OKWU FALL SPORTS ATHLETES SHINE IN NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s Tyler Guerrero (17) goes up for a header during earlier season action. The Eagles are ranked No. 1 in the NAIA.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
Oct. 21, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
That bright glare you’ve noticed the past few weeks is the national spotlight shining on the Oklahoma Wesleyan University sports program.
— The Eagle men’s soccer team last week soared to the No. 1 ranking in the NAIA.
— Lady Eagle volleyball boasts a record-setting setter in Sydney Collins, who has been named three times as the NAIA National Setter of the Week — an incredible achievement.
— Another Lady Eagle legend-in-the-making Evelyn Rohrberg was recently named the NAIA National Attacker of the Week.
— The Lady Eagle soccer team was ranked No. 7 in the nation in last week’s national poll.
— OKWU volleyball was ranked last week as the No. 9 team in the nation.
Following are more details.
Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s women’s volleyball coach Tracie Gillette (left) and her daughter Sydney Collins. Gillette recently won her 350th career game, while Collins continues to receive national awards and recognition.
Courtesy photo
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VOLLEYBALL
Through 20 matches the Lady Eagles own an 18-2 record — including a 10-match winning streak.
Collins and Rohrberg have helped elevate the Lady Eagles to national prominence.
The truth is, this is a collection of several super-talented, athletic young women led by veteran head coach Tracie Gillette and her staff. And, Gillette recently won her 350th career win.
Collins — who is Gillette’s daughter — has been a world-beater.
She already has produced 67 assists in a match — flirting with the national record 71.
She is by far the nation’s leading setter in assists and playmaking.
As proof of that, Collins has been tabbed three times as the NAIA National Setter of the Week — chosen from among 230 teams.
A Bartlesville High School graduate, Collins is a remarkable story. For most of her youth career, she owned the libero position, which requires a unique set of athleticism and skills well suited to Collins’ 5-foot-5 frame.
But then necessity led to her switching to setter during her last season or two at Bartlesville.
“She was playing a very good club in Tulsa when she was 16-years-old and the coach — who was a former Olympian — knew she had great setting fundamentals. He needed that position filled and molded her into that.”
Then Lady Bruin volleyball coach Jen Ward followed suit and switched Collins from being one of the state’s best liberos to developing into one of the top setters.
Gillette brought her on board at OKWU as a setter, and blockbuster results have followed. The Lady Eagles have put together awesome consecutive seasons and a national tourney run last season.
So far this season — through 20 matches — Collins has handed out more than 800 assists, an average of about 12.2 per set, which calculates to be about 37 in a three-set match and 61.1 in a five-set match.
Collins is set to earn a gold ball for her 4000th career college assist, after smashing the school record (approximately 3,500) last season.
“By the end of the year she’ll have far more than 4,000,” said Gillette. “She’s a great server, too. She’s probably 90 percent behind the service line and her defensive kill percentage is good.”
But Collins’ greatest asset — other than her genius in engineering OKWU’s multi-faceted and complicated offensive attack — is probably her outstanding defense, Gillette said.
“That raises the bar, I think,” said Gillette, adding what makes Collins’ presence impressive is that she stands only 65 inches tall, a lack of stature in game that puts a premium on height.
“Being 5-foot-5 she’s blocking out there,” Gillette explained. “I’m not saying she’s a stellar blocker and we’ll take that risk. She brings so much to the court and she’s a competitor. It’s like sticking a little girl in there, but she’s still jumping up and getting her hands over the net. … She’s a great orchestrator of the team.”
Collins’ shining talent, athletic grace, grit and skill are no secrets. The NAIA has recognized her as arguably the top setter in the nation — certainly none better.
In high school, Collins developed symbiotic symmetry with Lady Bruin teammate Mia Otten (who also is now with OKWU, albeit she’s out for the season). In college, Collins and Rohrberg have developed a similar connection.
Rohrberg has whacked away for multiple 20-plus kill games.
During a recent stretch, she pounded 15 kills in a sweep of Southwestern (Kan.) and added 18 kills that same week against Tabor (Kan.) College.
Despite her height and verticality, Rohrberg also has thrown her body around to produce several digs.
She is near 400 kills for the season, served eight aces and made more than 60 digs.
Next up the Lady Eagles will be off until October 25 when they travel to Bethany (Kan.) College. Their next scheduled home match is October 29 against Avila (Mo.) University.
Following are summaries of the Lady Eagles’ two most recent matches.
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Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s Eveleyn Rohrberg serves during a last season game.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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OKWU 3, KANSAS WESLEYAN 0: Rohrberg and Emma Stubbs pounded 14 and nine kills, respectively, to lead OKWu’s hitting assault. Rohrberg added three service aces.
Tijana Stojiljkovic and Maia Rubio added eight kills apiece; Stojiljkovic contributed six block assists.
Collins spooned out 34 assists and made nine digs.
Maria Luisa Caycedo threw her body around for 17 digs to help OKWU improve to 17-2 overall and 6-1 in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.
OKWU def. UNIVERSITY OF SAINT MARY, 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-10, 25-13) — The Lady Eagles bounced back from their conference loss to zap Saint Mary.
Rohrberg roughed up the Saint Mary defense with 21 kills. Four other Lady Eagles registered five-kills-or-more — Rubio (10), Maria Andrea Santa Cruz Cossich (8), Stojiljkovic (6) and Iva Mrkaic (5).
