Before each home match, the Cathedral Catholic (Calif.) volleyball team circles up to pray in the locker room, and on their way out, each girl jumps to hit the door frame. For Jenna Hanes, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker, it’s more of a skip than a jump.

But regardless, it’s working.

Cathedral Catholic is 26-0 and ranked No. 1 in the latest Just Women’s Sports volleyball team rankings. This past weekend, the San Diego team won the Durango Fall Classic, one of the most competitive national tournaments in the country, and in seven matches, the Dons didn’t drop a set, ultimately besting reigning state champion Marymount.

Coach Juliana Conn has three middle blockers, and in previous tournaments she rotated them. But when they got to the DFC, Conn had a feeling that Hanes belonged on the court.

And she was right.

Hanes was crowned tournament MVP, and along the way she earned JWS Player of the Week honors. Since winning the DFC, Hanes and the rest of the Cathedral Catholic team have continued to roll, with a road sweep against La Jolla on Tuesday and another against Point Loma on Thursday.

“The competition brought the best out of her,” Conn said. “She was really on a mission to stop them blocking-wise. I think everything came together for her. We’re playing a big, high-profile tournament for high school, and it was her time to shine. I don’t think she had a mistake.”

The Dons knew going into the finals of the DFC that Marymount would be a tough match, but they made it a clean sweep, winning 25-20, 25-17.

“The last point, everyone running in and celebrating, that was one of my favorite moments,” Hanes said. “It was super cool being named MVP in one of the best tournaments in the nation. So many people played great. It could’ve gone to any of them.”

.@CCHSAthletics breezed to the championship of the 64-team Durango Fall Classic last weekend to remain unbeaten on the season, led by tournament MVP middle blocker Jenna Hanes 💪🏐

Full top 20 rankings ➡️ https://t.co/m12uJ63fjw pic.twitter.com/cfgnoRNKxY

— SBLive California (@SBLiveCA) September 22, 2022

This season, the majority of the girls on the Cathedral Catholic team are seniors, including the third-ranked recruit nationally, Julia Blyashov. Hanes, a junior, is new to the program but has played with most of the girls in club volleyball.

“When I came in as a transfer, they were all super encouraging and nice and welcoming,” Hanes said. “They keep practice at such a high level. I get to learn from them firsthand and improve my game from that.”

Hanes started playing volleyball when she was in the third grade. Her mom, Kara Hanes, is a former member of the U.S. women’s national team and was an All-American at UCLA. Naturally, Kara introduced her daughter to the sport, and it was love at first sight.

In fifth grade, Jenna began playing club volleyball, and in eighth grade, she set her sights on playing college volleyball.

In 2024, she’ll do just that — Jenna made a verbal commitment in July to play volleyball at the University of Michigan.

From the moment she stepped onto the Ann Arbor campus, she immediately felt at home.

“It just seemed like my type of place,” Hanes said.

Jenna hopes to one day follow in her mom’s footsteps and play for Team USA, but in the meantime, she’ll enjoy the rest of her high school career at Cathedral Catholic, forming unbreakable bonds along the way.

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

US swimming icon Katie Ledecky is back on top, earning her 22nd world title with a gold medal-winning 1,500-meter freestyle performance at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships on Tuesday.

Finishing with a time of 15:26.44, Ledecky now owns 25 of the top 26 times in the event's history and holds six World Aquatics Championships titles at that distance.

"Each one has meaning, and I love every race that I've had at Worlds over the years," the 28-year-old swimming star told broadcasters following her Tuesday victory.

That 22nd title brought Ledecky's combined Worlds total to an overall 28 medals, lifting the star to second on the all-time most decorated list where she trails only retired US men's star Michael Phelps's 33 podium finishes.

Earlier in the week, the Team USA standout took bronze in the 400-meter freestyle, coming in third behind China's silver-medalist Li Bingjie and Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh, who won the race with a time of 3:56.26.

Gold medals have been hard to come by for Team USA at this year's World Championships.

Other than Ledecky's win and the 100-meter butterfly title snagged by Gretchen Walsh on Monday, the US women have struggled to claim gold medals as they push to recover from the acute gastroenteritis that hit several team members at their pre-meet training camp in Thailand.

That stomach bug inhibited multiple US swimmers from traveling with the team to the Singapore meet, and saw contenders like 100-meter butterfly Olympic gold medalist Torri Huske pull out of initial heats.

"We're taking it a day at a time," said Team USA head coach Greg Meehan about the impact of the illness. "Obviously, this is not how we thought the first few days of this competition would go. But I'm really proud of our team."

How to watch Ledecky at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships

The 2025 World Aquatics Championships runs through Sunday, and US star Ledecky has two events left to swim at the meet.

