SPORTS PALOOZA

Sarah Huffman was born in Danbury, Connecticut. She attended the University of Virginia, where she was a four-year starter. She is a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) All-American, a two-time Soccer America MVP, and a three-time first team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection. Huffman played six professional seasons after being the top pick in the 2008 Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) draft by the Washington Freedom. From 2009-11, Huffman played with both the Freedom and magicJack teams as well as in Norway in 2008 with Røa IL, helping lead the team to a Norwegian Women’s Cup.

During the inaugural National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) season in 2013, Huffman appeared in 14 matches (11 starts) for the Western New York Flash and started in their two playoff games, playing 72 minutes in the championship match. On the global stage, Huffman was a member of the under (U)-16, U-17, U-19, U-21, and U-23 U.S. Youth National Teams (USYNT). She helped U-19 win the 2002 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (or FIFA) Women’s World Championship and won the Nordic Cup with U-21 in 2004, 2005, and 2007. In 2010, she was called to play with the U.S. Women’s National Team. She retired from the sport in 2014 and became an assistant coach with her alma mater, the University of Virginia.

Ashley Nick played college soccer at the University of Southern California (USC) from 2005 to 2008. She was named to the All-Pac-10 first team in 2007 and was captain of USC’s first national championship team in the same year. She is arguably one of the most talented players to compete for USC’s Women of Troy. Nick began her professional career with the Football Club (F.C.) Twente in 2010, where she was team captain and helped lead the team to the Eredivisie title. Nick subsequently played for professional leagues in the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Cyprus, and Italy. In 2012, she moved to Toppserien Side Arna-Bjørnar. In 2013, Nick won the W-League Championship with the American soccer team Pali Blues and was named MVP.

Nick spent two seasons with the Sky Blue F.C. (2013-2014) before signing with the Houston Dash ahead of the 2015 season. Midway through the 2015 season, Nick was traded to the Western New York Flash. In the 2015-16 American off-season, Nick scored five goals in six Cypriot First Division games with the Apollon Limassol F.C. She signed with the Sky Blue F.C. in March 2016 for her second stint with the team. In September 2018, she joined the Italian Serie A club Juventus and became the first American player (male or female) to become a member of the club. She was a part of the 2018-19 Juventus F.C. team that won both the Serie A and Coppa Italia championships. She played with the NWSL’s Kansas City team as recently as the 2021 season.

Ty Loomis has played volleyball professionally since 2002 and has won national and international tournaments. Loomis played volleyball at the University of California-Irvine, where he led the 1999-2000 team in Kills. Following college, in 2002, Loomis cracked the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) pro-tour. In 2006-2007, he had breakout performances internationally, winning Australian championships and earning the silver medal in the Pan American Games held in Rio de Janeiro. After steadily climbing the ranks of AVP, Loomis won his first tournament in 2009 by defeating top-ranked players John Hyden and Sean Scott.

Loomis, alongside Casey Patterson, snapped a three-tournament winning streak by Hyden and Scott. Since 2009, Loomis has continued his solid play. He placed second in the 2010 NORCECA (North, Central America, and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation) championships and third in the 2011 CLWO championship. In 2017, Loomis and partner Maddison McKibbin won the AVP San Francisco Open, defeating the team of Billy Allen and Stafford Slick. Loomis is a two-time AVP beach volleyball tour champion and a Team USA volleyball athlete.

Kaley Melville was a semi-finalist in both the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) and National Volleyball League and was a finalist in AVP. She has 15 USA Volleyball Open National Championships, five FIVB main draw appearances, five AVP main draw appearances, an AVP Grass Nationals semifinals appearance, and a USA Adult Nationals semifinals appearance.

As a junior volleyball player, Melville won the U.S. Junior Open National Championship and was named tournament MVP. Melville played Division I volleyball at Stetson University, where she became the first athlete in the school’s history to be inducted into the Stetson Hall of Fame in two different sports: beach and indoor volleyball. Melville played four years as an outside hitter, leading the team in kills each year, including setting a school single-season record as a senior. She ended her college career ranked second in all-time kills and third in digs, and became the first player in program history to tally at least 1,200 kills and 1,200 digs. Melville is a four-time MVP for their beach/indoor volleyball teams and was named an NCAA All-American and two-time conference champion.

At only 20 years old, Kole Brewer is already starting to make a name for himself in the cornhole world. In 2022, Brewer won the National College Cornhole Championship for Indiana State University, a game televised on the cable network ESPN. Brewer also started a corn hole club at Indiana State University. Following his victory in 2022, he made it back to the national championship tournament three years in a row, including a runner-up at last year’s tournament.

In 2023, Brewer finished tied fifth in his bracket during the American Cornhole League (ACL) World Championship. Brewer has a very bright future in cornhole and is looking forward to a successful season in 2025.

Nathan Long is a professional cornhole player entering his third season in ACL. Long has been featured on ESPN and CBS several times and was a member of the world championship team, Pennsylvania Ringers. In his second season as an ACL professional, Long rose from ranking 202 in singles to ranking 64 in singles and 80th in doubles out of thousands of players.

Long finished fifth in the ACL Open in 2024 and fifth in the Cornhole Mania Pro Shootout. He would also finish first in the ACL Open blind draw in both doubles and singles. Long is looking forward to a great 2025 season, where he is currently ranked 63 in singles and 42 in doubles.