The start of the 2022 volleyball season has been historic for Conroe High School (Texas). The Tigers have won 32 straight matches to start the season, by far their best start in program history, dropping just five sets in the process.

Over the last 15 seasons, Conroe hasn’t won more than 29 games in a single season. The Tigers have already surpassed that mark this fall and still have over 10 games remaining in the regular season.

Senior Ariana Brown has helped propel the Tigers to their unbeaten start with 367 kills, averaging more than five kills per set. The University of Louisiana Monroe commit, who is coming off a seven-day stint that earned her Just Women’s Sports Player of the Week honors, transferred to the school in the offseason and is getting the opportunity to play for her mother, coach Charvette Brown, while closing out her varsity career.

Kenedi Medford is usually the one setting for Brown, racking up 456 assists along the way, while her sister Kaiden Medford has tallied 119 kills. Emma Malak recently surpassed 1,000 career digs, with 439 of them coming this season.

Conroe began the season unranked, but thanks to the unbeaten start, the Tigers have arrived at No. 4 in this week’s JWS volleyball team rankings.

Check out the complete rankings below, and click here to see last week’s rankings.

1. Cathedral Catholic (Calif.), 1-0

The Dons opened up their 2022 campaign last week with a convincing sweep of La Costa Canyon, winning all three sets by eight points or more.

2. Marymount (Calif.), 4-0

The Sailors have not lost since 2019 and have dropped just one set so far this season.

3. Bloomfield Hills Marian (Mich.), 12-0

Senior Ava Sarafa, a Kentucky commit, is averaging more than nine assists per set this season.

4. Conroe (Texas), 32-0

While the Tigers finished 24-19 last year, their last playoff appearance was in 2017.

🚨🚨🚨 BIG WIN AT HOME TONIGHT AGAINST WILLIS!!! It was the place to be tonight—PACKED HOUSE! 32-0!!! #oneteamonemission #SicEm pic.twitter.com/0jC9OuaQQ2

— ConroeVolleyball (@ConroeTigerVB) August 31, 2022

5. Wayzata (Minn.), 2-0

The Trojans extended their winning streak to 56 games with consecutive victories to start the season.

6. Byron Nelson (Texas), 24-1

The Bobcats distribute the wealth. They have a trio of attackers with more than 200 kills and two setters with more than 300 assists.

7. Cornerstone Christian (Texas), 31-1

Senior Nayeli Gonzalez leads the way with 307 kills, and sophomore Megan Fitch isn’t far behind with 288 kills.

8. Prestonwood Christian (Texas), 14-1

The Lions’ sole loss is to Cornerstone Christian, and they bounced back by handing Highland Park just their second loss of the season.

9. Blue Valley North (Kan.), 2-0

The reigning state champions have picked up where they left off last season.

10. Highland Park (Texas), 23-2

The Scots’ two losses have both come against Prestonwood Christian.

11. Buford (Ga.), 15-1

The Wolves have reeled off nine wins in a row, dropping just two sets during that streak.

12. Tompkins (Texas), 21-3

The Falcons have cooled off slightly, falling in two of their past seven matches.

She said NO!! @SimiElliott Great win tonight over Cinco Ranch!! Let’s keep it up! @OTHSVolleyball @PrepDigTX @houstonjuniors pic.twitter.com/X4IfhIfZVS

— Brooklynn Merrell (@BMerrell5) August 31, 2022

13. Ponte Vedra (Fla.), 2-0

The Sharks have played two games and secured two straight-set victories in the past week.

14. Sante Fe (Fla.), 3-0

The Raiders have played nine sets this season and have won all nine as they look to repeat as Class 4A state champions.

15. Cleveland (Tenn.), 16-1

Since losing their second match of the season, the Blue Raiders have reeled off 15 consecutive wins, dropping just four sets.

16. McCutcheon (Ind.), 9-1

The defending Class 4A state champions have dropped just three sets this season, although two of those dropped sets resulted in a loss during tournament play.

17. Dike-New Hartford (Iowa), 7-1

The Wolverines fell in pool play of the Centennial Early Bird Tournament but bounced back to claim the trophy in a stacked field that included some of the top teams in Iowa.

