Westminster Christian (Fla.) volleyball has advanced to the state championship the last three seasons, but each time came up just short of a title. The Warriors hope this year brings a different result.

Already, the Warriors have turned heads with a win over No. 2 Cornerstone Christian, part of an unbeaten start to the season that has now stretched into postseason play. The Warriors knocked off a fellow unbeaten, Boca Raton, in their regular-season finale before opening the district tournament with a straight-set victory to improve to 22-0.

An undefeated start to the season is nothing new for Westminster Christian. The Warriors won their first 22 matches in 2020 before losing in the state final, but if the Warriors complete an unbeaten season, it would be a first for the program.

The prize the team truly craves, though, is a state title, which would be the school’s first since 2016. As it stands now, the Warriors are just one win from another district title, the first step toward capturing the state crown.

Behind this 22-match winning streak, filled with dominant performances and just three set losses all season, the Warriors are a fixture in the Just Women’s Sports volleyball team rankings, moving up one spot this week to No. 5.

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

1. Cathedral Catholic (Calif.), 34-0

The Dons still have not dropped a set and have just one more regular-season match remaining before postseason play begins.

2. Cornerstone Christian (Texas), 55-2

Iowa State commit Nayeli Gonzalez racked up 15 kills in a sweep Tuesday to push her season total to 573.

3. McCutcheon (Ind.), 32-1

The Mavericks cruised to a sectional title, winning all three playoff matches in straight sets, and will compete for a regional title this Saturday.

4. Mira Costa (Calif.), 34-3

The Mustangs capped the regular season with a win over Redondo Union and opened the playoffs with a sweep of 28-win Lakewood.

5. Westminster Christian (Fla.), 22-0

The Warriors face Ransom Everglades in the Class 3A-District 15 championship Friday.

6. Washburn Rural (Kan.), 38-1

The Blues pushed their winning streak to 37 matches, winning six this weekend to claim the Emporia Tournament title. Kentucky commit Brooklyn DeLeye, the No. 6 recruit in the nation, surpassed 2,000 career kills in the process.

7. Prestonwood Christian (Texas), 33-1

The Lions notched two more victories this past week, and Macaria Spears racked up 31 combined kills for a team-leading 434 this season.

8. Bloomfield Hills Marian (Mich.), 35-1

Without Miss Volleyball finalist Ella Schomer and senior Reagan Sass, the Mustangs lost in the Beast of the East championship, their first defeat since September 2021.

9. Highland Park (Texas), 37-2

During their 15-match winning streak, the Scots have dropped just one set.

10. Marymount (Calif.), 30-6

The Sailors opened sectional pool play with a sweep of Huntington Beach.

11. Fayetteville (Ark.), 32-2

In a pair of straight-set wins this past week, Brooke Rockwell had a combined 32 kills, Madeline Lafata added 25 kills, Kennedy Phelan racked up 62 assists and 23 digs, and Ashley Ruff contributed 31 digs.

12. Hamilton Southeastern (Ind.), 30-1

The Royals reeled off three straight-set wins to claim a sectional title, with a potential regional final matchup against No. 3 McCutcheon looming this Saturday.

13. Tompkins (Texas), 34-3

The Falcons’ winning streak has reached 14 with just two regular-season matches remaining.

14. Sierra Canyon (Calif.), 30-4

The Trailblazers opened sectional pool play by beating Newport Harbor in straight sets, with a matchup against Marymount looming ahead.

15. Oconomowoc (Wis.), 34-1

Lilly Wagner dished out 30 assists, and Cordelia Kearns and Marlee Sivak both had 10 kills, as the Raccoons cruised to a straight-set victory in their regular-season finale.

16. Cypress Ranch (Texas), 39-2

The Mustangs have won 23 consecutive matches, dating back to an August defeat to No. 2 Cornerstone Christian.

17. St. Thomas Aquinas (Kan.), 33-2

Alea Goolsby notched 11 kills and Kelsey Schenck contributed 21 assists, as the Saints ended the regular season with a sweep of Olathe Northwest, which finished third in Class 6A last season.

18. Mother McAuley (Ill.), 32-3

A loss to Barrington in the semifinals of Glenbard East’s Autumnfest tournament resigned the Mighty Macs to a third-place finish.

19. Yorktown (Ind.), 31-2

The Tigers’ reward for winning their sectional is a regional semifinal matchup against 26-win Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory, one of the two teams to beat Yorktown this season.

20. ‘Iolani (Hawaii), 22-5

The Raiders beat rival Punahou twice to win the ILH Tournament and now have over a week off before the state tournament begins.

21. Dike-New Hartford (Iowa), 41-2

The Wolverines opened postseason play with a sweep to push their winning streak to 18 matches.

22. Mater Dei (Calif.), 28-7

The Monarchs opened sectional pool play with a four-set win over 19-win Palos Verdes, and they have a matchup against Mira Costa on the horizon.

23. Buford (Ga.), 34-5

State champions in Class 6A last season, the Wolves moved up to 7A this season and remain state title contenders, sweeping their first playoff match Tuesday.

24. Saint Francis (Calif.), 26-0

The Lancers have dropped just three sets all season after losing 12 matches last year.

25. St. James Academy, (Kan.), 31-3

The Thunder enter the postseason on a six-match winning streak but are in the same sub-state as No. 17 St. Thomas Aquinas.

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.

Ahead of her FIFA U-17 World Cup debut last week, Charlotte Kohler said she couldn’t wait to see her father, Will, after the match.

On Monday, Will was beaming.

With her father looking on during Monday’s match, Charlotte scored a brace to lead the United States to a 4-0 win over Morocco at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa, India, bringing her tournament total to a team-leading three goals as the Americans captured first place in Group A. Sam Smith also had a brace for the U.S. in her first U-17 cap.

The 2022 World Cup offers a unique generational story between Charlotte and Will. Thirty-one years ago, Will was a star midfielder on the U.S. U-17 men’s national team at the 1991 U-17 World Championship.

Now, Charlotte is carrying the torch.

“His experience was a little bit different because I had already played in Concacaf, whereas his was more of like a first-time thing going to the World Cup, which would be very intimidating, so our experiences were kind of different,” Charlotte said in an interview prior to the start of group play. “But we both shared the same gratitude toward the opportunity.

“He played a huge role in both me and my siblings. He’s just a great supporter. He comes to all my games, drives us all the long distances.”

Will went on to be a four-year letterwinner for the Harvard men’s soccer team and was a captain his senior year. Following his college career, he was selected fifteenth overall in the second round by the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in the 1997 MLS College Draft.

“We both are small, quick midfielders,” Charlotte said. “Everyone always says I’m scrappy, which is how he played, too, so I guess that’s similar.”

