, are set to graduate after this season, but the T-Birds have plenty of players to fill those gaps and turn SUU’s fortunes around next fall.
Soccer
In their final season in the WAC, Southern Utah University’s soccer team saw some early success, but they ultimately fell short of the postseason. SUU finished 3-12-3 overall and 2-7-1 in conference play.
One of SUU’s biggest struggles of the year was goal scoring. SUU recorded two games in which they scored two or more goals. Southern Utah averaged only .78 goals a game, ranking last in the WAC.
Senior forwards Sarah Assumma and Whitney Gardner were the T-Birds leaders in goals and points. Assumma, from Temecula, California finished first on the team with four goals and 11 points.
Gardner was second on the team with three goals and 10 points. Gardner also led the team with 48 shots and 25 shots on goal.
In the net, Jazmyn Brass started 17 of the 18 games for the T-Birds. Brass finished with a 63% save percentage, three wins and two shutouts. In the one game Brass didn’t play, junior goalkeeper Esme Barnes came in for SUU. Barnes appeared in four games and started one.
Men’s and women’s golf
The men’s and women’s golf teams started the school year with a couple of rough fall seasons.
The women placed eighth out of ten in their first meet then finished last in their other three. The men didn’t fare much better, with their best placement being 13th out of 19 during an invitational in Madison, Illinois. They also recorded a last-place finish in their final meet.
The men were led by Uy Doan. The freshman from Hanoi, Vietnam is SUU’s only male golfer this year to record a score under par at a meet, doing so twice to start the season. Doan placed ninth at the team’s first invitational of the year, while just two other players had a best finish in the 20s.
The women’s team was led by Siriporn “Orchid” Luangnam. The sophomore from Thailand recorded her best finish in fifth place at a meet hosted by Weber State University. No other player placed better than 11th at any of the women’s invitationals.
The teams will resume their schedules in February, when the men head to Ventura, California to play in the Bill Cullum Invitational hosted by California State University Northridge on Feb. 2 and 3.
The women will head to San Jacinto, California to play in the Soboba Spring Classic hosted by the University of California Riverside from Feb. 6 to 8.
Cross country
As we look back at the season Eric Houle and the men’s and women’s cross country team had, we see that it was another solid season for Southern Utah.
The men’s team finished in third place in the WAC Championships on Oct. 31 and No. 14 in the National Collegiate Athletics Association regionals in Salt Lake City on Nov. 14.
In the four regular season invitationals, Southern Utah finished top two in three of the four meets, including a first place finish at the Bronco Invitational in Santa Clara, California.
Logan Peel, a junior from
Cedar City, consistently found himself at the top of the leaderboard for SUU. Peel was Southern Utah’s top runner in five of their six meets.
The women’s team finished top four in the WAC for the fourth-straight year. SUU’s women’s cross country finished fourth overall at the WAC Championships and No. 17 at the NCAA Mountain Regionals.
Like the men’s team, the women’s team was consistent in their four meets, taking top three in three of the four invitationals. SUU saw strong performances every week from sophomore Audrey Hales and freshman Aspen Hacker.
Hales, a runner from South Jordan, Utah finished first out of all SUU athletes in three of the six events she competed in, including a 13th overall finish at the WAC Championships.
Hacker broke the SUU freshman 6k record at the University of California Riverside Invitational with a time of 20 minutes and 55 seconds. Hacker’s best finish came at the SUU Color Country Invitational where she took fourth overall in the 4k with a time of 14 minutes and 40 seconds.
Basketball
After a pair of off seasons that saw both teams significantly rework their rosters, the men’s and women’s basketball teams have essentially been opposites to start the year.
The women have marched to their strongest start ever under coach Tracy Mason with a 7-2 record, while the men have found themselves with a 4-7 record and began 1-5 for the first time in a decade.
Their two losses were both on the road, with a four-point loss to the University of Idaho and a 23-point loss to the 8-2 Colorado State University. They’ve outdone opponents in essentially every statistical category, and they especially excel in three-point shooting, assisting and rebounding.
The men’s team has recorded four wins with an average margin of victory of 40 points. However, three of those wins came from members of the National Christian College Athletic Association, while the fourth was a two-point comeback win against Stetson. They’ve performed well in many areas, but struggle more prevalently with a 31% three-point shooting percentage.
Both teams have already played historic games so far this season. With a 70-point win against Nelson University, the women’s team set new records
for their biggest win and their most threes in a game with 16. The men also set their single-game threes record against West Coast Baptist College, but suffered their largest loss ever against Gonzaga University a few games prior.
The men have been led by Jaiden Feroah, who ranks top three in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and shooting percentage. He’s one of three men to start 10 or more games alongside Isaiah Cottrell and star rookie Elijah Duval.
The women have been led by Sierra Chambers, who has led the team in points and assists in her breakout sophomore season, along with Brooklyn Fely and Ava Uhrich who both average over 10 points and eight rebounds per game. The team is consistent, with just one starter who shoots under 40% from the field.
Both teams have just a handful of games before conference play begins on Dec. 29. Both teams will head to St. George to take on Utah Tech University at 6:30 p.m for the women and 7 p.m. for the men.
Author: Jack Paul, Payson Davis
Photographer: SUU Athletics
Editor: Briar Adams
