What Did You Do This Summer?    

Nof Kedem Represented

 Israel at U-20 Women's

 European Basketball

 Championships in Bulgaria  

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern point guard Nof Kedem (Olesh, Israel/Ostrovski) traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria July 3-13 to compete for Israel at the U-20 Women’s Division B European Championships.

Kedem and Israel played nine games while in Bulgaria, beginning with a contest against the home country on July 3. They also competed against Germany, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Norway and the Great Britain.   The team finished with 3 wins and 6 losses during the tournament, with Kedem scoring a total of 67 points in the 9 games.

To prepare for the upcoming European Championships, Kedem was in Bosnia, playing exhibition games against Bosnia and Hungary. Kedem has extensive national team experience as she has previously represented Israel on the U-14, U-16 and U-18 squads. This was her second time competing for the U-20 squad as she averaged 8.5 points, 1.3 assists and 1.6 rebounds per contest during the 2012 Division B European Championships. That same year, Kedem also averaged 15.7 points and 4.3 rebounds at the U-18 Women’s Division B European Championships.

A rising junior for the Wildcats, Kedem missed the entire 2013-14 season while recovering from an ACL injury. As a freshman, she played 17 games in a reserve point guard role.

Kedem is one of two Wildcats that competed internationally last summer as Karly Roser earned a spot with the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team and participated in an exhibition tournament against Brazil, July 26-28 in Edmonton.

                  Shachar Elisha, ASA College

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     Or Ram-Harel, University of Tulsa 

Oct. 13, 2014

NORMAN, Okla. - The University of Tulsa men's tennis team wrapped up the 2014 USTA/ITA Regional Championships hosted by the University of Oklahoma.

The entire men's side traveled to the tournament and all took part in the main singles draw.

Tulsa's Or Ram-Harel (Kiryat Tivon, Israel) was the seventh seed in the Regional, the highest-seeded Hurricane of the weekend. Ram-Harel cruised in his opening round match over San Diego State's Parker Lawley, 6-1, 6-2. Minnesota's Matic Spec ended Ram-Harel's run in the second round in a three-set battle, 3-6, 7-5, 3-6.

In doubles play, eighth-seed Ram-Harel and Espjeo made the deepest run in the draw, as the duo earned a spot in the quarterfinals of the bracket. After earning a buy in the first round as one of the eight seeds, the Hurricane duo topped South Dakota State's Notikin and Moreira, 8-6. In the third round, Ram-Harel and Espejo beat UMKC's Gaismins and Smirnov, 8-6, before falling in the quarterfinals against Oklahoma's Alvarez and Webb, 8-5.

         ABOUT THE ISRAEL BRIDGE

Who We Are: 

Ross Greenstein, Scholarship for Athletes President and Founder of The Israel Bridge

Dan Aronovic, Head of Operations, The Israel Bridge

Our Vision: 

The Israel Bridge will work to be the largest resource for connecting and developing relationships between Israelis and Americans.

Current activities: 

Finding athletic scholarships for deserving Israeli athletes in the US and introducing them to local Jewish families. We have helped over 110 athletes attending schools such as UCLA, Ohio State, Georgia Tech, Temple, Northwestern, Duke, Maryland, UNLV, Arizona, Arizona State, Rutgers, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, the University of San Francisco and many others.

Visit our website for more info

http://israelbridge.org

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ITA Scholar-Athlete Lebedyev Named to All Academic Team

SKILLMAN, N.J.— Eighteen Yeshiva University tennis players, including Dimitri Lebedyev of Holon, Israel, were recognized by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) as ITA scholar-athletes for having a cumulative 3.5 grade point average or higher during the 2013-14 academic year. Furthermore, both teams were recognized by the ITA as all academic teams for having cumulative team GPAs of 3.3 or higher during the same time span.
 
"I am so proud of these fine men and women whose excellence in the classroom has earned them such an outstanding honor," said Yeshiva University Director of Athletics, Joe Bednarsh. "This is another in the continuing series of academic honors for our student-athletes that makes me appreciate every day their hard work and dedication."

The 2014 Skyline Conference champion men's tennis team garnered a 3.605 GPA, while the women's team amassed a 3.680 team GPA.  Lebedyev was also named to the Skyline Conference Honor Roll in Spring 2014.

       Semion Branzburg, University of Montana

Oct. 20, 2014

Semion Branzburg, a junior from Ashdod, Israel, had a breakout performance in the most important tournament of the fall season. Branzburg finished the ITA Mountain Regional with a 2-2 record, defeating opponents from Nevada and Washington State.

Branzburg made it all the way to Friday, finally losing out to David Ball from BYU. Branzburg won the opening set 6-2, but dropped the next two 6-3 and 6-0.

Coach Kris Nord was pleased with the performance from his junior.

"It was a good tournament for him," Nord said. "I think he kind of let one get away at the end. He had the kid from BYU beat and I think he just lost a little gas at the end."

Peter Mimnagh-Fleming and Tomasz Soltyka, partners in doubles, finished with identical 1-2 singles records. Soltyka defeated Kellen Bates from MSU in the first round 7-6, 6-3. He proceeded to fall in his next two matches.

Mimnagh-Fleming dropped his opening match, but followed that up with a bye and then a victory in the consolation bracket. His week came to an end after a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Jamey Swiggart from Utah.

The final Griz player, freshman Alexandr Rudenco, finished without a victory in his two matches. Nord was pleased with the progress he saw from his freshman, even in defeat.

In doubles, the duo of Soltyka/Mimnagh-Fleming continued their hot play, finishing the week with a 2-1 record. They defeated Hansel/Hintz from Washington State in the first round 8-3.

In the second round they defeated the Air Force team of Launius/Taylor 8-7, qualifying them for the quarterfinals. The Griz team fell in the quarters to Craig/Gasson from Denver. 

The Denver team sat atop the Mountain Region rankings when they were last released in June. Nord was pleased with how his team competed.

"They had a good tournament," he said. "Their loss to the No. 1 seed from Denver ended up 8-3 but it was closer than that. I was happy with how they started off down 3-0 and got it back to 4-3 and were playing well.

"They had a couple tough breaks at the middle of the set, but other than that I think they had a real shot at going a round further."

The Rudenco/Branzburg team didn't fare as well, dropping their first round match 8-5 to Gobattie/Locci from Big Sky opponent Northern Arizona. The two lost their next match 8-6 to Chen/Fought from Washington State.

"They had a tough draw, but we had a chance to win a match at the end and didn't quite pull it off," Nord said. "I was just happy with how those two played together."