Will was all smiles while watching his daughter from the stands on Monday.

In the 24th minute, Charlotte got the scoring started on an assist from Melina Rebimbas to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead that held until halftime. Smith made her first appearance for the U.S. in the second half and found the back of the net in the 68th minute before Charlotte followed it up shortly thereafter with another goal in the 73rd minute. Smith capped the scoring in the 81st minute on a cross from Amalia Villarreal.

The win gives the U.S. the top spot in Group A after finishing with a plus-12 goal differential over second-place Brazil (plus-6). The two teams played to a 1-1 draw on Friday and finished atop the Group A table with seven points apiece. The U.S. will now turn its attention to a quarterfinal matchup with Nigeria on Friday, while Brazil takes on Group B winner Germany.

For the U.S., the victory clinched the its first return to the knockout stage since the inaugural tournament in 2008 when it finished runner-up to Korea DPR in New Zealand. It’s also the first time the U.S. has won its group.

Charlotte’s three goals are followed closely behind by Rebimbas, who has two goals. The U.S. opened the tournament with an 8-0 win over India, during which Gisele Thompson, whose sister Alyssa earned her first cap with the USWNT in a 2-1 friendly loss to England on Oct. 7, scored for the Americans.

The U.S. is captained by midfielder Riley Jackson, the reigning Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year.

The seventh edition of the U-17 World Cup was initially scheduled for 2020 but was then postponed due to COVID-19. The tournament features 16 teams from around the globe.

Trent Singer is the High School Editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow him on Twitter @trentsinger.

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.”

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.

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.

An undefeated season is quite the task, and Cathedral Catholic (Calif.) has taken it one step further. The Dons haven’t just lost a match this season; they haven’t dropped a set.

Cathedral Catholic has done so while winning the prestigious Durango Fall Classic, the Kamehameha Tournament and now the GEICO High School Volleyball Invitational this past weekend. To claim the title, Cathedral Catholic defeated Ponte Vedra, runner-up in Florida’s highest classification last season, and Nebraska powerhouse Papillion-LaVista South.

The Dons are led by Stanford commit Julia Blyashov, the No. 3 recruit in the nation, but talent is sprinkled across the roster with six more Division I commits — senior Noemie Glover (Oregon), senior outside hitters Cate Schell (Tennessee) and Milan Bayless (Colgate), senior middle blocker Ryleigh Patterson (Harvard), junior middle blocker Jenna Hanes (Michigan) and junior setter Amanda Saeger (DePaul).

A few more regular-season matches remain before the most important tournament begins, as Cathedral Catholic eyes a state title and tries to maintain its unblemished set record.

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

1. Cathedral Catholic (Calif.), 32-0

Coming off the GEICO title, the Dons won twice more Tuesday and Wednesday.

2. Bloomfield Hills Marian (Mich.), 28-0

The Mustangs have over a week off before they return to action at the Beast of the East tournament.

3. Cornerstone Christian (Texas), 54-2

The Warriors returned to the court with a three-set sweep Tuesday, pushing their winning streak to 18 matches. Two of those victories came against top-25 teams.

4. McCutcheon (Ind.), 29-1

After notching 28 kills over three matches to lead the Mavericks to a conference tournament title, senior Chloe Chicoine learned she was one of 27 players selected to compete at the Under Armour Next All-America game.

5. Mira Costa (Calif.), 32-3

Fresh off a second-place finish at the Tournament of Champions Southwest, the Mustangs went 6-0 at the Molten Power Classic, beating Redondo Union in the championship.

6. Westminster Christian (Fla.), 20-0

The Warriors may not play the type of national schedule that other top-10 teams face, but they defeated Cornerstone Christian and have dropped just three sets all season.

7. Prestonwood Christian (Texas), 31-1

Since a loss to Cornerstone Christian, Prestonwood has reeled off 19 victories in a row.

8. Washburn Rural (Kan.), 30-1

The Junior Blues just continue to win, claiming the Derby Tournament title with six wins Saturday before notching three more victories Tuesday to stretch their unbeaten streak to 29 matches.

9. Highland Park (Texas), 35-2

The Scots continue to roll in district play, and their winning streak has reached 13 matches.

10. Marymount (Calif.), 28-6

Torrey Stafford recorded 20 kills, Alexa Trapani had 26 digs and Lauren Brooker racked up 49 assists in the Sailors’ four-set league win over Alemany on Tuesday.

11. Fayetteville (Ark.), 30-2

The Bulldogs have three more regular-season matches remaining before their quest for a third consecutive state title begins in earnest.

12. Hamilton Southeastern (Ind.), 27-1

The Royals’ path to a Class 4A state title begins Thursday with a sectional matchup against 22-win Carmel, which eliminated Hamilton Southeastern last year.

13. Tompkins (Texas), 32-3

The Falcons’ winning streak has reached 12 matches with a handful of regular-season contests remaining.

14. Mother McAuley (Ill.), 26-2

The Mighty Macs flexed their muscles with a sweep of 24-win De La Salle on Tuesday, winning both sets without giving up more than 12 points.

15. Sierra Canyon (Calif.), 29-4

After losing to Marymount last week, the Trailblazers ended the regular season on a high note with three consecutive wins.

16. Oconomowoc (Wis.), 33-1

Cordelia Kearns notched 18 kills, and Lilly Wagner added 37 assists in a four-set victory last week to conclude conference play. The Raccoons now wrap up regular-season play Thursday.

17. Cypress Ranch (Texas), 37-2

With two more victories, the Mustangs’ winning streak has reached 21 matches.

18. Assumption (Ky.), 28-6

Whitney Woodrow had 61 assists, Kristen Simon added 34 digs and Emma Barnett had a team-high 20 kills in the Rockets’ five-set victory over Mercy, last year’s state runner-up. Assumption followed that up with a win Tuesday on Senior Night.

19. Santa Fe (Fla.), 21-1

State champions last season, the Raiders’ winning streak is at 14 matches, and they’ve dropped just four sets all season.

20. St. Thomas Aquinas (Kan.), 32-3

The Saints defeated four teams, including three with 20 or more wins, to claim a tournament title this past weekend.

21. ‘Iolani (Hawaii), 20-5

Maya Imoto-Eakin racked up 61 assists as the Raiders beat rival Punahou, avenging a loss from earlier this season.

22. Dike-New Hartford (Iowa), 39-2

The Wolverines wrap up the regular season Thursday and then turn their attention to the postseason.

23. Mater Dei (Calif.), 27-7

The Monarchs have depth across the board. They have two players with more than 200 kills, two players with more than 300 assists and two players with more than 200 digs.

24. Liberty (Mo.), 29-1

The Blue Jays’ sole blemish is a loss to St. Thomas Aquinas.

