All Scores

Candace Parker’s Las Vegas motivation: ‘I can’t end like this’

Candace Parker signed with the reigning champion Aces in free agency after considering retirement. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

No matter where Candace Parker goes in Las Vegas, she’s recognized. At the airport, the grocery store, and even at the gas station when she’s filling up at the pump, people call out to her with a familiar refrain.

“Go Aces!” they yell and wave.

The 37-year-old WNBA legend can’t help but smile. The Aces started the 2023 season right where they left off after winning the 2022 championship. At 8-1, they are in first place in the WNBA standings and hadn’t lost a game until three weeks into the season.

The energy around town is palpable, and Parker feels it wherever she goes. The same fans that once rooted against her when she was with the Los Angeles Sparks (2008-2020) and then the Chicago Sky (2021-2022) are now cheering for her, elated to see her in an Aces jersey. Parker engages them, calls back and interacts with fans, young and old.

“We had a season ticket event with all our season ticket holders,”she says, “and just being able to meet all the fans that are little kids was a treat for me. Because I love getting to know [them].”

Parker’s reception of the fans is not an act. It’s a reflection of her genuine appreciation and awareness of just how far the WNBA has come. It’s also a reminder of how far she’s come in her basketball career, and the journey she’s still on.

Parker burst onto the national basketball scene in 2004 as the first woman to win the dunk contest during the McDonald’s All-American High School Game. She then went on to win back-to-back NCAA titles under the legendary Pat Summit at Tennessee. Among Parker’s long list of accolades are a collection of moments cemented in time: becoming only the second player in WNBA history to dunk in a basketball game (Lisa Leslie was the first), winning Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season (2008), playing for Team USA and collecting two Olympic gold medals (2008, 2012) along the way, and winning her first WNBA championship with Los Angeles in 2016.

After all, Parker is a moments person. Small moments. Big moments. Happy moments. Hard moments. It doesn’t matter. She savors each one down to the very last drop, then tucks the memory away in her back pocket like a Polaroid for safe keeping.

With 10.5 seconds left to go in Game 4 of the 2021 WNBA Finals, the Sky were up 78-74 against the Phoenix Mercury, and Chicago veteran Courtney Vandersloot was at the foul line. As Vandersloot hit the first free throw and then the second, Parker couldn’t contain her emotions. She began to cry. After spending 13 seasons with the Sparks, she had returned to her hometown city with the goal of bringing the Sky their first WNBA title in franchise history.

In that moment, it was happening right before her eyes. Winning the WNBA championship in front of her family and friends, and for the city of Chicago, Parker reveled in the joy to the fullest extent. But in the days and weeks that followed the championship celebration and parade, she began to think about her future.

“I was like, I could just go out on a high, this is it. I mean, 14 seasons? That’s a lot, like, whatever,” she says. “I had my ankle injury that kind of kept me in and out. It was a tough season.”

img
Parker celebrates bringing a WNBA championship to her hometown with the Chicago Sky in 2021. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Still, the thought of running it back with the same roster and playing another season fully healthy drew her back in. Chicago went 26-10 during the regular season and entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed with expectations of another Finals trip. But after they beat the Liberty in Round 1, the Sky’s storybook run came to an end against the Connecticut Sun in the semifinals. Despite Parker’s best efforts in the series, the Sky were eliminated in Game 5 after letting the Sun go on a 24-5 run in the fourth quarter.

The retirement rumors swirled. But Parker wasn’t ready to bow out.

“We lost last year and the way in which we lost, having a 14-point lead going into the fourth quarter, kept me up at night and just ate at my soul,” she says. “It was kind of just one of those things where I was like, I can’t end like this. The last time I play basketball, we’re not gonna blow a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. So, I think that kind of refocused and motivated me.”

Parker wants to win. And having the opportunity to win in different places, in different systems, with different pieces is a challenge she enjoys. She also loves to compete, even when she’s not on the basketball court.

“I mean, I’m an idiot. I’ll be on the Peloton and it’s like Pedals By Patty is trying to beat my score and I’m like, ‘Nooo!’” Parker laughs. “It’s just the competitive element. Even on chill days, I can’t let Pedals By Patty beat me.”

Feeding that competitive fire, Parker knew she wanted to play basketball for at least one more season. The only question was where. Going back to Chicago had been a dream opportunity, but the move had also been hard on Parker’s family, especially her daughter Lailaa. Flying back West for a couple of hours at time, and Lailaa missing school when she came to Chicago, didn’t make for a sustainable schedule. She also had a newborn son to care for with wife Anna Petrakova.

With her house still in Los Angeles, Parker says she considered a return to the Sparks. But it was Lailaa who suggested Las Vegas as a possibility, which had a lot to do with Aces point guard Chelsea Gray.

Gray and Parker became close friends while teammates with the Sparks from 2016 to 2020. They were in each other’s weddings. Parker introduced Gray to good wine. Gray and her wife, Tipesa, are godparents to Parker’s son. They’d spend hours sitting by a fire pit together talking about basketball and about life. And since they’d gone their separate ways to play for different teams, somehow they grew even closer.

