By Addison Burke, Sports Editor

A team from across the globe is hitting the Cintas court this season. With the most international players in Division One women’s basketball in the country, the Xavier women’s basketball team is looking forward to a great season supported by a plethora of international returners and newcomers. 

This season, 12 of the 16 players on the team are from outside the United States. Loren Christie, Daniela López, Lika Kvirkvelia and Júlia Garcia Roig are the four international returning players alongside two returning players born and raised in the States: Tae’lor Purvis and Aizhanique Mayo.

This year, the team has welcomed Meri Kanerva, Phoebe Holmes, Petra Oborilova, Vivien Nejašmić, Lucía Martínez López, Jovana Nikolić, Irune Orio and Olivia Borsutzki from all around the world. 

There are more international players than U.S. born players on the team this year. There are just four Americans playing for the Musketeers, equal to the number on the team who were born in Spain.

Kanerva is a first-year student joining the Musketeers for her first season of collegiate basketball. She hails from Espoo, Finland. One of her biggest adjustments to living in Cincinnati has been the heat of the Midwest, even though it gets all four seasons like Scandinavia.

“(It’s exciting) seeing how (hard we) work, the work we put in shows,” Kanerva said. “I’m excited to also see how the program grows, and how we’re gonna make it a winning program (again) and the journey towards that.”

Holmes is a first-year student coming from the land down under – Northeast Queensland, Australia – and is also playing in her first season of collegiate basketball. Holmes is preparing to adjust to Cincinnati’s winter weather, having only seen snow once in her life. 

“I’m just here to be a sponge and soak up the environment and learn as much as I can,” Holmes said. “So when I go back to Australia, I can be a role model and show girls that you can go across to the other side of the world for basketball.”

Oborilova is a junior originally from Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, where she was a member of the championship winning U17 and U19 National teams. Oborilova is new to Xavier, but not to Head Coach Billi Chambers, who coached her two years ago at Iona. When Oborilova visited Xavier, she was blown away by the facilities and the care the team received. 

“I’m excited to get out there and play with them because I think we have a really special group of people this year, and it’s great to be with the coaches again,” Oborilova said. 

Nejašmić is a first-year student coming from Split, Croatia in her first trip to the United States. Despite having to adjust to the language barrier and different basketball terminology, she is excited about this upcoming season. 

“To be honest, it’s so exciting to experience this new (style of) basketball,” Nejašmić said.  “I would say it’s way different from basketball in Europe to basketball here at universities, and I’m so excited for the game, just to experience this with a whole new thing with my teammates.”

Martínez López is a first-year collegiate basketball player from Ovideo, Spain, where she started playing basketball at four years old. This season, Martínez López is excited to compete with her new teammates and also explore Xavier and Cincinnati. 

“I really like to walk around the city and get to know some of the good spots,” Martínez López said. “At Xavier, I really like the campus, the facilities, the classes and all the professors.”

Nikolić is a first-year student and is very appreciative to be taking part in basketball in the United States after coming from her hometown of Belgrade, Spain. This year is her first season of collegiate basketball and she is very excited for the opportunity. 

“I’m excited about basketball here because I’m mostly here for basketball and school,” Nikolić said. “So I’m excited about the whole new environment and about this big change in my life because it’s going to make me a stronger person.It’s just a great experience.”

Orio is a junior and comes to Xavier after playing at Sacramento State University, but she is originally from Euskadi, Spain. Since being at Xavier, Orio feels that Xavier is her new home. 

“(Home) has to be a place where you feel safe,” Orio said. “And the people who you feel safe with … whether it’s a place or a person or multiple people, that’s home … I feel really comfortable here.”

First-year Borsutzki comes to Xavier from Munich, Germany after multiple years of recovering from injuries. Her arrival was complicated by issues with her scholarship and visa, but now that everything is sorted, she is happy to call Cincinnati home. 

“Home is more than just a place where we live,” Borsutzki said. “And Cincinnati compared to my city is the perfect match because it has the perfect balance of community and culture that makes me feel right at home.”