25. Yorktown (Ind.), 28-2

The future is bright for the Tigers, who are the only team to have beaten McCutcheon this season and have sophomores leading the team in kills (Charlotte Vinson, 363) and digs (Addi Applegate, 354).

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.

When she was 9 years old, Sam Gordon just wanted to play football.

She didn’t plan on becoming a viral YouTube star. But that’s exactly what happened. In 2012, she was thrust into the national spotlight when her father, Brent, uploaded a highlight reel of her running roughshod all over the field during a youth football game, with the football tucked tightly under her arm and her blonde ponytail peeking out of the back of her helmet.

Run after run, little Sam juked defenders out of their cleats, broke tackles and sprinted her way to the end zone.

“When I first stepped on the football field, I didn’t think anything of it — that I was a girl doing something or I was gonna change the world by making this play,” Sam, now 19, says. “I just loved playing football and that was it going forward, too.

“When I look back at it in hindsight, I see how little there was with girls’ involvement in football and that it was such a story because nobody had seen a girl playing against the boys yet.”

Three days later, the video had amassed almost five million views and Sam became known as “Sweet Feet.” She appeared on ESPN, Good Morning America and other nationally televised programs. She was featured in Sports Illustrated and on the cover of the Wheaties cereal box — an honor reserved for superstar athletes like Michael Jordan and Serena Williams. Sam even attended Super Bowl XLVII as a special guest of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and she rubbed elbows with numerous celebrities and professional athletes, including Carli Lloyd, Shaq, Rebel Wilson and Snoop Dogg.

Now a sophomore at Columbia University, Sam is living a life that looks a lot like that of an average student. She’s majoring in film, playing on the soccer team and navigating the rigors of college. It’s been a decade since her viral video, giving her time to sit back and reflect on that period in her life, how the experience has shaped her and, in turn, how she has made a lasting impact on the evolution of women’s tackle football.

Breaking the mold

Brent Gordon saw firsthand how damaging gender stereotypes could be when friends and people in their local community actively discouraged his ex-wife from pursuing a career in accounting. Living in a conservative area of Utah, Brent knew she was being treated differently because she was a woman. And it stuck with him.

When his daughter was born, they decided to give her a gender neutral name. “I was intentional about that because I wanted to make sure that whatever she wanted to do, she could do,” Brent says.

Years later, after a divorce, Brent took on the role of single dad and used sports to pass the time and keep his kids busy. They’d eat dinner together before heading out to the yard, where games of football became a regular occurrence. Eventually, Sam inquired about playing on a team.

“When she asked me, ‘Hey, can I go play football,’ I was actually excited about it because I thought, ‘You know what, I think she can f— the other kids up,” says Brent with a wide grin. “And I think it’d be awesome. I really did. I thought she could. … She could show people that she could do just as well as anyone else.”

At first, Brent started filming highlights of Sam himself, just for fun. Through word of mouth, he discovered a company that would film them for him. Each week, he’d put together clips of Sam and post them on YouTube. At the most, he thought he’d get 25,000 or 30,000 views. He never anticipated going viral.

“The first three or four months after the video blew up, there was an intense amount of activity going on,” Brent says. “Especially for the first month, I only think [Sam] slept on her own maybe two or three nights. But she was loving it. She was having a blast, doing all these fun things and going to different events. And then it started to slow down for the next few months, and then at the end of the spring, it basically died out.”

“I still remember having a talk with my dad, and there was a chance to go to New York for another interview and I was just like, ‘Noooo.’ Like, I don’t want to do another one of these,” Sam says. “So there were times when it was a lot, but overall, I found it very fun.”

For the most part, Sam’s moment in the limelight had been a good experience. Aside from a few YouTube comments from men twice her age saying they could “destroy her on the field,” the response was positive and affirming.

But when football season rolled around again, Sam felt the shift. In her first season, she scored 25 touchdowns and had 10 extra point conversions. She ran for 1,911 yards (8.2 yards per carry) and racked up 65 tackles. She felt pressured to keep the momentum going, and every time she had the ball in her hands, she wanted to make a big play.

“When I came back that next season, I definitely had a target on my back. It was a whole different level,” Sam says. “That first year, it was my ponytail and that was what set me apart. And the next year it was like, ‘That’s the girl that’s famous and that’s the one that was making the highlight reel, so we need to go crush her.’”

Even though she was still having fun playing football, Sam says it was stressful at times. No matter how many touchdowns she scored, how many yards she gained or how many tackles she made, she felt she had to keep proving that girls could play, too, and that it all rested on her tiny shoulders.

Not long after Sam’s viral video and others that followed, parents would continuously come up to Brent and ask him how their daughters could get involved in football. Those conversations stuck with him.

He knew the interest for girls wanting to play was there. He just had no idea how much there actually was.

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Gordon burst onto the football scene against boys at age 9.
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(Photos courtesy of Brent Gordon and Larry Gordon)

The dawn of a new league

In March 2015, 12-year-old Sam spoke at a local Utah middle school assembly and asked if there were any girls in the audience who wanted to play football.

“I was there with her,” Brent says. “It seemed like almost every hand went up.”

At the time, Brent knew that Crys Sacco — a former semi-pro women’s football player and middle school football coach — was interested in starting a girls’ tackle football league in Utah. The day after the assembly, Brent called Sacco and told him that Sam could help promote and market the league.

Sacco was in.

Together, Brent and Sacco set up the non-profit organization, created a website and put together a board of directors. They hired coaches, ordered jerseys and equipment and scheduled playing fields. In May 2015, they held their first tryouts for the Utah Girls Tackle Football League. There were only four teams and 50 open roster spots available, but they filled up in a single week.

“I get the credit for founding [the Utah Girls Tackle Football League], but it was also my dad and some other people who had been wanting to start a league for a while,” Sam says. “And it was such a quick turnaround.”

Today, the UGTFL is thriving. The league is comprised of 34 teams, with over 600 players and four divisions: third and fourth grade, fifth and sixth grade, seventh and eighth grade, and high school.

“The Utah Girls Tackle Football League wouldn’t be what it is without Brent and Sam. I love them dearly,” says Sacco, who recently stepped down as league president but still serves as a coach and an active board member. “Brent has been a mentor, and Sam has been paving the way for girls’ and women’s football since she was 9 years old.”

This past summer, the UGTFL got another boost when Under Armour stepped in to partner with Sam and the league as a sponsor and to develop the first football cleat designed specifically for girls.

“The women’s Blur Smoke Cleat that all the girls in our league were wearing this last season is amazing,” Sam says. “It’s been great to have your own and not have to wear a soccer cleat or a baseball cleat to find one that fits. And it also shows that you are meant to play this game, that you have a cleat that’s provided for you, women’s football.”

