When the Fayetteville (Texas) Lions take the court, they’re rarely the bigger school.

A small but mighty force, the Class 1A team is fierce, and leading the pack stands Brooklyn Jaeger, a 5-foot-8 outside hitter who has claimed the nation’s top spot in kills.

In Tuesday’s match against Round Top-Carmine, Jaeger added a season-high 50 kills, bringing her total to 769. That’s nearly 100 more than the nation’s second highest leader in 2022, according to MaxPreps.com, and in last Friday’s win against Mumford, Jaeger passed 3,000 career kills. Currently, it stands at 3,055.

“At first, thinking about it, it was crazy. But now, it feels like nothing special. It’s just a number,” said Jaeger, whose accomplishments earned her JWS Player of the Week honors. “I’m not going to let that get to my head.”

CONGRATULATIONS to senior, Brooklyn Jaeger for reaching her 3,000th high school career kill! The Lady Lions and Fayetteville ISD are proud of you and your accomplishment! pic.twitter.com/TgCbSNiwXB

— Fayetteville ISD (@FayettevilleIsd) October 10, 2022

Lions coach Clint Jaeger, also Brooklyn’s father, says while she might not take note of it, everybody else does.

“Everybody notices it. It’s a big number. She has 3,055 career kills. That’s unheard of,” he said. “She doesn’t get as much credit for her passing, her back row. … The kills get most of the attention, but I think the back row, and the amount of digs she has, she has as many digs as some liberos.”

So far this season, Brooklyn leads the team in digs (447) and blocks (32) and has also tallied 85 aces, the third highest on the team.

Brooklyn started officially playing volleyball in sixth grade, but she started playing around when she was in pre-kindergarten.

“When I was little, it wasn’t my favorite thing. I loved basketball,” Brooklyn said.

When Brooklyn started playing, coach Jaeger started learning. Fayetteville needed a volleyball coach, and Clint, who was already coaching baseball, stepped up.

As Brooklyn grew to love volleyball, so did Clint. They’ve become quite the dynamic duo. Last year, the father-daughter pairing helped lead Fayetteville (46-2) to its first state championship in volleyball.

This season, they hope to do the same, as the Lions are first in their district (4-1) with four matches remaining in the regular season.

“We’ve been talking about it all year. We only lost two players last year,” Brooklyn said. “We got a setter this year, but from the beginning of the year, our chemistry is still there.”

Next year, Brooklyn will take her talents south to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. The campus is already somewhat familiar to Brooklyn, as her uncle went there, and she remembers taking trips down to visit. She says she’d always fill out recruiting forms, and then, one day, they reached out to her.

“They don’t just care about you as a player, but they care about you as a person,” she said.

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That sentiment echoes Brookyln’s personal life. Despite her record-breaking stats, she doesn’t want it to be her sole legacy at Fayetteville. She’s the only one on the team who plays club volleyball, and she uses her experience to help her teammates grow on and off the court.

“They’re hitting the right shots,” Brooklyn said. “Just seeing that makes me feel better because knowing I helped somebody out and helped them reach a goal they’ve always wanted is nice.”

They’re not just stats. She’s fostering a culture at Fayetteville.

“We’ve got little girls here who are bumping, and they’re loving the court,” Clint said. “The girls here now love volleyball.”

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

Cameron Brink already has her rookie of the year pick for the upcoming WNBA season, and it’s Indiana-bound star Caitlin Clark. 

In the latest edition of Kelley on the Street, host Kelley O'Hara caught up with Brink in New York hours before the Stanford phenom went No. 2 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks at the 2024 WNBA Draft. When O’Hara asked who would win the WNBA's rookie of the year, she answered without pause.

"Caitlin Clark," she said, while a fan commented that she thought Brink would take home the award. Brink later added that the extra foul granted to WNBA players will be "good for me."

"I hope it’s me," Charisma Osborne, who was later drafted by the Phoenix Mercury, said when asked her ROY prediction. "But, I don’t know — we’ll see."

Watch more of Kelley on the Street:

Maria Sanchez issued a statement on Thursday, confirming recent reports that she has requested a trade from the Houston Dash. 

In it, she revealed that the club has been aware of the request "since late March."

"This has all taken a toll and isn’t an easy thing to talk about, but I want to confirm that I’ve requested an immediate trade," she wrote. "My expectations and reasons have been clear. I trust that my current club’s management will honor my decision in a timely manner and proceed with accepting a trade."