Collins distributed 44 assists and made seven digs.
Leading in digs were Caycedo (22), Rubio (11) and Anneliese Schonauer (9).
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Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s goalie Stefan Schenk (13) takes a quick breather during an earlier season game. The Eagles are ranked No. 1 in the NAIA.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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MEN’S SOCCER
King of the mountain.
Big dog.
El Supremo.
Top tamale.
Leader of the pack.
Any way you want to say it, the OKWU Eagles own the No. 1 ranking in the nation — and are in a position to make a fiery run for their first NAIA national championship.
The unbeaten Eagles (11-0-3, 9-0-1) were awarded the No. 1 ranking in last week’s NAIA Men’s Soccer Top 25 Coaches Poll in a major rankings shake-up that saw every Top 10 team in the previous poll move up or down.
Only No. 4 Keiser (Fla.) (10-0-1), No. 12 Life (Ga.) (10-0-2) and No. 18 Bethel (Tenn.) (7-0-2) also remain in the ranks of the unbeaten.
The Eagles — who are coached by Jamie Peterson — are currently on an eight-game winning streak.
The Eagles’ attack is multi-faceted — four players have scored five-or-more goals. They included Biel Campo (14), Julian Tovar (10), Adrian Mejia (5) and Carter Ligi (5).
Campos also owns the team lead in assists (8), points (36) and game-winning goals (3).
Nemanja Vukovic has handed out five assists, followed by Tylor Guerrero (4).
Marko Rodic and Stefan Schenk have gotten the most time at goalie. Rodic has allowed nine goals (1.29) and made 23 saves in seven matches while playing nearly 627 minutes. Schenk has worked a little more than 531 minutes with three goals given up and 17 saves made.
Next up, OKWU will be home Wednesday to host Bellevue (Neb.) University in a 7:30 p.m. showdown.
Following are summaries of OKWU’s most recent two matches.
OKWU 2, KANSAS WESLEYAN 1: When you’re number one, other teams try harder.
Kansas Wesleyan muscled up Saturday to try to knock off the nation’s newly ranked No. 1 team in the nation.
But OKWU avoided the upset when Campo put away a goal with just 3:49 left in the regulation.
Campo scored both of the Eagles’ goals — the first one assisted by Vitor Meirinho, the second by Ryunsokue Masuzuka.
Kansas Wesleyan (8-3-3, 5-2-2) grabbed the early lead with a goal within the first 20 minutes.
Campo tied it up at the 39:22 mark of the first half and won it at the 76:11 mark.
Rodic played the distance at goal for OKWU and made two crucial saves.
OKWU made just three shots on goal, including one by Julian Tovar.
OKWU 9, SAINT MARY 1: In a match played the same day the Eagles were ranked No. 1,
Luis Vergara took the wraps off a hat-trick (three goals) to lead the Eagles’ offensive onslaught.
Campo added two goals while Tovar, Mejia, Ligi and Mateja Bozic added one goal apiece — the latter three coming off the bench to score.
Assist makers with one apiece, included Mejia, Vukovic, Campo and Juan Morenoh.
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WOMEN’S SOCCER
The Lady Eagles own a Top 10 national ranking and are on track to continue their long string of conference championships, stretching back into the latter 2010s.
Currently on a 10-match winning streak, the Lady Eagles — who are coached by Ivan Ristic — are 12-0-1 in their last 13 matches.
Laura Gieseler is setting the scoring pace — 15 goals, two assists, 32 points, 40 shots on goal, and six game-winning goals.
But several other Lady Eagles also are contributed sizable numbers, including Kylie Reif (9 goals, 3 assists, 16 shots on goal), Isabelle Simoneau (9 goals, one assist, 23 shots on goal), Frederiekke Nielsen (8 goals, 1 assist, 11 shots on goal), Ana Chavez (6 goals, 3 assists 14 shots on goal) and Linn Joelsson (2 goals, 9 assists, 11 shots on goals).
Marilla Constantinou has contributed five assists.
Alessandra Martinez has played most minutes in goal (1,081) and is credited with nine shutouts and 30 saves. Leona Kraus has made four appearances in goal and made 9 saves.
Following are summaries of the Lady Eagles’ most recent two matches.
OKWU 2, KANSAS WESLEYAN 0: The Lady Eagles (13-1-1, 10-0-0) clung to a 1-0 lead most of the way and then added an insurance goal to help cement the team’s 10th district win.
Laura Gieseler opened the scoring with an unassisted goal at the 20:50 mark of the first half.
Forty minutes later, Tessa Edwards buried the add-on goal, assisted by Kylie Reif.
Gieseler unleashed four shots on goal.
Alessandra Martinez secured the shutout in goal while making three saves.
OKWU 7, UNIVERSITY OF SAINT MARY 1:
Isabelle Simoneau and Wendy Jimenez each popped in two goals to spearhead the Lady Eagles to their 12th victory.
Tessa Edwards, Ana Chavez, and Frederiekke Nielsen each delivered one goal.
OKWU spread out its assists among five players — Jimenez (2), Reif (2), Simoneau (2), Frederiekke, and Tessa Edwards.
Saint Mary broke up the shutout with less than six minutes left.
Martinez played the whole way in goal and made one save.