Some companies and brands are quick to jump on the women’s sports bandwagon on social media, lending their support with statements and catchy phrases. But both Sam and Brent say Under Armour is taking that next step by putting action behind its words.

“When Under Armour came out and said, ‘We want to support you,’ it was like, we kept getting, ‘No, no, no,’ from everyone. To finally have someone to say, ‘We’re here and we’re on your side,’ that meant a lot to me,” Brent says.

He knew Under Armour wasn’t just going to put Sam in a commercial and call it a day. They were going to support the league by providing uniforms, front some of the operating costs and facilitate getting the championship games played at the University of Utah — just like the boys.

Under Armour also helped organize two girls’ tackle football summer camps, one in California and the other in Utah, each for 100 participants. Both were fully attended.

For Sam, it’s yet another affirmation that girls’ tackle football is growing and evolving.

“It isn’t known that football is a sport that women/girls can play. It’s difficult to battle the stereotypes that go hand-in-hand with women and contact/physical sports,” she says. “You have people who are pushing against it sometimes, like those YouTube comments. And you’ve got to not look towards those but find like-minded people who are willing to fight the fight and get to that next level.”

“All the time, I tell Sam this, ‘You know, we don’t need to change people’s opinions,” Brent adds. “What we need to do is find people who already agree with us.’ And that’s what we’re doing.”

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(Photo courtesy of Under Armour)

The ongoing fight for women’s football

Sam never imagined having to give up playing tackle football. But after graduating high school, she didn’t have much of a choice. Sam aged out of the UGTFL, and there’s no option to play women’s tackle football at Columbia — nor at any college or university. Joining a semi-pro league would cost money and require a generous time commitment, two things a college student can’t readily afford.

“I miss [football] so much, I joined the rugby team,” Sam says. “It’s such an untapped opportunity.”

Sam Rapoport, NFL senior director of diversity, equality and inclusion and a UGTFL board member, is actively invested in growing women’s football and providing opportunities for women to become involved in football through NFL programs. She views the lack of a sustainable and consistent pipeline as a glaring issue.

“The problem is that girls growing up don’t get to see the future of the sport and what they could do with it,” Rapoport says. “Girls’ tackle football needs to be further legitimized. Girls need to play it across the entire country. It needs to be a high school sport, which would then lead into all divisions of college football so girls could get college scholarships — not just in NAIA but other places as well — and then that would ultimately lead up to women’s professional or semi-professional.”

Brent agrees. It’s part of the reason why he filed a Title IX lawsuit against the Utah School District in 2017.

“Our goal from Day 1, and it might sound a little far-fetched, but for real, when we started the lawsuit in 2017, the goal was to create a pipeline,” he says. “Our goal is to see girls have high school football teams, then college football teams, and now you’ve got a pipeline to fill talent on a professional league roster.”

The lawsuit stipulates that the Utah School District is in violation of Title IX because they do not offer the same athletic opportunities for girls at the high school level as they do for boys. What it comes down to, Brents says, aren’t the number of sports available but the number of participants across the board.

“So you have football over here. And some of these boys’ high school football rosters are 120 to 140 deep,” he says. “And then say you have girls’ golf on the other side, and you only have eight to 12 participants. That doesn’t comply with Title IX. And I knew that.”

The solution, Brent told the Utah School District, is to offer girls’ tackle football.

“They were like, ‘No, we’re going to pass,’ so I sued them,” he says.

Under Title IX and the equal protection clause, Brent is confident they can mandate the district to offer girls’ football. Arguments in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals — on whether Utah schools can avoid liability for Title IX by being part of a high school activities association but refusing to sanction girls’ tackle football — began the first week of October. A decision is expected to be reached in three months to one year.

In the meantime, the UGTFL soldiers on as one of the few girls’ tackle football leagues in the country. And Brent continues the fight for equality, as both the proud father of a football phenom and a women’s sports advocate.

As for Sam, she’s focused on enjoying college. Her time in the spotlight was exciting, but she learned at such a young and vulnerable age to not let it define her.

Not long after the highlight video went viral, Sam began uploading other clips to YouTube showing her hanging out with friends, telling stories and being a goofy teenager. She wanted the world to know she was more than just a ponytailed kid in a football helmet. The balance helped her navigate her sudden fame and kept her grounded.

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(Photo courtesy of Under Armour)

“She didn’t set out to be this pioneer or anything like that. She just wanted to play the sport that she loved. But she is that for people — she is the pioneer that started the girls’ tackle football movement,” Rapoport says. “And in 10, 15, 20, 100 years, when girls are finally playing tackle football in leagues that have been created to give them the opportunity, it will be because of Sam.”

Even though Sam isn’t able to play tackle football anymore, she’s still looking for a way to be a part of the sport and its continuing evolution. But much like a Hail Mary pass, what that means for her in the future is up in the air.

“I’ve definitely thought about staying involved with football, and I don’t know what route that is,” she says. “One of the reasons I’m picking film [for my major] is being a sports broadcaster or something like that, where I’m getting to be involved in the game and still be in a space where there needs to be more women involved. Coaching and all that might be on the plate.

“I’m still figuring it out.”

Lyndsey D’Arcangelo is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports, covering the WNBA and college basketball. She also contributes to The Athletic and is the co-author of “Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women’s Football League.” Follow Lyndsey on Twitter @darcangel21.

Prospects in the Class of 2024 are set to embark on a new chapter of high school basketball as they enter their junior seasons.

Coaches from the nation’s top programs have had an eye on these recruits for quite some time. Just Women’s Sports presents the first round of recruiting rankings for the 2024 girls basketball prospects, a mere two seasons away from joining the college ranks.

Click here to see the latest top-25 rankings from the Class of 2023.

1 | Joyce Edwards, Camden (S.C.)
6-foot-2 forward

Edwards is the reigning USA TODAY HSSA Girls Rising Star of the Year and is a fixture on the court for both Camden and AAU powerhouse FBC United. Edwards can navigate her way around the rim better than any member of her class. During this summer’s Under Armour Association Finals, she ensured that FBC United advanced to the championship by standing out in a crowd of many of the most elite players in the high school ranks.

2 | Olivia Olson, Benilde Saint Margaret (Minn.)
6-foot point guard

Olson is the only player on this list with a verbal commitment. Sold on Kim Barnes-Arico’s vision after a Labor Day visit, Olson is one of the highest-ranking commits in Michigan women’s basketball history. She chose the Wolverines over UConn, Duke, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Oregon, Stanford, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.

3 | Jaloni Cambridge, The Ensworth School (Tenn.)
5-6 point guard

Another FBC United standout, Cambridge was named National Sophomore of the Year by MaxPreps after averaging 17.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Cambridge started every game this summer for the U17 national team, leading the squad with 16 points and nine assists in the gold-medal game.

