Stanford comes into the season ranked second in the country in the AP Poll. After a dominant opening win over Cal Poly, Hall of Fame head coach Tara VanDerveer needs just four wins to pass the legendary Pat Summitt for the all-time winningest coach in women’s college basketball.

The 2020-21 season will be VanDerveer’s 41st in coaching, and her win total is up to 1,095, just behind Summitt’s 1,098. Stanford is 12-25 against Tennessee, where Summitt earned all of her wins, in a series that has been played every December for 31 years and includes preseason tournaments and three postseason matches.

While VanDerveer’s team had its highest preseason ranking in 11 years, she started this season simply grateful that the Cardinal were able to practice, much less play. (And already, games are being cancelled due to Santa Clara County’s new Covid restrictions.)

Monday's contest vs. San Diego has been canceled in accordance to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department's emergency directive.

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— Stanford Women’s Basketball (@StanfordWBB) November 30, 2020

“I’ve talked to our team about, in terms of how to best approach this: ‘Everyone’s middle name is flexible,’” VanDerveer said at the Pac-12 virtual media day. “We just have to be ready to do whatever we’re allowed to do and enjoy each day, one day at a time.”

“I know she has four or five wins until she gets the record, but I know she has bigger goals than that,” senior guard Kiana Williams said.

With the Pac-12 opened up due to the departure of Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu, Ruthy Hebard and Satou Sabally, a trio who won the last three Pac-12 regular-season titles, Stanford believes it is capable of reclaiming the conference.

Williams, who is from San Antonio, is hoping to make the Final Four, which will be held in her hometown. The key for Stanford will be keeping her off the court, however, as she was forced to play nearly 36 minutes per game due to depth problems last year.

Williams is joined by sophomore guard Haley Jones, who played 18 games as a freshman before a season-ending knee injury. The former No. 1 high school recruit was fantastic as a freshman, and if the season opener was any indication, she has improved significantly in the offseason.

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— Stanford Women’s Basketball (@StanfordWBB) November 27, 2020

Lexie Hull and Lacie Hull, twins and the only members of the junior class available to play due to guard Jenna Brown undergoing knee surgery, will continue to play a massive role. Lexie may be the best pure scorer on the team, while Lacie continuously earns minutes with her defense.

If sophomore guard Hannah Jump can get hot, then Stanford will really be cooking. She is a 3-point specialist, but VanDerveer saw improvements in her fitness and strength that should allow her to improve on defense and create more shots for herself inside the arc, where she shot less than 20% of her attempts last year.

The guard position is book-ended by a fifth year and a freshman. The fifth year is Anna Wilson, who won an appeal to the NCAA for an extra year and was the 42nd-ranked recruit back in 2016. After an impressive preseason, she was named a starter for the team’s opener. The freshman is Jana Van Gytenbeek, who ranked as the No. 39 player in her class. Those two, and Williams, have learned from each other and make for a formidable group.

Cameron Brink, the No. 3 recruit in the country, is special at 6-foot-4. In her debut game, she dropped 17 points—the most for a Cardinal freshman since Candice Wiggins in 2004. Agnes Emma-Nnopu, the third freshman in the class, is able to rebound at an elite level, a skill that will immediately help the Cardinal and earn her playing time.

For Fran Belibi, the camp period allowed her to win a starting spot where she can showcase some of her incredible athleticism. Together with Ashten Prechtel, the other sophomore forward, the two form a nice duo. Prechtel is 6-foot-5 but has an inside-outside game with 31 blocks and 34% 3-point rate.

Just a casual afternoon at practice...

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— Stanford Women’s Basketball (@StanfordWBB) October 28, 2020

Senior forward Alyssa Jerome has started in the past and offers leadership and a steady presence inside. Altogether, the team’s depth will be a strength if it can be maintained. For Stanford, the goal is to play fast, rotate a lot, and maintain a quick tempo throughout all 40 minutes.

Few coaches are better up for that task than VanDerveer, which is no small reason why she is on the cusp of having more wins than anyone before her. For Stanford, the quiet celebration when the inevitable milestone occurs is just a subplot in a season in which their goals are much loftier — like celebrating a national championship for the first time since 1992.

With half of the Elite Eight now set, a few Big Ten underdogs still have a shot at disrupting the No. 1 seed stronghold at the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament this weekend.

The No. 3-seed Purdue Boilermakers are through to the quarterfinals after defeating No. 2-seed SMU 3-1 on Thursday, while the No. 4-seed Indiana Hoosiers, No. 3 seed-Wisconsin Badgers, and the still-undefeated overall No. 1 seed Nebraska Cornhuskers all face stiff Sweet Sixteen competition on Friday afternoon.