“When you’re teammates, you know you’re gonna see that person in like a day or two. If it’s an off day, you know the next day you’re gonna see them,” Gray says. “And sometimes, it’s taken for granted — those moments. So being away from each other, we would have our long talks, but via FaceTime just to check in and talk about a bunch of stuff to make sure we’re not missing anything.”

img
Parker and Chelsea Gray became close friends during their five years together on the Sparks. (Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)

Watching each other succeed from afar became routine during the past two WNBA seasons, with Parker’s championship in 2021 and Gray’s transcendent playoff performance in 2022. Gray waited until the aftermath of the Aces championship to reach out to her friend.

“(At first) we were talking like, ‘How’s her body feeling?’ Like outside of just trying to get her in Las Vegas, just having casual conversation,” Gray says. “And then I’d make the statement, ‘I’m putting on my Las Vegas Aces point guard hat — listen, this is a franchise that’s doing right by its players, that wants the best, that wants to win championships.’

“And that’s when the conversation kind of turned.”

“One thousand percent Chelsea had an impact,” Parker adds. “I mean, we were close when we played together, but we’ve gotten closer even since.”

After her initial chats with Gray, Parker spoke with Aces head coach Becky Hammon. She also connected with Aces president Nikki Fargas — someone Parker has known since her days at Tennessee, where Fargas was a former player and an assistant coach.

“Obviously, I go back with Nikki,” Parker says. “I can’t call her Nikki Fargas, it’s Nikki Caldwell. But we go back, and we started having conversations.”

Despite those encouraging conversations and her ties to Gray and Fargas, Parker says her final decision came down to what was best for her and her family. The flight from Las Vegas to Los Angeles is only 40 minutes, a fact that stuck with her when she ultimately chose to sign with the Aces on a one-year contract.

When Parker first arrived in Sin City, she says it took about a week and a half to get to know the lay of the land. She set up her home and got her family settled. Her teammates gave her tips on the best places to eat, shop and get her nails done. She reunited with Gray on the court and got to know her new teammates during training camp.

“Being away from her and then having her come back and seeing her every day in practice, it’s really cool to see,” Gray says. “Like, damn, I miss seeing you play this closely. And it’s been a cool dynamic to see her play with others that haven’t ever had that experience.”

“Sometimes it doesn’t really feel real still,” Kesley Plum marveled during a post-practice press conference before the season. “For me, I’ve just been really impressed with her humility. I think that Candace has come in from the jump and just been like, ‘Alright, what do I need to learn?’ Figure out the offense, learning our defensive schemes, how we do things. I know that our connection, with us two and then her with the rest of the team, is just going to continue to grow.”

Nearly a month into the WNBA season, the Aces look as if they haven’t lost a step since adding Parker to their championship roster. While her stats don’t jump off the page like they used to at 8.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, she’s still making an impact and has embraced her role as a supporting cast member on a team of All-Stars. She’s also enjoying all the amenities the organization has to offer — including the state-of-the-art practice facility and the fact that, for the first time in her 16-year career, she actually has a locker.

“I mean our practice facility is unbelievable. We have everything here, I don’t have to really go out of house,” Parker says. “It’s not like we gotta get on the court and off the court at this time because somebody else has to come in. That’s what I’ve been through in my career. I’ve been through two-a-days, I’ve been through 6 a.m. flights, I’ve been through all that.

“Now to be able to be in a place that makes sense, I think that’s a credit to the growth of women’s basketball as well.”

img
Parker has embraced her role as part of the Aces' stacked lineup. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

In her 16 WNBA seasons, Parker has seen the league evolve for the better in a variety of ways. Owners are spending money and investing in their players. Player visibility has never been higher. At the college level, NIL deals are changing the way players are marketed, setting them up to enter the pro game with a large following of dedicated fans.

“I think the progress in women’s sports has been being able to recognize women and know them from a long time ago,” she says. “You see that in the NBA. The players own their brand. It’s so important to understand the value and power of that. It’s not just about the game.”

Parker knows the importance of visibility, both as a longtime player and as an NBA analyst for Turner Sports. She sees the disparity between the men’s and women’s games firsthand and is doing her part to help close the gap.

“What it does with her sitting in the analyst seat is it allows people to really hear how smart women are when it comes to the game of basketball,” says ESPN WNBA analyst LaChina Robinson, who has been covering Parker since she came into the league.

“We’re just getting to the point where people are realizing how great of players women are, but now you’re adding another layer of she can talk the game. For people who need that validation, that women belong in sport, it’s just another opportunity to show that. Candace’s IQ is off the charts. It’s just awesome to hear her do that on such a big platform like the NBA.”

Broadcasting is only one facet of Parker’s life outside of playing basketball. She’s also dabbling in private equity, tech, wine, tequila and even artificial intelligence, setting herself up for life after the WNBA.