4 | Kendall Dudley, Sidwell Friends School (District of Columbia)
6-1 wing

Kiki Rice, Jadyn Donovan and now Dudley. A member of this summer’s inaugural Team Durant Girls 17U roster, Dudley is among the star upperclassmen for Sidwell’s powerhouse program. Those who followed the Quakers’ undefeated run will remember her 18-point, eight-rebound performance at the inaugural State Champions Invitational in April. She also served on this past year’s Jr. NBA Court of Leaders.

5 | Taliyah Parker, South Grand Prairie (Texas)
6-1 guard

Parker is a new addition to South Grand Prairie this year after transferring from Putnam City West (Okla.). One of the most versatile guards in her class, she has offers from 30 schools around the country, including from each of the Power 5 conferences.

6 | Kiyomi McMiller, Life Center Academy (N.J.)
5-7 point guard

Originally from the talent-packed DMV area, McMiller has an unmatched handle as a rising junior. During her sophomore season, she backed it up with 27.1 points per game. Her speed and ball awareness are already advanced, and wherever she lands at the next level will be able to use her unique skill set right away. McMiller’s creativity as a guard separates her from competitors and high-level recruits alike.

7 | Sarah Strong, Grace Academy (N.C.)
6-2 forward

What a year it’s been for Strong, who won a Class 1A state title with Grace Academy in the 2021-22 season. During that campaign, she averaged a double-double with 25.5 points and 17.6 rebounds per game while shooting 42 percent from the 3-point line. The daughter of Danny Strong, the former NC State star and international player, and Allison Feaster — who played in the WNBA for the Charlotte Sting, Los Angeles Sparks and Indiana Fever — is having a tremendous 2022, having also won a gold medal with the Team USA U18 3×3 squad in August.

8 | Adhel Tac, South Grand Prairie (Texas)
6-5 post

Another formidable member on the South Grand Prairie roster, Tac is the total package — her height is only a fraction of what makes her an intriguing prospect. On both ends of the court, the paint belongs to her. In Tac’s sophomore season, she averaged 14.1 points per game on 63.4 percent shooting.

9 | Blanca Thomas, Charlotte Catholic (N.C.)
6-5 post

Thomas possesses both size and skill. As a sophomore, she averaged a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds per game. Her hustle and dominance beneath the rim have earned her plenty of attention, but in late August, she narrowed her list of schools to 10: Duke, Louisville, Michigan, North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Stanford, Tennessee and Virginia Tech.

10 | Britt Prince, Elkhorn North (Neb.)
5-11 point guard

Prince also runs on the cross country and track and field teams, excelling in both sports. Countless athletes benefit from playing multiple sports, but endurance goes a long way on the basketball court. In 2021-22, Prince helped lead Elkhorn North to its second straight state title, averaging 24.1 points, seven rebounds, 4.3 assists and 4.4 steals per game and shooting 40.4 percent from beyond the arc and 83.7 percent from the charity stripe. Oh, and she also picked up a state title in the 800m with a time of 2 minutes, 17.43 seconds.

11 | Allie Ziebell, Neenah (Wis.)
5-10 guard

This summer, AAU team Wisconsin Flight Elite took home the 17U Nike Girls EYBL Louisville title after Ziebell dropped a 30-piece on 10-of-12 shooting. Ziebell is a pure shooter, unafraid of tough defenders. During her sophomore season, no girls’ basketball player in the entire state of Wisconsin averaged as many points as she did (30.2 points per game).

12 | Jordan Lee, Saint Mary’s (Calif.)
6-3 forward

Lee is often first in line to celebrate with her teammates, but there’s a lot to appreciate about her game. She’s one of the best players California has to offer, and last season she averaged 18.1 points and seven rebounds per game. A multi-sport athlete, Lee also holds her school’s track and field records in the 800m (2:17.03) and the 1600m (5:02.75).

13 | Kennedy Smith, Etiwanda (Calif.)
6-2 wing

Etiwanda consistently develops top talent with its emphasis on work ethic and embracing tough competition, and Smith exemplifies that. When she was younger, Smith operated in the post. However, as she’s expanded her skill set over the first half of her high school career, she’s adjusted. She can succeed anywhere her team needs her. Smith demonstrated that last year when she averaged 18.7 points, 9.3 rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks per game as Etiwanda went 29-1.

14 | Mikayla Blakes, Rutgers Prep (N.J.)
5-9 guard

Named to the Skyland Conference’s 2021 All-Division First Team in cross country, Blakes will give any player on the East Coast a run for their money, and she’ll most likely outrun them, too. On the court for Rutgers Prep, Blakes averaged more than 18 points and four rebounds over 32 games in her sophomore season. Guard skills run in the family, as she’s the younger sister of Duke guard Jaylen Blakes.

15 | Maddy McDaniel, Bishop McNamara (Md.)
5-8 point guard

An honorable mention to The Washington Post’s 2021-22 Winter All-Met Team, the deft McDaniel impacts games with her ability to facilitate against even the stiffest of competition in the DMV region. After she received an invitation to participate in Steph Curry’s summer camp and the UA Next Elite 24 game, it’s obvious that McDaniel is on the rise.

16 | Liv McGill, Hopkins (Minn.)
5-7 point guard

McGill is the next elite point guard to step up for Hopkins, and she’s equipped with all the necessary skills. A vocal leader with a relentless defensive motor, McGill runs the game with a level of enthusiasm that goes above and beyond most.

17 | Toby Lee Fournier, Crestwood Secondary (Ontario, Canada)
6-2 forward

In Team Canada’s U17 World Cup game against Korea, Fournier turned in a double-double of 32 points and 17 rebounds. She also had five assists, three steals and two blocks, not to mention a now-viral dunk after one of those steals. Fournier was a consistent contributor to the eventual fourth-place team.

18 | Katie Fiso, Garfield (Wash.)
5-10 point guard

Fiso handles business on defense and leads the charge at the point. She always seems to be one step ahead of her competition. As a sophomore, Fiso led Garfield to a Class 3A state championship.

19 | Mackenly Randolph, Sierra Canyon (Calif.)
6-1 forward

During her time with this summer’s Team USA U17 gold-medal team, Randolph finished with a team-high 60 percent three-point shooting percentage. She averaged 9.3 points and 5.6 rebounds across seven games for the national team. Randolph is also the daughter of two-time NBA All-Star Zach Randolph, who spent 18 years in the league. A true student of the Southern California basketball scene, Randolph played for Team Mamba, which was coached by the late Kobe Bryant.

