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Standout seniors headline JWS’ Volleyball All-American First Team

McCutcheon outside hitter Chloe Chicoine, named a JWS First-Team All-American, is headed to Purdue next year. (Alex Martin/Journal and Courier/USA TODAY SPORTS)

With the high school volleyball season wrapped up, Just Women’s Sports has new honors to bestow upon the nation’s top high school student-athletes.

JWS is proud to announce its All-American girls’ volleyball teams, honoring 24 of the top high school players in the nation, including 11 seniors on the First Team.

Learn more about these standout athletes below, including what college they plan to attend. And look out for our Second Team selections on Friday and our profile of the JWS Volleyball Player of the Year next week.

First Team

Olivia Babcock, Sierra Canyon (Calif.), Sr. | OH/Opp.

539 kills, 326 digs, 114 blocks, 65 aces

Pittsburgh

Babcock propelled the Trailblazers to their first-ever CIF Division I title as Sierra Canyon proved they belonged among Southern California’s elite programs.

Julia Blyashov, Cathedral Catholic (Calif.), Sr. | OH

Stanford

Blyashov led Cathedral Catholic to a 42-0 season as the Dons cemented their status as the nation’s top team by winning the California state championship and dropping just one set all season.

Nya Bunton, DuPont Manual (Ky.), Sr. | MB

516 kills, 97 digs, 47 blocks, 47 aces

Texas

Bunton won gold with Team USA at the U19 Pan American Cup and then earned Miss Kentucky and Under Armour All-American thanks to a stellar senior season.

Chloe Chicoine, MCCutcheon (Ind.), Sr. | OH

549 kills, 271 digs, 49 aces, 25 blocks

Purdue

The Mavericks fell just short of a repeat state title, but Chicoine did her part, averaging six kills and three digs per set and earning Indiana’s Miss Volleyball honors.

Laney Choboy, Leesville Road (N.C.), Sr. | Libero

244 digs, 206 kills, 51 assists, 24 aces, 14 blocks

Nebraska

Generally considered the top libero in the Class of 2023, Choboy won gold at the U19 Pan American Cup and bronze at the FIVB Girls U18 World Championship.

Brooklyn DeLeye, Washburn Rural (Kan.), Sr. | OH

Kentucky

DeLeye led Washburn Rural to its eighth state championship and holds the school record for career kills.

Caroline Jurevicius, Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (Ohio), Sr. | OH

445 kills, 224 digs, 44 blocks, 41 aces

Nebraska

Jurevicius led the Lions to a state title, racking up 27 kills in the state championship match and is part of the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class at Nebraska.

Kennedy Phelan, Fayetteville (Ark.), Sr. | S/OH

977 assists, 227 digs, 217 kills, 80 aces, 31 blocks

Florida State

Phelan led the Bulldogs to a third consecutive state championship and a top-10 national ranking. She will play both indoor and beach volleyball in Tallahassee.

Harper Murray, Skyline (Mich.), Sr. | OH

663 kills, 372 digs, 73 aces, 38 blocks

Nebraska

Michigan’s Miss Volleyball capped a stellar high school career with an eye-popping 663 kills on a .410 hitting percentage, finishing with 2,245 career kills and 1,423 digs.

Bergen Reilly, O’Gorman (S.D.), Sr. | S/OH

440 kills, 338 digs, 70 aces, 29 assists, 26 blocks

Nebraska

Reilly is constantly testing herself against more experienced opponents. First as an eighth grader starring for the O’Gorman volleyball team and then this fall as a high schooler on the U.S. Pan Am Final six squad.

Torrey Stafford, Marymount (Calif.), Sr. | OH

568 kills, 305 digs, 57 blocks, 42 assists, 35 aces

Pittsburgh

After sharing the court last season with one of the nation’s top players, Elia Rubin, Stafford proved more than capable in a leading role, averaging five kills per set as an Under Armour All-American.

Ellie White, Mother McAuley (Ill.), Jr. | MB

542 kills, 289 digs, 103 blocks, 28 aces

Michigan

White averaged six kills, three digs and one block per set, leading the Mighty Macs to their 16th national championship and a top-10 national ranking.

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.

USWNT to face Costa Rica in final Olympic send-off

uswnt sophia smith and tierna davidson celebrate at shebeilves cup 2024
The USWNT will play their final pre-Olympic friendly against Costa Rica on July 16th. (Photo by Greg Bartram/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)

U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will play their last home game on July 16th in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The 2024 Send-Off Match against Costa Rica will take place at Washington, DC’s Audi Field — home to both the Washington Spirit and DC United — at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16th. The friendly rounds out a four-game Olympic run-up campaign under incoming head coach Emma Hayes’ side, with the last two set to feature the finalized 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team roster.

Hayes will appear on the USWNT sideline for the first time this June, helming the team as they embark on a two-game series against Korea Republic hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on June 1st followed by Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 4th. 

The team is then scheduled to meet a talented Mexico squad on July 13th at Gotham FC’s Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Olympic-bound lineup will attempt to rewrite February’s shocking 2-0 loss to El Tri Femenil in the group stages of this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. And while clear roster favorites have emerged from both of this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelives Cup rosters, a spate of recent and recurring injuries means making it to the Olympics is still largely anyone’s game.

Broadcast and streaming channels for the USWNT's final July 16th friendly at Audi Field include TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

Caitlin Clark’s WNBA start to serve as 2024 Olympic tryout

Clark of the Indiana Fever poses for a photo with Lin Dunn and Christie Sides during her introductory press conference on April 17, 2024
The talented Fever rookie is still in the running for a ticket to this summer's Paris Olympics. (Photo by Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images)

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the WNBA's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd.

While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.

WNBA teams make history with 2024 season ticket sell-outs

Arike Ogunbowale on the wnba court for the dallas wings
The Dallas Wings are now the third team to sell out their entire season ticket allotment in WNBA history. (Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images)

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

Nelly Korda ties LPGA record with fifth-straight tournament win

Nelly Korda of the United States celebrates with the trophy after winning The Chevron Championship
Nelly Korda poses with her trophy after acing her fifth-straight tour title at The Chevron Championship on Sunday. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.

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