Coming off a strong regular season, the Big Ten could still field half of the quarterfinal round — though that would require the first No. 1-seed upset of the 2025 national tournament in the form of an Indiana victory over top-seeded Texas.

Bolstered by their defensive leader, senior middle blocker Madi Sell, the Hoosiers booked just their second-ever Sweet Sixteen trip with last week's win over No. 5 Colorado, with Indiana now hoping their lucky run continues against the 2022 and 2023 champion Longhorns.

Meanwhile, the No. 1 Huskers will look to keep rolling against No. 4-seed Kansas while the No. 3 Badgers aim to snag another Big Ten spot in the Elite Eight by ousting No. 2-seed Stanford on Friday.

How to watch the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament this weekend

The NCAA volleyball tournament's Sweet Sixteen action will wrap with four games on Friday, starting with No. 1 Texas vs. No. 4 Indiana at 12 PM ET.

The Elite Eight will then meet at the net on Saturday and Sunday to determine the last-standing teams heading to next week's Final Four in Kansas City.

All of this weekend's NCAA tournament games will air live across ESPN platforms.

Team USA is on a roll, officially taking the four-game 2025 Rivalry Series against Canada before the slate of friendlies is even over, with the US collecting three consecutive wins so far — and one shot left at making it a clean sweep.

The US downed their northern neighbors by a commanding 10-4 scoreline in Edmonton on Wednesday, marking Team USA's first-ever 10-goal victory against the reigning Olympic champs — all while upping the 2025 series' goal tally to 20-6.

While each team fine-tunes rosters ahead of the 2026 Olympics, one test remains for both international hockey titans before the Winter Games take the ice in February.

"The work doesn't stop. Our Olympic team is not named. There's still one more game to go," said USA captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, acknowledging that her squad is not taking their foot off the gas despite the recent lopsided results.

"We have one more game against them before the Olympics," echoed Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin. "We're all aware of that."

How to watch Team USA vs. Canada in the 2025 Rivalry Series

The puck drops on the final match of the sixth annual hockey Rivalry Series between the USA and Canada in Edmonton, Alberta, on Saturday.

Live coverage of the clash will begin at 9 PM ET on the NHL Network.

The latest FIFA women's soccer rankings dropped on Thursday, with Spain widening their lead at No. 1 after winning a second consecutive UEFA Nations League title earlier this month.

The USWNT held steady at No. 2, ceding 7.48 points after losing an October friendly to No. 22 Portugal before going on to secure four straight wins over Portugal, No. 35 New Zealand, and No. 13 Italy to close out 2025.

Elsewhere in the FIFA Top 10, No. 3 Germany and No. 6 Brazil both saw boosts after successful fall runs, while Canada skidded to No. 10 amid a recent five-match winless streak, with Les Rouges's last victory coming against No. 43 Costa Rica last June.

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The biggest changes, however, occurred outside the top ranks, as No. 96 Nicaragua, No. 118 Burkina Faso, and No. 137 American Samoa all rose by 16 spots.

Notably, upcoming USWNT opponent Paraguay saw the largest drop in this month's Top 50, sliding five spots to No. 46.

Ultimately, as the USWNT battled to keep pace in a year of roster experimentation — and without a major competition on the team's 2025 docket — the many international competitions in Europe benefitted victors and challenged losers in this week's FIFA rankings update.

The No. 16 USC Trojans are gearing up for another top-ranked test, hosting the reigning national champion No. 1 UConn Huskies in the weekend's flashiest NCAA women's basketball matchup on Saturday.

Coming off their second ranked win of the season, USC topped No. 20 Washington 59-50 last Sunday, with 22 points and 12 rebounds from freshman Jazzy Davidson helping pull the Trojans to a 7-2 record.

"I saw a resolve in our team," said head coach Lindsay Gottlieb afterwards. "I knew we could get the next stop, I knew we could get the next play."

USC will face a particularly familiar foe against the Huskies — this time without sidelined star junior JuJu Watkins — after UConn knocked the Trojans out of the NCAA tournament two years in a row.

Notably, sophomore guard Kayleigh Heckel departed USC over the summer for the Huskies, with the former Trojan averaging 7.7 points per game entering Saturday's clash with her old team.

"I just try to take one game at a time, but I'm excited to go back," Heckel said ahead of her first trip back to LA since transferring. "I had a great freshman year there, and I learned a lot, and it was a great experience, a lot of fond memories. So I'm looking forward to it."

How to watch No. 1 UConn vs. No. 16 USC on Saturday

The Trojans will host the Huskies with tip-off set for 5:30 PM ET on Saturday.

Live coverage of the clash will air on FOX.