20 | Justice Carlton, Seven Lakes (Texas)
6-2 forward

Carlton is truly a well-rounded forward. In her sophomore season for Seven Lakes, Carlton averaged 25.5 points and 2.9 blocks per game. She’s an effective scorer from all over the court, whether she’s behind the arc or driving into traffic beneath the rim.

21 | Kennedy Ume, McDonogh School (Md.)
6-4 forward

Ume was named a finalist for the U16 Team in 2021 but didn’t ultimately make a national team roster until this summer, when she won gold in Hungary after averaging 6.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game with the U17 team. She also totaled 10 steals across seven games.

22 | Kate Koval, Long Island Lutheran (N.Y.)
6-5 post

Born in Kyiv, Koval helped Ukraine’s U18 3×3 team to the quarterfinals this summer. Koval is a strong, physical big with a high ceiling. Last season, she averaged a double-double with 18.7 points and 12 rebounds for Long Island Lutheran.

23 | Morgan Cheli, Archbishop Mitty (Calif.)
6-2 guard

Cheli is a disruptive guard who’s managed to make a name for herself both in Northern California at the storied Archbishop Mitty High School and on the global stage. In July, she joined her high school coach, Sue Phillips, and led the gold-medal U17 national team in steals, averaging 3 per game.

24 | Zamareya Jones, North Pitt (N.C.)
5-7 point guard

The third FBC United star in this round of recruiting rankings, Jones is a bold shooter who happens to score on most of her attempts. During her sophomore season at North Pitt, she averaged 24.3 points per game while shooting 61 percent from the field. Her social media bios all read “Heart over Height,” and those who have seen her play can attest to that fact.

25 | Tajianna Roberts, La Jolla Country Day (Calif.)
5-10 guard

A standout guard for hoops powerhouse La Jolla Country Day, Roberts is used to playing against high-level players. She averaged 14 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while sharing the spotlight with 2023 standouts Breya Cunningham and Jada Williams. Roberts is a focused defender with a smooth shot and a high basketball IQ. She’s also the only player on this list to have delivered a TED Talk.

Caroline Makauskas is a contributing writer for Just Women’s Sports. She also writes about college basketball for Blue Ribbon Sports and covers a variety of sports on her TikTok @cmakauskas. Follow her on Twitter @cmakauskas.

On Wednesday, Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder received a phone call that upended her world.

Iowa commit Ava Jones, who survived a car crash in July in Louisville, had an MRI scan that revealed more about the seriousness of her injuries, leaving the future of her playing career in serious jeopardy, according to a report from The Gazette.

“I doubt she will ever play basketball again,” Bluder told the newspaper.

The MRI scans revealed that Jones had torn all four major ligaments in both of her knees.

“I can’t believe she was walking,” Bluder told Iowa’s Presidential Committee on Athletics on Thursday. “The doctor said, ‘I’ve never seen a person come in here with four torn ligaments in a knee and not be crying.’”

On July 5, an impaired driver drove onto the sidewalk in downtown Louisville and hit Jones and her family, leaving Ava and both of her parents in critical condition at the UofL Hospital. Her father, Trey, passed away several days following the accident, while her mother, Amy, also suffered serious injuries.

In August, Ava and Amy returned to their home in Kansas to rehabilitate at an outpatient facility in Wichita. Then, in September, the family, along with friends and loved ones, held a memorial service to honor the life of Trey. He was 42 years old.

The family was hit by driver Michael Hurley, 33, who was high on hydrocodone. Hurley was charged with one count of murder, two counts of first-degree aggravated assault, one count of fourth-degree aggravated assault and operating a vehicle while under the influence.

According to Bluder, doctors still are “really working on her brain improvement.”

The Hawkeyes program already has committed to honoring Ava’s scholarship, regardless of whether or not she’s able to step back onto the court again.

“She’s still somebody that we are going to have as a part of our program because we believe in her,” Bluder told The Gazette. “She committed to us, and just because she had something bad happen to her doesn’t mean that we turn our back on her. We’ll be there for her and her family as much as we can.”

A GoFundMe page has raised more than $157,000 for the family, with many of the donations coming from Iowa’s loyal fanbase.

“The Hawkeye nation has been amazing helping that family,” Bluder said. “So it’s very appreciated.”

Jones, who starred at Nickerson High School and led the program to its third final four appearance in five years, had initially committed to Arizona State, but following the retirement of coach Charli Turner Thorne, she reopened her recruitment. She later announced her commitment to Iowa. She is listed as the 83rd recruit in the Class of 2023 by ESPN.

Trent Singer is the High School Editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow him on Twitter @trentsinger.

On a hot, sunny day last weekend in Phoenix, Nayeli Gonzalez slipped on headphones to line dance in a gymnasium packed for a premier high school volleyball tournament.

“Everyone looks at us,” Gonzalez said. “We do it every tournament.”

It may bewilder opponents, but the warmup works. The Cornerstone Christian (Texas) Warriors, who are ranked No. 3 in the latest Just Women’s Sports volleyball team rankings, won the tournament, defeating Mira Costa 2-1 (25-23, 26-28, 15-8) in the championship match. Gonzalez, a 6-foot-2 senior outside hitter, finished with 65 kills and 21 blocks, earning JWS Player of the Week honors along the way.

So far this season, she’s recorded 533 kills, averaging 4.4 per set, with a kill percentage of 51.6 and a hitting percentage of .380.

“She’s a security blanket. You know what you’re going to get,” Cornerstone Christian coach Mike Carter said. “You know she’s going to deliver, along with her teammates, and give us an opportunity to be successful in every match.”

Gonzalez started volleyball in sixth grade at the request of her older sister.

“She made me practice,” Gonzalez said about her sister. “I actually struggled a lot with passing. I’d get upset with her. I’d tell her I don’t want to play. She’d tell me, ‘You have to do it.’”

In two short years, things started to change. Gonzalez moved to a bigger club, realizing volleyball was her sport. One year later, she envisioned herself as a Division I college athlete.

Next year, she’ll make her childhood dream a reality. She has committed to play at Iowa State University. Gonzalez has a big family, and when she began searching for the right college program, she wanted a family-like atmosphere. Early in the recruiting process, the Iowa State volleyball staff welcomed the Gonzalez family with open arms.

“They took such good care of my siblings,” Gonzalez said. “They were sweet and patient with them. They’re just loving, and I felt I would be at home there.”

In just two weeks, Gonzalez’ high school career will end. On Oct. 8, she’ll take the court one last time as a Warrior, and in the time she has left, she hopes to leave a legacy that extends beyond the boundaries of the court.

“I want to finish it off with everyone knowing I love them, and I had the best four years of my life here,” Gonzalez said. “As soon as that game finishes, I hope they think of me and be like, ‘Hey, she was the one who helped me through this. She had that energy, she had that spunk, she had the mentality for us to keep going.’”

