How do you top an undefeated season, achieved against some of the toughest competition in the country? Add in the loss of several key stars, and that is the problem confronting Marymount (Calif.) volleyball this season.

The Sailors passed their first test with flying colors in a 3-0 win in their season opener Monday. They don’t lack talent, with seniors Torrey Stafford (320 kills last season) and Dior Charles (123 kills) leading the way. Stafford, a University of Pittsburgh commit, is the 18th-ranked recruit heading into the season in the Just Women’s Sports volleyball high school player rankings.

But Marymount must replace five players who are now competing at the Division I level, including Elia Rubin, the MaxPreps National Player of the Year and an Under Armour All-American. That’s not an easy task, and playing in a volleyball hotbed like southern California doesn’t provide much room for error.

While the Sailors are off to a good start, they have simply lost too much talent to earn the No. 1 spot in the first JWS volleyball team rankings of the season. That honor instead belongs to Cathedral Catholic, another southern California school.

Check out the complete rankings below.

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

Cathedral Catholic didn’t win it all last year, but the program returns four seniors who each had more than 100 kills. That group is led by Stanford commit Julia Blyashov, who won a gold medal with Team USA at the U19 Pan American Cup in July.

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2. Marymount (Calif.), 1-0

Not only did the Sailors lose Rubin from last year’s 35-0 squad, setter Kelly Belardi joined her at Stanford, Kerry Keefe is at Duke, middle blocker Rhiann Sheffie landed at Long Beach State and Megan Verbiest is the newest libero at USC.

3. Bloomfield Hills Marian (Mich.), 7-0

The Mustangs are coming off a 53-1 season that ended with a state championship, and they return setter Ava Sarafa, who racked up 1,443 assists last season and is committed to Kentucky.

4. Papillion-LaVista South (Neb.), 0-0

Coming off a 40-0 season, the Titans return senior Stella Adeyemi, who finished with 387 kills and 108 digs last season.

5. Wayzata (Minn.), 0-0

Not only did the Trojans go undefeated last season, they haven’t lost since 2019, winning 54 games in the process. Minnesota commit Stella Swenson is back at setter after racking up 936 assists last year.

6. Tompkins (Texas), 13-1

The Falcons have already beaten reigning Class 6A state champion Brandeis and have dropped just seven sets in 14 matches.

7. McCutcheon (Ind.), 4-0

The Mavericks enter 2022 hoping to defend their state title, and they return star hitter Chloe Chicoine, who had 440 kills and 189 digs last year. The Purdue commit is joined by setter Allie Shondell, who already has 126 assists through four games this season.

8. The Woodlands (Texas), 17-3

The Highlanders have beaten last year’s Class 6A finalist, Keller, and another semifinalist in Bridgeland. Claire Dewine leads the way with 266 assists and is second with 198 digs.

9. Dike-New Hartford (Iowa), 0-0

The Wolverines finished 54-1 last season and return their top five hitters, including the Petersen twins, Payton (583 kills) and Jadyn (402 kills). Madelyn Norton and her 1,209 assists are also back for the reigning state champions.

10. Mater Dei (Calif.), 2-0

The Monarchs’ 2021 season ended with a loss to Cathedral Catholic. They return three of their top four hitters, all of whom had 200 kills or more, from the 36-6 squad.

Girls’ volleyball is back at Mater Dei. pic.twitter.com/FocQQbv2tZ

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) August 19, 2022

11. Byron Nelson (Texas), 15-1

Another Texas team that has gotten off to a fast start, the Bobcats are led by freshman Kylie Kleckner and her 182 kills.

12. Blue Valley North (Kan.), 0-0

The Mustangs lost plenty of production from last year’s state championship team that finished 40-2, but they return the team leaders in kills (Logan Parks, 324), digs (Nora Carlsen, 291) and assists (Janelle Green, 527).

13. Ponte Verda (Fla.), 1-0

The Sharks, looking to bounce back after falling in the Class 6A state championship game, return Cincinnati commit Zeta Washington (274 kills) and Jessica Shattles (896 kills, 199 kills).

14. Skyview (Idaho), 0-0

The Hawks are coming off a 36-2 season in which they won a state championship and will get back Oregon commit Alex Acevedo and Alex Bower, who had over 1,000 assists and 100 kills last season.

15. Sante Fe (Fla.), 1-0

The reigning Class 4A state champions bring back Florida’s Miss Volleyball in Jalyn Stout, who notched 392 kills last season.

16. Cardinal Mooney (Fla.), 1-0

Texas-bound Jordyn Byrd will make the Cougars a force to be reckoned with as she looks to build upon last season’s totals of 551 kills, 258 digs and 56 blocks.

17. Sequoyah (Ga.), 12-1

Sequoyah has unfinished business after a 50-4 season ended with a loss in the 6A state championship. The Chiefs return offensive firepower in seniors Sara Siefert, who has over 1,000 career kills, and Taylor Pecht, who will eclipse 4,000 career assists this season.

18. Mira Costa (Calif.), 8-2

Mira Costa opened the season by claiming a tournament title in Hawaii before being brought back down to earth in a four-set loss to Mater Dei.

19. Jackson Academy (Miss.), 15-0

Coming off a state championship last year, the Raiders keep winning. Auburn commit Lakin Laurendine already has 179 kills with a .454 hitting percentage.

20. Alpharetta (Ga.), 13-3

Another Georgia team that lost in the state championship last season, Alpharetta is looking to capture the state crown this year.

21. Laramie (Wyo.), 0-0

The Plainsmen have won consecutive 4A state titles, and Madeline Stuckey is back to pursue another after recording 736 assists and 172 kills last fall.

22. Buford (Ga.), 10-1

The Wolves knocked off Sequoyah to win the state crown last season. They return their kills leader, digs leader and assists leader.

23. Fayetteville (Ark.), 1-0

The Bulldogs are aiming for a three-peat and will be relying on Stanford beach volleyball commit Brooke Rockwell, who had 503 kills and 274 digs last year, and Florida State commit Kennedy Phelan, who finished with 1,123 assists in 2021.

24. Bishop Gorman (Nev.), 1-0

The Gaels have won the last three state titles contested in the state of Nevada and bring back star hitter Leilia Toailoa, who notched 491 kills last year.

25. Olathe Northwest (Kan.), 0-0

The Ravens have one of the top junior players in the country in Nebraska commit Skyler Pierce, who racked up 425 kills and 345 digs last year.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New York Sirens to face Minnesota Frost in top matchup

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Louisville books second national championship ticket

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

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

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

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

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

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

Penn State roars back to top Nebraska

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday's court will make NCAA history

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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How to watch the 2024 NCAA volleyball championship match

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

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

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

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

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

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

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An NWSL breaking point

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Williams is a major score for Seattle

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

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

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

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

Howell, Miller on the move again

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

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

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

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

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