At Tompkins High School in Katy, Texas, volleyball is a community affair. In a packed gymnasium, the home crowd knows the cheers — the volleyball team calls, and the crowd responds.

For star hitter Cindy Tchouangwa, the gym booms with enthusiasm.

“When I say big, you say Rice. ‘Big,’” the team shouts. “Rice,” the crowd echoes.

Standing at 6-foot, the Rice University commit isn’t even the tallest on the Falcons’ 34-3 team, but it’s hard to miss her.

In the team’s last two matches, the senior outside hitter recorded 27 kills with a hitting percentage of .725. She also had five aces and 14 digs, earning JWS Player of the Week honors.

So excited to announce my commitment to play volleyball at Rice University. I would like to thank all the coaches and mentors that helped me get where I am today! Go owls🦉💙 #commited @RiceVolleyball @houstonjuniors pic.twitter.com/b8Rn3e8KKG

— Cindy Tchouangwa🦋 (@CTchouangwa) August 4, 2021

Tchouangwa leads the team in kills (448) and hitting percentage (.404), and she’s second on the team in digs (385). In tonight’s match against district opponent Jordan (22-18), Tchouangwa is approaching another milestone.

“Cindy has five kills to become our Tompkins career kill leader,” coach Allison Merrell said.

While it’s a huge accomplishment, Tchouangwa isn’t one to obsess over her stats.

“Honestly, it slipped my mind,” she said with a laugh.

“She’s just pretty awesome. She’s going to leave a legacy,” Merrell said. “That’s what we’ve talked about all season, what these seniors leave behind.”

The Falcons, who are ranked No. 13 in the latest Just Women’s Sports volleyball team rankings, have already eclipsed several milestones, starting off the season by winning the Katy/Cy-Fair Volleyball tournament. But the Tompkins seniors hope to leave with more, namely a state title.

There’s a reminder in the Falcons’ locker room that’s hard to miss, and every home game, they hit it for good measure. It’s a sign that reads “State” emblazoned with the school’s red, white and blue colors.

“We’re definitely going to win state this year. I want to leave the girls on the team with something to work for again,” Tchouangwa said. “If we bring our energy all the way up and bring the intensity, we’ll definitely win.”

Next year, she’ll go from playing volleyball in the Houston suburbs to playing in the city at Rice University, where she’ll see familiar faces — family, friends and former teammates — in the crowd.

“When I told [my family], they were jumping up and down,” Tchouwanga said. “I think they’ll go to every game.”

Nika Anschuetz is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @nlanschuetz.

The world No. 1 USWNT is gearing up to take on No. 40 Jamaica on Tuesday night, capping the two-friendly international break with a match spotlighting both the past and future of the program.

After opening the stretch with a 3-0 Saturday win over No. 17 China PR in St. Paul, Minnesota, major roster rotations are expected in St. Louis, Missouri, on Tuesday as US head coach Emma Hayes continues evaluating fresh and familiar on-field combos.

"I want to make sure that, whether you start, whether you come into the game [off the bench], it shouldn't alter our level," Hayes told media this week. "If anything, we should keep finding other levels in us."

Plenty of young firepower will feature on Tuesday's pitch, but the clash will also celebrate a recently retired USWNT great.

Two-time World Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist, and St. Louis product Becky Sauerbrunn will take center stage, with Energizer Park even doling out bobbleheads in the standout center back's likeness.

"I've got a locker room — not just the senior players, but less experienced players — that talk about [Sauerbrunn] in the highest esteem, both as a leader and as a human being," said Hayes of the longtime USWNT captain. "I don't think you could want anything more than that in life, to have people talk about you like that."

How to watch the USWNT vs. Jamaica friendly on Tuesday

The USWNT will take on the Reggae Girlz at 8 PM ET on Tuesday in St. Louis, Missouri, with live coverage on TNT.

The WNBA Commissioner's Cup is back with its 2025 edition, as the annual in-season tournament raises both stakes and incentives across the league.

Winning percentage, point differential, and head-to-head records all factor in as both Eastern and Western Conference teams battle it out for a shot at the competition's $500,000 prize pool.

Launched in 2021, the Commissioner’s Cup runs concurrently with the regular season, drawing on in-conference matchups to build a team's overall Cup record.

The 2025 competition opened on June 1st, tipping off three straight weeks of conference play that will culminate in a July 1st championship final between the Eastern and Western Conference winners.

Last season's final foreshadowed the eventual WNBA Finals, as the Minnesota Lynx topped New York to lift the 2024 Commissioner's Cup before the Liberty enacted revenge by taking the 2024 Championship a few months later.

Hoping to lift both trophies this season, New York started the 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup party with a 48-point statement win over the Connecticut Sun last Sunday.

How to watch Tuesday's 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup games

Every WNBA game on Tuesday will have Cup stakes, starting with the Washington Mystics' visit to the Indiana Fever at 7 PM ET on NBATV.

Then at 8 PM ET, the Minnesota Lynx will host the Phoenix Mercury, airing on ESPN3, before the Dallas Wings close out Tuesday's slate in Seattle against the Storm at 9:30 PM ET on ESPN.

With injuries mounting across the WNBA, several teams have started stocking up on recently waived free agents, bolstering their depleted rosters with hardship signings as they head into a busy stretch of the 2025 regular season.

With both guard Kahleah Copper and forward Alyssa Thomas sidelined, the Phoenix Mercury signed former Atlanta Dream guard and 2023 first-round draft pick Haley Jones to a rest-of-season hardship contract on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Fever picked up ex-LA Sparks guard and 2021 first-rounder Aari McDonald on Sunday, with Indiana looking to boost their backcourt depth in light of injuries to guards Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham, and Sydney Colson.

These hardship signings come in clutch to keep benches stocked and WNBA teams in action.

However, the longevity of these early-season additions remains uncertain as teams attempt to balance league-maximum 12-player lineups with restrictive salary caps.

Hardship contracts allow teams to temporarily expand the salary cap, but when injured players return, so do tough roster calls — much to the dismay of front office decision-makers.

"More bodies would be good," Fever president Kelly Krauskopf told reporters with a wry laugh ahead of McDonald's signing.

Roster limitations will likely be a key issue when CBA negotiations rev up, with this week's emergency signings only adding fuel to the fire.

CBS is bringing UEFA Champions League (UWCL) action to the US next season, with the network announcing Saturday that it has acquired the European Championship tournament's exclusive broadcast rights through the 2029/30 campaign.

Ending with English side Arsenal lifting their first UWCL trophy in 18 years, last weekend's Champion's League final was the competition's last match in its a four-year international media deal with streamer DAZN.

Starting next season, however, CBS will air all 75 Champions League matches live across Paramount+, CBS Sports Network, and the CBS Sports Golazo Network.

"CBS Sports is proud to be the home of all women's and men's UEFA club competitions through the end of the decade," said CBS Sports' EVP of programming Dan Weinberg.

Further aligning with the men's tournament, the post-qualifiers Champions League competition will grow from 16 to 18 teams in 2025/26, while also transitioning from a group stage play-in to a single-league standings format.

"As the competition embarks on an exciting new era, we look forward to CBS Sports delivering its dynamic and insightful coverage to American audiences, showcasing the highest level of women's club football in its new format over the next five seasons," said Guy-Laurent Epstein, managing director at UC3, the commercial entity uniting UEFA and the European Club Association.