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

Marymount volleyball’s season has been anything but predictable.

Coming off an undefeated season, the Sailors checked in at No. 2 in the first Just Women’s Sports team rankings of the 2022 season. Then they lost four of their first 14 matches, including their first Mission League defeat in five years.

Suddenly, the Sailors were unranked heading into the prestigious Durango Fall Classic tournament, and that’s when the turnaround began.

Behind the all-tournament play of outside hitters Torrey Stafford and Kate Martin and libero Lexi Trapani, the Sailors finished second — their sole blemish was a loss to top-ranked Cathedral Catholic.

The Sailors nabbed another top-three tournament finish this past weekend at the Tournament of Champions Southwest, losing to No. 3 Cornerstone Christian in the semifinals. Since that 10-4 start, Marymount has won 17 of its last 19 matches, and this Tuesday, it avenged that Mission League defeat to Sierra Canyon with a four-set victory over the Trailblazers.

Marymount has the talent to make a postseason run with Pittsburgh-bound Stafford and Trapani, a Santa Clara commit, but just to get back to this point has been an accomplishment after the Sailors lost five Division I players from last year’s roster.

Thanks to their hot play and strenuous schedule, which includes four wins over ranked opponents, Marymount checks in at No. 10 in the latest JWS rankings, rising three spots.

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

1. Cathedral Catholic (Calif.), 28-0

The Dons notched a three-set sweep Tuesday and still haven’t dropped a set, with the GEICO Girls Volleyball Invitational looming this weekend.

2. Bloomfield Hills Marian (Mich.), 28-0

The Mustangs celebrated Senior Night with a three-set sweep Wednesday.

3. Cornerstone Christian (Texas), 53-2

After finishing second at Tournament of Champions Southeast earlier this season, Cornerstone Christian got its TOC title, beating Marymount and Mira Costa en route to the Southwest crown.

4. McCutcheon (Ind.), 26-1

The Mavericks won on back-to-back nights as Chloe Chicoine accumulated 30 combined kills between the two matches.

5. Westminster Christian (Fla.), 14-0

The Warriors have dropped just three sets all season and continued to roll with two more sweeps this past week.

6. Prestonwood Christian (Texas), 30-1

The Lions have more than a week off to prepare for the final month of regular-season play.

7. Mira Costa (Calif.), 25-3

The Mustangs tested themselves against top-tier competition at TOC Southwest, beating some of the top teams from Arizona and Nevada. They defeated Mater Dei in the semifinals and won a set off Cornerstone Christian before falling in the championship.

8. Washburn Rural (Kan.), 20-1

The Junior Blues won the Centennial League Championship this past weekend, with coach Kevin Bordewick picking up his 1,000th win in the process. They followed it up with a win over a solid Olathe Northwest team on Wednesday.

9. Highland Park (Texas), 33-2

Since falling to Prestonwood Christian on Aug. 27, the Scots have not dropped a set.

10. Marymount (Calif.), 27-6

Two-thirds of the Sailors’ losses have come against teams ranked in the top 10.

11. Fayetteville (Ark.), 28-2

The Bulldogs suffered their second defeat of the season this past weekend, falling to Liberty North at the Blue Springs South Invitational, but they finished 4-1 on the day.

12. Tompkins (Texas), 30-2

The Falcons picked up two more district wins, with Cindy Tchouangwa notching 21 kills and Tendai Titley adding 15 in a four-set victory Friday.

13. Hamilton Southeastern (Ind.), 26-1

After their regular-season finale, the Royals will turn their attention to the postseason.

14. St. James Academy (Kan.), 23-1

The Thunder won the Janice Van Gorp Volleyball Classic and then added two more wins Tuesday.

15. Mother McAuley (Ill.), 24-2

The Mighty Macs lost a rematch against Assumption but bounced back to win the prestigious ASICS Challenge tournament for the first time since 2016.

16. Sierra Canyon (Calif.), 26-4

After beating reigning state champion Marymount earlier this season, Sierra Canyon lost the rematch Tuesday.

17. Oconomowoc (Wis.), 32-1

Lilly Wagner racked up 32 assists as the Raccoons cruised to a three-set sweep Tuesday and stretched their winning streak to 26 matches.

18. Cypress Ranch (Texas), 35-2

Bianna Muoneke is one of the nation’s leaders in kills with nearly 600, and the Mustangs haven’t lost since August.

19. Santa Fe (Fla.), 14-1

Following an extended break due to Hurricane Ian, Santa Fe returned to action Tuesday with a victory in straight sets.

20. Assumption (Ky.), 26-6

The Rockets avenged a loss to Mother McAuley but couldn’t keep the momentum going in tournament play, losing twice in the ASICS Challenge.

21. Benet Academy (Ill.), 20-1

The Redwings dropped the first set but bounced back to defeat reigning Nebraska state champion Skutt Catholic in a tight three-set match.

22. ‘Iolani (Hawaii), 19-5

The Raiders end the regular season one win shy of 20, but with victories over California powerhouses Sierra Canyon and Redondo Union.

23. Dike-New Hartford (Iowa), 28-2

Payton Petersen leads the Wolverines with 258 kills and is second with 174 digs, while her twin, Jadyn Petersen, has a team-high 189 digs and ranks second on the team with 175 kills.

24. Mater Dei (Calif.), 24-7

The Monarchs snagged fourth place at the TOC Southwest tournament and now look to finish the regular season on a high note.

25. Liberty North (Mo.), 26-1

The Blue Jays are new entrants into the top 25, with sisters Ashley and Abigail Mullen leading the way. Ashley, a senior, has 762 assists and is averaging nearly 10 per set, and Abigail, a sophomore, has a team-high 294 kills.

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.

Ask anyone who knows her best — Jaden Polovina is exceptional.

A 5-foot-9 star setter at Crowley High School (Texas), Polovina has been the heart and soul for an Eagles volleyball team that’s off to a 19-11 start in 2022, amassing a team-leading 844 assists along the way. She’s one of two seniors for Crowley and has been a captain the last two seasons, a credit to the tireless work ethic she brings to everything she does.

But perhaps what makes Jaden most unique are the very hands she uses to set the ball.

Polovina was born with deformities in her hands. She has nine fingers. Her two pointer fingers are bent, neither of her thumbs have joints and her left hand has a middle finger and a ring finger that are conjoined into one.

At a young age, Polovina quickly learned to adapt and was rather oblivious to the fact that her hands were different from everyone else’s.

“I just thought, ‘I’m me,’ and I dealt with it in my own way,” she said. “I’ve never known what it’s like to have 10 fingers, so everything I did, I was just kind of learning like a regular child. With my fingers, it didn’t really bother me much. I just never really paid attention to them.

