Good morning Monarchs. Sure, we all love cheering for our Monarchs when they are wearing Old Dominion across their chests and competing in Norfolk. But what we all really love is seeing them succeed after they leave campus and that’s exactly what we’ll do each Wednesday for the rest of the summer.

Baseball, football, basketball, tennis… the list goes on and on. We’ll give you some updates from Monarchs we all know and love!

What else is steeping in today’s Brew?

🎾 The Winning Continues
⚾️ Where Are They Now: Matt Coutney
🏈 Countdown to Kickoff
👑 And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 And Another One. Winning nothing knew to Yullia Starodubtseva. The former Monarch was a two-time CUSA Player of the Year for ODU and piled up countless victories, including leading the squad to back-to-back conference titles in 2021 and 2022.

This past weekend, she kept up her winning ways with her first-ever International Tennis Federation (ITF) 60k singles title in Sumter, S.C.. It’s the third-highest level in the introductory professional circuit. For Starodubtseva, it’s her second career pro victory as she won her first tournament at the 25k level back in March.

🔼 Moore Money, No Problems. The ODU baseball team appears to have quite a bright future with guys like Ben Moore leading the way.

The bright lights of college baseball didn’t phase Moore, who was recently named a Second Team Freshman All-American by Perfect Game.

The southpaw from Frederick, Maryland, Moore finished the spring with a 2-1 record and a 1.88 ERA in 21 appearances, including one start. Only six of his 19 runs allowed were earned and he recorded 24 strikeouts to just 12 walks in 28.2 innings pitched.

It marks the fifth straight season the Monarchs have had a Freshman All-American. Andy Garriola (2019), Chris Dengler (2020), Carter Trice (2021) and Blake Morgan (2022) all earned accolades during their debut campaigns in Norfolk.

🔼 Let’s Make It Eight. New faces will be bountiful this upcoming season for the ODU men’s hoops team as it welcomed its eighth new addition for the upcoming 2023-24 season with Leeroy Odiahi set to join the Monarchs.

The 6-11 center from Tralee, Ireland comes to Norfolk after two years at Indian Hills Community College, where he played in 28 games this past season, helping his squad advance to the national semifinals of National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I championships.

Odiahi joins Sam Hood, R.J. Blakney, Tyrone Williams, Yamari Allette, Vasean Allette, Devin Ceaser and Daniel Pounds as members of the incoming class for Jeff Jones and company.

🦁 WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Sure we all knew Canadians can play hockey, but Matt Coutney showed us all that our neighbors up north can bring the lumber.

Coutney was a critical part of ODU’s baseball success during his three seasons, earning All-American and All-Conference accolades during his tenure, as well as helping the Monarchs captured the 2021 CUSA championship.

Last spring, he earned CUSA Conference Player of the Year honors en route to being a 10th round selection by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

This spring, he showed pitchers across the California League what we all found out.

In May, the Alberta, Canada native torched pitching to the tune of .365 with eight extra-base hits, including 5 HRs, and 23 RBIs. He also walked 17 times for an on-base percentage of .479 for the month. In total this spring, he’s hitting .277 with 10 HRs and 41 RBIs.

The hot start to the 2023 season for Coutney earned him a promotion to High-A to join the Tri-City Dust Devils in the Northwest League.

🏈 COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: 73 DAYS

Mr. Durability. One thing is for sure, each and every Saturday, good ole #73 was going to be etched into the starting lineup for ODU.

During that incredible stretch, he played five games at right guard, 13 at right tackle and 26 at left tackle. He helped protect some guy named Taylor Heinicke, we think he turned out to be pretty good.

Lowney would come back to help coach the Offensive Line for two seasons after his Monarchs career concluded.

🤔 MONARCH TRIVIA

As mentioned above, Matt Coutney hopes to join a long line of former Monarchs who made it to The Show. In total, 17 former ODU standouts have reached the highest level in baseball.

Can you come up with the latest Monarch to make his MLB debut?

Hint: He and Coutney share a home country

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

📬 STICK WITH US

Did someone send you the Monarch Brew? Subscribe here and get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning just in time for your first cup of coffee!

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Jared Young.

Fellow Canadian Jared Young made his MLB debut for the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 16 of last year when he went 1-for-4 in a home victory over Colorado.

The Cubs drafted Young in the 15th round of the 2017 MLB Draft. And this spring, he’s back with the Iowa Cubs in Triple-A—where he’s hitting .320 with 10 home runs and 37 RBIs.

Let’s finish the week strong! Happy Wednesday!