PUBLISHED WORKS
Since joining The Miami Student, I’ve written more than 250 stories in every section. Among those include more than 230 sports stories ranging from football, basketball, hockey and baseball to club handball, dodgeball and equestrianism.
I have also interned for the Oxford Free Press and freelanced for cleveland.com and The Report covering collegiate basketball and high school baseball and softball.
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‘I wanted my team to count on me’: Dom Dzioban made two key plays in Miami’s victory over UMass
This story was originally published with The Miami Student on Oct. 3, 2024.
Redshirt junior kicker Dom Dzioban woke up at 7 a.m. on Sept. 28 like any other game day. The University of Massachusetts Minutemen were visiting Oxford later that day at 3:30 p.m. It’s the RedHawks’ final non-conference game of the season.
The RedHawks meet for a quick breakfast before the players go about their individual preparation. Dzioban and his roommate, senior punter Alec Bevelhimer, watch Chelsea beat Brighton in the Premier League.
At 11 a.m., the team meets for a pregame meal. Head coach Chuck Martin addresses the players with final reminders of the game before they board the bus and ride through Oxford.
Dzioban went about his morning and pregame routine as usual. He doinked a 40-yard field goal in front of the Minutemen in his pregame warmup.
Nothing about the day would have led anyone to believe he’d have two of the biggest plays in the RedHawks’ overtime victory over the Minutemen.
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‘The season is a lifetime’: How men’s basketball battled back against Kent State
This story was originally published with The Miami Student on Feb. 27, 2025.
Less than three minutes remained on the clock.
A 3-pointer from redshirt senior forward VonCameron Davis widened Kent State’s lead to seven over the Miami University men’s basketball team. Head coach Travis Steele called a timeout and brought the RedHawks to a huddle.
Miami battled hard against the Golden Flashes, outscoring them in the first half 44-41, but with two and a half minutes left, a seven-point comeback seemed out of reach.
Steele wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet, not with more than 6,000 fans packing Millett Hall.
“You could tell our group was really down,” Steele said. “I said, ‘Fellas, we’re not gonna win this game if we don’t believe. There’s a ton of time.’ We’re at a fork in the road. We can do one of two things: We can get tighter with our togetherness, with our execution, or we can splinter and lay down.”
The RedHawks recently lost two road games against the Western Michigan University Broncos and the Eastern Michigan University Eagles, marking the first time this season that they have lost back-to-back matchups.
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Column: Miami men’s basketball’s strength of schedule no longer matters
This story was originally published with The Miami Student on March 12, 2026
In the past 80 years, only 21 men’s basketball teams have gone undefeated in the regular season. Of those 21, seven have gone on to win the national championship.
With an overtime win against Ohio University on March 6, the Miami University RedHawks men’s basketball team became the most recent team to attain a flawless regular season. At 31-0, Miami set a program and mid-american conference (MAC) record for wins in a season. However, time will tell if Miami goes on to March Madness success.
For some, time will tell if the RedHawks will go dancing at all.
Around the time Miami received its first national ranking in January, online conversations erupted with complaints about the RedHawks’ strength of schedule. Both casual fans and professional analysts have argued that Miami’s undefeated status has an asterisk next to it: The team hasn’t played any Power Four opponents this season.
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‘It’s really disappointing’: Miami players, coaches and alumni react to the UC rivalry ending
This story was originally published with The Miami Student on Sept. 13, 2024.
This season marks the end of a 78-year streak of the annual Battle for the Victory Bell. Each year since 1945 (excluding 2020), the Miami University RedHawks and the University of Cincinnati Bearcats have squared off in a yearly competition to determine the best football team in southwest Ohio.
One more game is scheduled for 2026 at Paycor Stadium, home to the Cincinnati Bengals. The 2025, 2027 and 2028 matchups have been canceled.
The Battle for the Victory Bell rivalry dates back to 1888, when the two teams faced each other in the first collegiate football game in the state of Ohio. Since then, they have met 127 times, each team with 60 wins, 60 losses and seven ties.
Having earned the bell last year, the RedHawks plan to hold onto their victory and take the advantage in the series.
“We have the bell right now, [and] we want to keep it,” senior linebacker Ty Wise said. “If we’re going to discontinue the series, we want to keep that trophy in our locker room and go out on top.”
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Volleyball heads to MAC tournament for the first time in 5 years
This story was originally published with The Miami Student on Nov. 21, 2025, in collaboration with Vincent Jolliff
Last season, the Miami University RedHawks women’s volleyball team won two games in Mid-American Conference (MAC) play. Those two wins came nine matches apart from each other, and Miami ranked 10th in conference standings.
This year, the No. 6 RedHawks punched their ticket to the MAC tournament for the first time since 2020. They first face the University of Toledo Rockets on Nov. 21.
“It’s something that I’ve been dreaming about since coming here,” senior setter Hayden Hicks said. “I committed when they had been winning the MAC for four years in a row. [It’s] just so special to me, especially to do it with this group. I feel like this is the closest I’ve ever been to any team I’ve been on. It just means everything.”
With a 16-14 (10-8) record, Miami also finished the regular season above .500 for the first time in six years. The team’s success this year is no surprise head coach Dan Gwitt, who is now in year two with the program.
“For me as a coach, this was the game plan,” Gwitt said. “It’s not to sound arrogant, but I knew if I was tough on this team and brought in the right kids, and we stuck to the game plan and kept punching, we would get here … In my mind, that’s part of being a good coach: You have to make your team believe that they can do it as well.”
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‘They gave me a chance’: How Brian Ugwu went from an uncertain future to an NFL draft prospect
This story was originally published with The Miami Student on Feb. 3, 2025
Very few things can silence Miami University football head coach Chuck Martin.
Following the RedHawks’ loss to Toledo during the 2023 season, Martin was speechless. Starting quarterback Brett Gabbert’s horrifying leg injury sent him to the hospital and benched him for the season. Miami’s undefeated streak in conference play came to a halt, and the team’s chances at a Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship seemed to drop to zero.
Silence filled the locker room as players tried to compose themselves. Even the team’s top leaders and veteran players didn’t know what to say, and efforts to uplift the team were nonexistent.
Suddenly, defensive lineman Brian Ugwu stood up and shouted at the team.
“No matter what happens, we’re not losing another game,” Ugwu said. “We love Brett, but Brett’s down. [Aveon], we got your back. It doesn’t matter what it looks like, we’re going to stick together. We’re not losing another game.”
Martin listened to Ugwu’s speech from around the corner. He had nothing else to say. That moment showed him that Ugwu was one of Miami’s best leaders in recent years.
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