“I didn’t think it was that big of a deal because I’ve never known any other way on how to deal with my fingers.”

Polovina was about 7 years old when she first began playing volleyball. Her parents wanted her to be involved in a sport of some sort, so after gauging her interest in softball, soccer, basketball and dance, Polovina began playing volleyball on a YMCA team.

“We were called the Rainbow Ballers, it was the cutest thing ever,” Polovina said. “I was a [defensive specialist] on that team. When you’re 7, you don’t really have a position, but I was a DS.”

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Polovina is one of two seniors for Crowley and has been a captain the last two seasons. (Marshall Gardner/Cowtown Images)

By the age of 13, Polovina had been exposed to volleyball only through her YMCA and school teams. One day, a suggestion by her coaches to join a club program piqued her interest. Polovina and her parents were unfamiliar with the club scene, but they found DFW Elite and decided to have her try out. She was in tears when she discovered she’d made the top team as a defensive specialist.

“On the team, we had one setter, and they were like, ‘We need a backup setter,’” Polovina said. “They picked me because I had the second-best hands.

“I was cool with it. I mean, I’ll play whatever position they need me to. That year, I played backup setter. The next year, I played starting setter, and I just kind of kept setting because people needed me to. And then I started to actually love it.”

Polovina was a freshman when she first met Crowley head coach Catherine Bruder. In search of setters for the team, Bruder asked if anybody could set. Polovina raised her hand.

It wasn’t until the Eagles were a little way into the season that Bruder first realized Polovina’s hands were different, when an assistant coach made a comment that they couldn’t understand how she set so well with her hands the way they were.

“We go to games. We do everything, and then after games, referees and coaches are like, ‘Your setter is phenomenal.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, she only has nine fingers,’” Bruder said. “They’re like, ‘What?’ Nobody notices because she’s just so talented. You never notice that there was ever an issue for her.”

Setting certainly required some adjustments on Polovina’s part during her younger years. She had to learn to avoid being called for a double hit because certain fingers would often get in the way. Her super digit, the big finger on her left hand, would sometimes fall into the palm of her hand, or another finger would simply slip because of how it bent.

But over time, she managed to learn her way around the ball.

“I kept doing wall work with the ball — what they call it is wall-balling — and I kept setting,” Polovina said. “I just found a natural feel around the ball with my fingers, and now it’s very rare that I double.

“Something I do now that I didn’t notice, my club coach pointed out, is I’ll drop one of my pinkie fingers on my right hand so that I have four fingers on both hands, so I basically set with eight fingers just to even it out.”

Of course, Polovina has heard it all from those who’d rather tear her down than build her up. Growing up, bullies would call her “alien fingers” or make rude comments about the appearance of her hands, but it never seemed to affect her.

“I can appreciate how nice she is and how kind she is to people and how accepting she is to people, even when I know that people may have not always been that way to her in her earlier life,” Bruder said.

Most people don’t even notice. In fact, some of her teammates — people she’d been playing alongside for more than three years — just found out this year that her right hand was also deformed.

“People don’t tend to notice, but when they do, they’ll usually just ask questions or they won’t say anything,” Polovina said. “If you ask questions and it comes off disrespectful, I’m not really bothered by it. I’m not really bothered by my hands in general. I don’t know why, but I’m just confident in my hands.”

While most of her teammates, coaches and friends have been supportive, Polovina recalls one instance along the way when a trusted adult told her she wouldn’t play in college as a setter and should instead go as a right-side hitter. It didn’t make her sad but instead fueled her desire to prove them wrong.

And she did.

In July, Polovina committed to continue her playing career at the NAIA level with McPherson College in Kansas. During the recruiting phase, she was contacted by head coach Cory Cahill, who invited her to come for a visit and observed as she practiced setting and hitting. When Polovina was done that day, Cahill pulled her aside and offered her a scholarship.

Polovina was impressed with the entire McPherson coaching staff and the positivity with which they coached. She also likes that the campus is not too far from Crowley — about a six-hour drive — and that she’ll be able to have some independence.

“I’ve heard that being on big campuses, people start feeling alone because there’s so many people, so I’m choosing the smaller campus life,” said Polovina, who plans to pursue a business degree. “Overall, I have a great coach. I’m going to have a great team.

“Also, the freakin’ McPherson uniforms are so cute.”

For now, though, Polovina is focused on finishing her high school career on a high note, with hopes of getting to the postseason to give her coach the send-off she deserves.

In May 2021, Bruder was diagnosed with cancer. Not wanting to cause her players unwanted stress, she waited before letting them know at the end of the school year. That way, she figured, they had the summer to process it.

Earlier this season, Crowley squared off against Burleson, a rival school in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and it was the first time an opposing team had shown support for Bruder. There were “Battle For Bruder” shirts that were made, and people brought flowers to lend their support.

Burleson won 3-2 in what Polovina says was “a very emotional game.”

“We were so close,” Polovina said. “I was so distraught after that game because we all wanted to win for her. Everyone was bawling in the locker room beforehand. We were so driven.

“We’re pretty much playing this season for her. It’s all about Bruder, nothing else.”

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Polovina and her teammates wear shirts in support of Crowley coach Catherine Bruder. (Photo provided by Jaden Polovina)

Bruder has publicly stated that this will be her final season coaching at Crowley, but with six juniors on this year’s roster who don’t want a new coach for their senior year, she’s beginning to consider coming back for one more run.

“I’m really tired, but I also don’t want to possibly ruin their senior year,” said Bruder, who’s in her seventh year as Crowley’s coach. “I definitely don’t want to do it again, however you kind of have to do things you don’t want to do sometimes just to make sure that everybody else is taken care of.”

Polovina will wrap up her prep volleyball career this fall before resuming her role as the starting goalie on the soccer team in the winter. She’s a multi-sport athlete at Crowley who has also been involved with the track and field and cross country teams.

“She wants to play and do everything and be the best at whatever she’s in at the time,” Bruder said. “Really, skill-wise, she’s always coming back and doing things better than what she was before.”

Polovina’s work ethic is what sets her apart as a team captain. Always hustling in practice and never ready to quit, she’s a perfectionist, almost to a fault. But Bruder has seen her mature in that regard over the years, and learn to accept that not everything will always go according to plan.

All the while, Polovina continues to develop as a player and never makes excuses for the hands she’s grown to embrace.

“She’s always been a person who finishes everything,” Bruder said. “She doesn’t cheat at workouts. She doesn’t walk in practice. She’s always trying to be better all the time. She wants to learn. She wants that knowledge. She wants to be challenged.

“She’s basically the ideal athlete.”

Trent Singer is the High School Editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow him on Twitter @trentsinger.