Congrats to the Early Bird Tournament Champions! Quite a day in Ankeny where the field featured 16 teams: #1 in Class 2A, #11 in 3A, and 10 teams ranked in 5A. #rollblue #MomentsThatMatter pic.twitter.com/qsExq3OxH8

— Justin Stockdale (@DNHSUPT) August 28, 2022

18. Mira Costa (Calif.), 9-2

The Mustangs returned to their winning ways Tuesday with a sweep.

19. Assumption (Ky.), 6-0

A perennial contender, the Rockets are off to another hot start.

20. Alpharetta (Ga.), 17-3

After starting the season 9-3, the Raiders are currently riding an eight-game winning streak, during which they’ve lost just one set.

21. Papillion-La Vista South (Neb.), 6-1

The Titans’ 45-game winning streak came to an end Saturday with a straight-set loss, but they avenged that defeat days later with a sweep of the same opponent.

22. Fayetteville (Ark.), 3-0

The Bulldogs have played nine sets and won all of them.

23. Bishop Gorman (Nev.), 2-0

The Gaels’ pursuit of a fourth consecutive state championship is off to a good start.

24. Sierra Canyon (Calif.), 13-1

The Trailblazers have played Mira Costa twice this season, splitting the series.

25. Mother McAuley (Ill.), 8-0

The Mighty Macs have yet to drop a set after falling in last year’s Class 4A state title game.

Phillip Suitts is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports. He has worked at a variety of outlets, including The Palm Beach Post and Southeast Missourian, and done a little bit of everything from reporting to editing to running social media accounts. He was born in Atlanta but currently lives in wintry Philadelphia. Follow Phillip on Twitter @PhillipSuitts.

The new-look New York Sirens continue to impress in the early stages of the 2024/25 PWHL season, most recently notching a big 4-2 win over Toronto in the the team home opener on Wednesday.

All four of New York's goals came in the second period — the most in a single period all season — and all were the first goals of the season by each scorer.

Finland international Noora Tulus opened the game's scoring with her first PWHL goal, with teammates Emmy Fecteau, Micah Zandee-Hart, and Jaime Bourbonnais following suit. Both Fecteau's goal and team captain Zandee-Hart's were the first of their PWHL careers.

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Sirens rookie Sarah Fillier and teammate Alex Carpenter both assisted on Tulus's game-opening goal, with each booking a point in their fourth straight contest. Fillier remains in the PWHL's lead with two goals and five assists for a total of seven points, while Carpenter is just behind with six points — though her three goals make her the league's scoring leader.

As for the Sceptres, forwards Hannah Miller and former Siren Emma Woods each made a dent in the scoresheet with goals of their own in the third period, but it wasn't quite enough as Toronto failed to complete the comeback.

Last-place Toronto has now allowed their opponents to breach the scoresheet first in each of their 2024/25 matchups, ultimately losing their last three games in regulation.

New York Sirens to face Minnesota Frost in top matchup

New York's shifting fortune highlights the second-season league's rapidly growing parity. With only one loss through their first four games, the Sirens sit in second place to stake an early season claim on "most improved" after finishing last in the PWHL's inaugural season.

Just above New York on the league's table are the Minnesota Frost. The reigning Walter Cup champions are holding strong as the team to beat, but New York has already proved that it's possible after handing Minnesota an overtime 4-3 season-opening loss on December 1st.

The Sirens' will officially take aim at the top of the PWHL table on Sunday, when New York will try to gift Minnesota a second season loss in the league's pre-Christmas closer. This time, the Sirens will have the crowd on their side as the Frost visit New York's home ice.

How to watch New York Sirens vs. Minnesota Frost in PWHL action

The puck is set to drop on New York vs. Minnesota at 12 PM ET on Sunday, with live streaming coverage on YouTube.

Despite being populated by all four No. 1 seeds, Thursday's 2024 NCAA volleyball semifinals served up the bracket's biggest upsets, as heavily favored Nebraska and overall top seed Pitt were sent packing by their conference foes.

In front of 21,726 fans — a new record for college volleyball's postseason — Louisville shocked Pitt with a 3-1 victory before Penn State ousted Nebraska in a five-set instant classic.

Louisville books second national championship ticket

After dropping their first set to Pitt on Thursday night, it seemed the deck was stacked against the Cards, who had already lost twice to the Panthers in the regular season.