On Thursday, she'll compete in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, before facing another showdown with rival McIntosh in the 800-meter freestyle on Saturday.

Preliminary heats kick off the night before at 10 PM ET, with finals seeing staggered starts beginning at 7 AM ET.

Live coverage of the meet airs on Peacock.

UEFA Women's Euro 2025 made a splash across the pond, drawing an average of 458,000 US viewers per match across FOX platforms to mark a 97% viewership increase over the 2022 edition — making this year's tournament the most-watched English-language Women's Euro on record.

Building off the 2025 competition's previously reported record-breaking numbers, Sunday's grand finale between defending champs England and 2023 World Cup winners Spain averaged 1.35 million US viewers — a 53% increase in viewership over the last Women's Euro championship match.

Even more, the broadcast ultimately peaked at 1.92 million fans tuning in, making it the most-watched English-language Women's Euro Final on record.

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The historic viewership is a major win for broadcaster FOX, who secured the women's tournament's first-ever US media deal back in May.

Initially committing to live coverage of 20 of the tournament's matches, record returns motivated the broadcast giant to quickly pivot and air all 31 matches live as part of its FOX Sports Summer of Soccer campaign.

"More and more people are tuning in to watch soccer in the US," FOX Sports commentator and UWSNT vet Carli Lloyd told The Athletic. "There's just been an incredible amount of soccer on display, which has been fantastic for the sport."

As the NWSL preps for this weekend's return from an extended summer break, No. 4 Washington Spirit star forward Trinity Rodman is also hoping to re-take the pitch for the first time since April.

Rodman is currently back training with the team, rejoining her club after undergoing extended treatment overseas for chronic back issues.

"I'd never really dealt with something like that," Rodman admitted after an open practice earlier this week. "So, for me, mentally, it was very difficult."

"[I was] trying to function through pain, and kind of gaslight myself to thinking it was fine every day, when it wasn't," she said. "I can now kind of openly say, I was in pain all the time."

Rodman also admits that stepping away was, though difficult, the right call to make for her healing.

"Obviously, it sucks being away from the team and being away from soccer in general," she added. "But I got to work on things that I wouldn't have gotten to work on if I was in the team environment all the time, so I think that was a positive."

Rodman's availability fluctuated after she earned an Olympic gold medal with the USWNT in Paris last summer, with the soccer superstar featuring in just four Spirit games this season — and none since stepping away in April.

Now functioning pain-free, Rodman's next on-pitch challenge is balancing her competitive intensity with her newly found health.

"It's really understanding my body and acknowledging [when] it's in pain," she explained. "And not pushing through things that I shouldn't."

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Rodman eyes new contract amid NWSL return

On top of navigating her return to play, Rodman is also actively negotiating with the Washington Spirit for a contract renewal.

Her current deal expires at the end of 2025, and with interest in the US standout reportedly mounting from overseas clubs, the 23-year-old could eventually field multiple offers.

Considering her lack of minutes so far this season, the star called the assumed interest "a weird situation."

"I'm trying not to stress about it or put too much pressure on it," she said of the ongoing talks. "At the end of the day, I'm worried about health first.... Everything else can come next."

Wednesday's WNBA bill puts a heavyweight battle in the spotlight, as 2024 finalists and 2025 league leaders Minnesota will host reigning champion No. 2 New York in their first face-off of the season — with the Liberty hoping to rattle both the Lynx and the standings.

"I think common sense would say that those two teams probably should have played earlier in the season," Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve told media this week, referencing the apparent scheduling idiosyncrasies that delayed the championship rematch.

"It doesn't feel like a Finals rematch anymore, honestly," Lynx forward Napheesa Collier echoed. "It's a new year for us. And it's been so long, it's almost August, so it's just the two top teams going against each other."

Both squads enter the clash on uncharacteristic skids, as Minnesota and New York look to avenge recent losses while other WNBA teams jockey for positioning during the league's Wednesday night slate:

• No. 3 Phoenix Mercury vs. No. 6 Indiana Fever, 7 PM ET (ESPN3): The Fever must continue to contend without injured star guard Caitlin Clark, as Indiana faces a newly healthy Mercury side striving to steal back the No. 2 spot with a win.

• No. 5 Atlanta Dream vs. No. 11 Dallas Wings, 8 PM ET (ESPN3): After a disappointing Tuesday upset loss, the will Dream close out a back-to-back against a bolstered Dallas squad fresh off a big victory over New York.

• No. 2 New York Liberty vs. No. 1 Minnesota Lynx, 8 PM ET (ESPN): With a four-game lead in the standings, the Lynx aren't in danger of giving up their perch at the top, but a strong performance from the Liberty could provide a much-needed boost to the ailing title-holders.