"I’m eager to refocus and dive back into what I love most: playing football," she concluded.

Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kindness and support. pic.twitter.com/gcnN7dhCJU

— Maria Sanchez (@Maria17_7) April 19, 2024

Reports of Sanchez's trade request first surfaced on ESPN last week, and were later confirmed by multiple sources. 

In December of last year, Sanchez signed a three-year contract with the Dash valued at $1.5 million including bonuses and an option year. It was the largest contract in NWSL history at the time — a figure that would be eclipsed by multiple contracts in the following months. 

Sanchez spent the offseason as a restricted free agent, meaning that Houston could match any other team's offer to retain her rights. Should the Dash trade Sanchez, her current contract terms would remain intact, limiting potential buyers to teams able to afford to take on an inking of that size.

The Dash has yet to address the trade, instead reiterating to ESPN that Sanchez is "under contract, a choice she made in free agency at the end of 2023." 

Both the NWSL trade window and transfer window close tonight, April 19th, at 12 a.m. ET. The window will stay closed through the next 11 regular season games, reopening on August 1st, 2024.

The four-time league champion Seattle Storm unveiled their new practice facility on Thursday, with Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel dubbing Interbay's Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance the team’s "new home."

"It's just such a special space," Brummel told Fox 13 Seattle. "I think when the players get here, it's gonna be overwhelming."

The sprawling 50,000-square-foot, $64 million property is just the second designated practice facility to be designed and built expressly for a WNBA team, with the Storm further noting that 85% of all design and engineering team members involved in the project's construction were women and people of color. The finished product holds two professional indoor courts, two 3x3 outdoor courts, a state-of-the-art locker room, and players' lounge, plus designated areas for strength and conditioning, kitchen, dining, and nutrition, and recovery. 

"This facility reflects our commitment to providing our athletes an exceptional environment that supports their growth, health, and performance," said Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder in an official team release. "It’s built for women, by women, embodying our dedication to leading the way in professional women’s sports."

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For their part, the team can't wait to make the faciilty their own.

"It's amazing," Storm guard Jewell Loyd told Fox 13. "Not having to drive everywhere around, knowing you have access anytime of the day to get into the gym, to workout." 

Head coach Noelle Quinn said she predicts the team is "never going to leave this building."

"Which is a good thing for me," she continued. "You talk about having an edge in performance. We want our athletes to not only perform on the court, but get whatever they need."

All of the Storm's staff and operations will now live under one roof, and the team also has plans to launch a youth basketball program operating out of the building.

The Caitlin Clark effect is quickly making its mark on the big leagues, as WNBA host teams around the country rush to upgrade their Fever games to larger arenas in order to accommodate surging ticket sales.

With Clark mere weeks away from her Indiana Fever debut, both the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have officially relocated their scheduled home games with head coach Christie Sides' squad. On Thursday, the Mystics became the latest to adjust their plans, moving their June 7th matchup from Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southwest DC to the more centrally located — and much larger — Capital One Arena "due to unprecedented demand."

The Mystics home court's capacity taps out at 4,200, while Capital One Arena — home to the Wizards, Capitals, and Georgetown Hoya's Men's Basketball — can fit nearly five times that crowd at some 20,000 spectators.

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"The move to Capital One Arena will allow for additional fans in the stands as well as premium hospitality options, including Suites and the all-new all-inclusive courtside Hennessy Lofts," the team announced via Thursday's press release.

The Aces were one of the first teams to switch venues, aiming to take on the Indiana Fever in front of as many as 20,000 fans inside T-Mobile Arena on July 2nd. That’s a sizable a boost from their home venue, which holds just 12,000.

For those still planning to face the Fever in their home arenas, ticket prices have skyrocketed. Previously scheduled construction has already forced the LA Sparks to relocate their first five games — including their May 24th clash with the Fever — to Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid. The temporary venue is quite the downsize, holding just 4,000 in comparison to Crypto.com Arena's near-19,000. As of Friday, the get-in price for that game started around $400.

Despite fans launching a Change.org petition urging relocation, the Chicago Sky say they're unable to move their June 23rd Fever meeting from Wintrust Arena's 10,000-seat facility to the 23,500-seat United Center due to a concert. Tickets for that game start around $325 as of Friday.