“I have a million things I want to do. It’s not gonna be just one thing. I truly believe the biggest thing I’ve taken from basketball is to be versatile,” she says. “That’s in income, but it’s also in the things that you do. I just like to do a lot of different things. My wife always jokes, ‘You will not be bored.’”

img
Parker talks on the set of TNT's NBA studio show with analyst Ernie Johnson. (Jack Arent/NBAE via Getty Images)

Back in 2020, when Parker last played with the Sparks during the WNBA’s pandemic-induced bubble season, she had already begun to think about what might be next. It was her 13th season in the WNBA, and she knew she had more basketball behind her than she did in front of her. Her career up until that point had been just as rewarding as it had been draining, with many challenging seasons mixed in with the championship years.

“I never thought of quitting after a hard season, 100 percent. If anything, I wanted to come back more and prove whatever I needed to prove,” Parker confesses. “I didn’t think I even needed to prove anything, but whatever. I think 2019 was really difficult. It was really hard. Just from a physical standpoint, from a health standpoint, but also from the moving piece of an organization.”

During the 2019 season, Parker battled through an injury, appearing in 22 games and recording 11.2 points per game, the lowest scoring average of her career. After going 22-12, the Sparks secured the third seed in the playoffs before being swept in the semifinals by the Connecticut Sun. In an odd twist, Parker played only 11 minutes in a must-win Game 3. Then-head coach Derek Fisher explained her benching in the fourth quarter as a way to initiate “a spark.” Shortly afterward, Penny Toler was dismissed as general manager and an ESPN report revealed growing tensions within the organization. Last year, Fisher was fired 12 games into the season amid additional team controversy.

As Los Angeles struggled to find its way forward and a new identity as an organization after years of success, Parker felt a shift. The WNBA’s power structure was changing, and she was changing as a player, a person and a mother. After the 2020 season, there was a rebirth. Parker emerged rejuvenated in Chicago. Now, at this stage in her basketball career and life, there’s a new feeling.

“Instead of using the word content, I think it’s peace,” says Gray. “Like she has a bit of peace about her in all facets of her life and the decisions that she makes, and being OK with that. Like, surrendering control but also having fun while she’s doing it. I don’t think she’s content or satisfied with where she is. I just think she’s at peace with how she’s going about life.”

When Parker does walk off the court for the final time, she’ll leave behind a lasting legacy as one of the greatest WNBA players of all time. For multiple reasons.

“Candace’s legacy is definitely far and wide-reaching,” says Robinson. “I don’t know that we had ever seen anyone that had inside/outside scoring, handles, passing ability, athleticism at the rim — just an incredible combination of skill set. Off the court, Candace has been one of those players that has allowed us a look into the challenges and the rewards of being an athlete mom, and when it comes to the marketing of the league, she has been arguably the most marketable player the league has ever seen and a trailblazer for Black women in that space.”

Parker is currently eighth all-time in the WNBA in career points (6,485) and second among active players, third in total rebounds (3,415) and seventh in assists (1,593). She’s also tied for first in the league with three regular-season triple-doubles in her career and first with three double-doubles in rebounds and assists. Parker is known just as much for her defense as her offense, ranking fifth all-time in blocks (612) and earning Defensive Player of the Year in 2020.

More significantly, Parker has become one of the most recognizable players in the history of the league. But before she became known around the world as CP3, she was simply “Ace” in the early days. Maybe it’s serendipitous then that she ended up playing for the Aces in what could be the final season of her career.

Parker will know when her playing days are over, just like she’ll know when it’s time to start her next life venture. Candace Parker is a moments person, after all, and the moment to hang it up hasn’t come just yet.

“I think the closer you get to the end, whenever that will be, I think the more you don’t take for granted,” she says. “And I said back in 2021 sometime — you don’t have to tell your story, time will. I firmly believe that. I’m still in the league, so … that’s a win.”

Lyndsey D’Arcangelo is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports, covering the WNBA. 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.

USC Takes Down UConn as Upsets Rattle NCAA Basketball’s Top Ranks

JuJu Watkins of USC is defended by Paige Bueckers of the Connecticut Huskies
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.

JuJu holds on to secure USC win

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.

Reigan Richardson of Duke is introduced before an NCAA women's basketball game.
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.

Penn State Revives Dynasty with 2024 NCAA Volleyball Championship Win

Penn St. Nittany Lions celebrate after defeating the Louisville Cardinals to win the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship held at the KFC YUM! Center on December 22, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky.
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.

Head Coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley of the Penn St. Nittany Lions celebrates after defeating the Louisville Cardinals to win the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship.
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."

New York Sirens Continue 2024/25 PWHL Surge

The New York Sirens celebrate a goal by Noora Tulus.
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.

New York Siren rookie Sarah Fillier skates against Toronto.
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.

Underdogs Triumph in 2024 NCAA Volleyball Final Four 

A wide view of Louisville's KFC Yum! Center packed with fans for the 2024 NCAA volleyball semifinals.
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 volleyball players celebrate a play against Pitt in Thursday's NCAA semifinal.
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 volleyball celebrate their NCAA semifinal upset win over Nebraska in their locker room.
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.

Penn State volleyball head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley gives player Jordan Hopp directions on the 2024 NCAA semifinals sideline.
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.

Start your morning off right with Just Women’s Sports’ free, 5x-a-week newsletter.