You’ve made it folks. Happy Friday. Summer plans? What summer plans? The Monarchs are back on campus prepping for a big year next year—and you can check out all the action and much more below!

🎾 Trio of Monarchs earn accolades
🏈 Friday Scouting Report: Virginia Tech
🦁 Friday Flashback
👑 And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Court Masters. Not one, not two, but three Monarchs were honored this week by the ITA—Nicola Vidal and Shahar Biran were both named Atlantic Region Most Improved Seniors, and Cosme Rolland De Ravel earned Region Rookie of the Year accolades. The men’s duo earned the first regional awards for the Monarchs since 2018.

Biran went 19-5 in singles and 13-13 in doubles this season. She finished the year winning her last ten matches and didn't lose a set in that run. Biran went 7-0 in Sun Belt play and had non-conference wins over LSU, Princeton, Georgia, Delaware and William & Mary.

🔼 Monarchs In The Neighborhood. This past year, ODU athletes completed over 5,300 hours of community service time feeding the homeless, mentoring or reading to school children, gathering Christmas presents for kids, and dozens of other volunteer opportunities—an increase of more than 1,800 hours from last year’s total!

✍️ Read more about just how much the Monarchs are giving back to the local community in the latest Max With Minium

Summer Plans. While the rest of us chow down on some Friday donuts, our Monarchs have their eyes on next year.

The football team is hitting the weight room, and the men’s basketball team is putting in the work on the court. (Don’t worry guys, we’ll just be here sitting on the beach, we’ve got that covered for you.)

🏈 FRIDAY SCOUTING REPORT: VA TECH

Opponent #1: Virginia Tech
Date: Saturday, September 2nd
Location: Blacksburg, Virginia — Lane Stadium
Time: 8:00pm ET
Broadcast Coverage: ACC Network (TV), ODU Sports Radio Network

Last Meeting: ODU 20, Virginia Tech 17 — September 2, 2022 — Norfolk, VA
All-Time Series: 2-2

A trip to Blacksburg will kick off the 2023 season for Monarch football as they look to double down against the Hokies after the thrilling 20-17 win in Norfolk last fall.

Virginia Tech, who’s coming off a 3-8 season last fall, will have Brent Pry in his first full year at the helm for the Hokies and looking to rebuild on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, the quarterback competition will be between incoming starter Grant Wells and former Baylor transfer Kyron Drones, who was a four-star prospect in the 2021 recruiting class. Additionally, they’ll be seeing a familiar face on the opposing sideline—transfer addition Ali Jennings caught 116 passes for 2,025 yards and 14 scores in two years at ODU.

Defensively, Virginia Tech lost two starters early in 2022, but still held opponents to just over 24 points per game, while ranking in the top-30 nationally in third-down conversion percentage. The Hokies return three All-ACC performers in 2023.

🤔 MONARCH TRIVIA

Boys Of Summer. This time of year brings our attention to the MLB season, a place where Monarchs have shined over the years.

Beginning with Denny Riddleberger in 1970, ODU has seen many former standouts reach the Bigs.

How many Monarchs in total have played in at least one MLB game?

Think you’ve got it? Scroll down to the bottom of this email and see if you had the right answer!

🦁 FRIDAY FLASHBACK

Gold Standard. 19 years ago this summer, ODU legend Anne Donovan became the first Monarch to ever win a Gold Medal.

Donovan went on to win four Gold Medals, two as a player (1984 and 1988) and two as a coach (2004 and 2008).

She is one of only two Monarchs to ever bring home a Gold Medal, joined by Anna Tunnicliffe (‘05), who earned the top spot on the podium in sailing in 2008.

📬 STICK WITH US

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🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: 17!

Including Denny Riddleberger, Daniel Hudson (above), and some guy named Justin Verlander—17 former Monarchs have played at the highest level.

Enjoy the weekend, Monarch Nation!