However, buoyed by their raucous home crowd, Louisville surged back, sweeping the next three sets to book their first trip to the national championship match since 2022, when they became the first and only ACC team to ever compete in the collegiate final.

As for Pitt, Thursday's loss was just their second all season, and not even 2024 AVCA Player of the Year Olivia Babcock's astounding 33 kills could extend their title chase. Notably, their national semifinal curse continues, with the Panthers now falling in the NCAA tournament's penultimate round for four straight years.

On the other hand, Louisville's victory was a true team effort, with three senior outside hitters — Anna DeBeer, Charitie Luper, and Sofia Maldonado Diaz — leading the offensive charge with 14 kills each.

The Cardinals' roster was also required to step up in unexpected ways. Just two points into the fourth set, Louisville star DeBeer crumbled to the court with an ankle injury and did not return to the match. The visibly shocked Cards looked to freshman Payton Petersen, who made a massive statement by recording two kills and four clutch digs to help seal the win.

"I wanted to do this for her," Petersen said of DeBeer. "She's meant so much to me."

Penn State roars back to top Nebraska

In Thursday's battle between two Big Ten titans, the message was clear: Never count out the Nittany Lions.

After falling behind the Cornhuskers 2-0 in what increasingly looked like an inevitable Nebraska victory, Penn State emerged from the brink of defeat to pull off the first reverse sweep of the Huskers in the NCAA tournament since 1982.

Following a 5-0 run that helped the Nittany Lions stay alive with a third set win, they flipped a 22-16 deficit into a match-point battle that ended the fourth set 28-26 in Penn State's favor. With the match now equalized, Penn State took control in the fifth, holding off Nebraska 15-13 to clinch their first championship trip since winning their seventh title in 2014.

Star Jess Mruzik led the Nittany Lions' charge with a 26-kill, 12-dig double-double, putting together what Nebraska head coach John Cook called "one of the best performances [he's] ever seen by an outside hitter." 

Like Louisville's Petersen, freshmen also stepped up for Penn State, with Izzy Starck recording six key blocks and redshirt freshman Caroline Jurevicius hammering 20 kills against her former team, having transferred from Nebraska in December 2023.

As for the Huskers, their stacked roster showed out, with outside hitter Harper Murray leading the charge with a 20-kill, 15-dig double-double, plus three aces — the most by any player in either match on Thursday. Middle blocker Andi Jackson also had a standout night, putting together a near-errorless performance to finish with 19 kills.

Four-time All-American libero Lexi Rodriguez added program history to Thursday's mix, closing out her NCAA career as the Huskers' all-time digs leader with 1,896.

Sunday's court will make NCAA history

Louisville and Penn State's semifinal victories have guaranteed that Sunday's 44th NCAA volleyball championship match will go down in the history books.

With Dani Busboom Kelly leading the Cardinals and Katie Schumacher-Cawley coaching the Nittany Lions, a woman head coach will lift the national championship trophy for the first time.

Only two women have ever coached their teams into the college volleyball final, with Florida's Mary Wise doing so in 2003 and 2017 before Busboom Kelly followed in 2022.

For context, the last seven Division I basketball trophies came under women head coaches.

The fact that this glass ceiling still exists is partially due to volleyball having less women in head coaching positions than other NCAA sports. Less than half of Division I's 334 teams are led by a woman, while basketball boasts nearly 68% female leadership and softball claims almost 74%.

Busboom Kelly's ACC exceeds that 50% stat, but the Schumacher-Cawley remains one of only six women leading the Big Ten's 18 teams.

Both of Sunday's sideline leaders know what it takes to win the national championship, with Schumacher-Cawley taking the 1999 title while playing for Penn State and Busboom Kelly doing the same with Nebraska in 2006.

Even so, in some ways, this year's title will mean even more, as the coaches pave the way for future generations of volleyball leaders.

"[There’s] just honestly no better feeling than being led by a female because that could be me someday, that could be one of my teammates someday," Mruzik noted. 

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How to watch the 2024 NCAA volleyball championship match

Sunday's final won't just make women's coaching history, it could see Louisville earn the ACC's first-ever NCAA volleyball title. But to do so, the Cardinals, who fell to Penn State 3-0 in early September, will have to deny the Nittany Lions an eighth national championship.

NCAA volleyball will crown its Division I champion in Sunday's 3 PM ET match, with live coverage on ABC.

