Tina Charles split with the Mercury in June and signed with the Storm soon afterward. (David Becker/NBAE via Getty Images)
No. 4 UConn women’s basketball had a special visitor at practice this week, as three-time Olympic gold medalist and 2012 WNBA MVP Tina Charles made a surprise appearance.
The team shared a video Saturday showcasing Charles’ practice session with the Huskies. Charles even played one-on-one against starting forward Aaliyah Edwards.
At one point on Friday, associate head coach Chris Dailey told Charles to run, junior guard Nika Muhl said.
While she participated like one of the team, though, Lou Lopez Sénéchal, said the WNBA veteran also gave players valuable feedback.
“It’s really cool for us, having a vet like that that’s been here and has been in the league for many years and just learn from her,” Lopez Sénéchal told ESPN.
“You always think like, yes, they’re vets, she’s been in the WNBA for 13 years, that’s a long time. You expect them to be so good,” Mühl added. “But seeing that on the court, the way she plays, the way she reads the game, you can’t move her. She’s literally like a rock in the paint — it’s amazing. It’s just so cool to see that experience and so amazing for [the alumni] to keep coming back.”
In addition to Charles, former NBA star and Hall of Famer Ray Allen also made an appearance at practice.
Ray Allen is here at UConn practice too. Quite the star-studded affair in Storrs. pic.twitter.com/Wz7sMRrooO
Charles is a free agent this offseason after finishing the 2022 season with the Seattle Storm. During her time at UConn from 2006 until 2010, Charles was a two-time national champion and won multiple Player of the Year awards in 2010. She was drafted No. 1 overall by the Connecticut Sun in 2010.
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USC Takes Down UConn as Upsets Rattle NCAA Basketball’s Top Ranks
JuJu Watkins registered 25 points, six rebounds, and five assists in Saturday's win. (Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)
No. 7 USC took down No. 4 UConn on Saturday, winning 72-70 in a battle between two bonafide NCAA basketball championship contenders still figuring out a consistent flow of play.
USC led by as many as 18 in the first half. However UConn came storming back, briefly pulling ahead in the fourth quarter before the Trojans outlasted the Huskies to secure the narrow victory.
With UConn superstar Paige Bueckers tight on her heels, USC standout JuJu Watkins registered a game-leading 25 points, alongside six rebounds, five assists, and three blocks.
Bueckers and Huskies freshman Sarah Strong split scoring duties for UConn, notching 22 points each with Strong adding 11 rebounds.
After opening the season at No. 2, this highly touted UConn squad has dropped pivotal games against Notre Dame and now USC to go 0-2 in Top 10 matchups. It's a pattern legendary coach Auriemma will hope to correct before the Huskies face their next ranked opponent in early February.
"I thought the execution part in the first half was just as bad as I've seen in a few years here in Connecticut," Huskies boss Geno Auriemma said after the loss.
"This is a really significant win, and it's a really significant win because of the stature of UConn's program and what Geno Auriemma has done for our sport," commented USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb.
Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
Weekend upsets shake top-ranked NCAA basketball teams
Elsewhere, upsets dominated the NCAA basketball conversation this weekend, with Top 25 contenders falling short as this season's undefeated list continues to shrink.
No. 15 Michigan State saw their first loss on Friday, falling to unranked Alabama 82-67 in a low scoring matchup. Afterwards, No. 9 Duke suffered their own unranked loss on Saturday, ceding a tough defensive battle to USF 65-56.
Seventeenth-ranked Georgia Tech remains undefeated with Saturday's ranked win over No. 23 Nebraska, while No. 14 West Virginia lost to unranked Colorado later that day.
Parity is the name of the game this season, with conference realignment, the transfer portal, and other recent shifts impacting a number of programs across the NCAA. And with conference play looming, teams will rely on regional rivalries and schedule strength to prepare them for heightened competition in the new year.
Claire Watkins
Dec 23, 2024
Penn State Revives Dynasty with 2024 NCAA Volleyball Championship Win
Penn State won their first volleyball championship in 10 seasons. (Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Penn State won the 2024 NCAA Volleyball Championship on Sunday, rising above Louisville's hometown advantage and a monster second set by the Cardinals to claim the program's eighth all-time title and first in 10 years.
In the victory, Penn State head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley became the first woman head coach in NCAA tournament history to win the championship — all while battling breast cancer.
Penn State tops Louisville in a back-and-forth matchup
Sunday's championship game drew a sell-out crowd of 21,860 to the KFC Yum Center in downtown Louisville, setting a new NCAA volleyball championship record. It was Louisville's second-ever title match, after finishing second to Texas in 2022.
After suffering an ankle injury in Thursday's semifinal upset against Pitt, however, Louisville entered the match without senior outside hitter Anna DeBeer. The absence ultimately proved too great to overcome.
The Nittany Lions won the first set 25-23, before Louisville saved 10 set points to dramatically take the second set 34-32.
But the Nittany Lions roared back, overwhelming the Cardinals to win the third set 25-20 before closing out the deciding set 25-17.
Penn State's Katie Schumacher-Cawley is the tournament's first-ever woman head coach. (Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
A moving win for Penn State's women's volleyball coach
Penn State coach Schumacher-Cawley, who was diagnosed with cancer last fall, stayed with her team throughout the 2024 season.
"I'm very happy for Katie, and it's a big deal for this sport," Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. "I'm thankful… that we can move on and that more women will be in this position in the future."
As for Schumacher-Cawley, she remained ever humble.
"I'm inspired by the young kids that are sick," she said after the win. "If I can be an inspiration, then I take that. But I feel good. I'm fortunate to be surrounded by so many great people."
JWS Staff
Dec 20, 2024
New York Sirens Continue 2024/25 PWHL Surge
The Sirens dominated Toronto in their 2024/25 home opener on Wednesday. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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.
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.
PWHL rookie Sarah Fillier will try to lead New York past reigning champs Minnesota on Sunday. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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.
Dee Lab
Dec 20, 2024
Underdogs Triumph in 2024 NCAA Volleyball Final Four
An NCAA volleyball semifinals record of 21,726 fans attended Thursday's matches. (Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
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 could become the first ACC team to win an NCAA volleyball championship. (Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
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 stunned Nebraska with a reverse sweep in the NCAA volleyball semifinals. (Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
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 NCAA volleyball championship team will be the first led by a woman coach. (Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
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.
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.