For the first time, USWNT and Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman is opening up in unprecedented detail about her famous father, NBA legend Dennis Rodman, discussing him on Wednesday’s episode of the popular podcast "Call Your Daddy."

While having previously discussed their estranged relationship in brief, the 22-year-old enters "new territory" in sharing this amount of detail. 

Speaking to host Alex Cooper, Rodman described a financially controlling, partying alcoholic who was mostly absent after her parents’ divorce, and at one time left his children and their mother to briefly live in their car.

"I think he's an extremely selfish human being," Rodman told Cooper. "I think everything has always been about him."

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An NWSL breaking point

In 2021, Dennis unexpectedly showed up to Rodman’s NWSL quarterfinal match — the first and only he ever attended — causing the then-19-year-old to become emotional.

"I was so mad. I was like 'You took this happy moment from me. You f***ed with my head again,'" Rodman said. "I’m walking over [to him] so mad... he grabs my head and I just start bawling into his arms as if it’s a daddy-daughter [moment]."

That embrace was captured in a viral photo that was misconstrued as familial joy, rather than anger and overwhelm.

After Dennis expressed that he wanted to see her more in what Rodman calls a "wholesome" post-match catchup, she once again grew optimistic about building a relationship, but instead received total "radio silence" that lasted until late 2023.

"I think after that was when I lost hope in ever getting him back," she said. "Even at that game, I don’t think that was for me. I think he wanted to have a good conscience and then be like, headline, Dennis Rodman showed up to his daughter's game."

Today, Rodman has almost no relationship with her father, though she does answer when he calls.

"If something does happen, God forbid, I want to know that I did that. Or if he needed to hear my voice," she said. "That’s why I answer the phone, not for me."

"He's not a dad. Maybe by blood but nothing else. Hearing his voice is painful."

Gotham FC and USWNT forward Lynn Williams is being traded to the Seattle Reign, according to multiple reports late Wednesday.

Sports Illustrated reports that Williams and goalkeeper Cassie Miller will join the Reign in exchange for midfielder Jaelin Howell and an undisclosed transfer fee. 

Though still unconfirmed, the move reportedly comes at Williams’s request, with the 31-year-old Olympic gold medalist hoping to close out her club career on the West Coast, closer to her California home.

In her two seasons at Gotham, Williams scored 11 goals and tallied four assists en route to back-to-back NWSL Playoff runs.

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Williams is a major score for Seattle

The addition of Williams — the NWSL’s all-time leading scorer and third on the career assists list — would be a massive win for the Reign, who are in desperate need of firepower after posting the league’s fourth-worst goal count and finishing in 13th place last season.

Plus, Williams knows how to win, arguably more than nearly any other player in the league.

Since entering the NWSL in 2015, Williams has lifted trophies with all three of her clubs, earning championships with the Western New York Flash (2016), the NC Courage (2018, 2019), and Gotham FC (2023). Those four titles surpass every other NWSL athlete except McCall Zerboni, who coincidentally was Williams's teammate for all of those championships.

That title-winning aptitude would be clutch for Seattle, who are still hunting a franchise-first NWSL championship despite competing in three league finals.

Howell, Miller on the move again

Both Howell and Miller will exit their respective clubs after short tenures.

Miller joined Gotham from Kansas City in January as a replacement for starting goalkeeper Abby Smith, who suffered a season-ending injury in August 2023. In April, however, the NJ/NY club snagged German international Ann-Katrin Berger — one of the best keepers in the world and the NWSL's 2024 Goalkeeper of the Year — leaving Miller in a backup role.

Logging an even shorter time at Seattle than Miller's 11-month Gotham stretch is Howell, who will join her third club in five months with this trade. The midfielder began her NWSL career with Racing Louisville in 2022, but was sent to Seattle in August in exchange for striker Bethany Balcer and $50,000.

The 25-year-old, who captained her Louisville team, has struggled to stay in form. That said, if Gotham can help Howell unlock consistency in her top-level play, her on-pitch potential and off-pitch leadership could be a boon for the NJ/NY side.

Ultimately, trading Williams for a player with more potential than top form reads as a possible rebuild for a club who entered a so-called superteam era just one year ago — particularly in light of Gotham's flood of defectors this offseason, which includes star midfielder Delanie Sheehan.