Sports

The Caitlin Clark Rules

Published

2 months ago

June 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

You’re reading The Sporting Scene, Louisa Thomas’s weekly look at the world of sports.

There was a way, for a while, to beat Michael Jordan: by beating him up. The Detroit Pistons did it year after year, deploying a defensive scheme that involved trapping him over and over, shoving him through screens, bullying him through picks, sending two or three bodies on him, and knocking him off balance, off his shot, off his cool. They called their strategy the Jordan Rules.

It was smart. Jordan was unquestionably the best player in the league, unstoppable on his own terms, but the Pistons eliminated the Chicago Bulls from the playoffs three years in a row. There was a personal edge to the strategy, too. Jordan was a talent of historic proportions, and the most popular player in the game. But he was also human, with his share (and more) of foibles and appetites, and he pissed off a lot of people—partly by his actions, and partly just by being Michael Jordan. Isiah Thomas, the Pistons’ leader, reportedly organized a plan to keep the ball away from Jordan during the 1985 All-Star Game, when Jordan was a rookie, because the veterans were jealous of all the attention that Jordan was already getting, and wanted to send a message that he had to wait his turn. The Freeze-Out Game, as it came to be known, was probably more of a media concoction than the full truth—Thomas had always denied it—but there’s no question that Jordan used such slights, or his perception of them, as fuel.

The N.B.A. back then was a niche entertainment—beloved by some, but financially tenuous, at times moribund. A few players and rivalries had broken through into the popular consciousness—particularly Magic Johnson and Larry Bird—but, as late as 1986, playoff games were shown on tape delay rather than aired live. Jordan changed everything. By the time the sportswriter Sam Smith published a book about the Bulls’ 1990-91 season, in which Jordan and the Bulls finally broke the Pistons’ stranglehold on the Eastern Conference, Jordan was one of the most famous men on the planet. Smith called his book “The Jordan Rules.” The title alluded not only to the way the Pistons defended him but also to the accommodations that the Bulls made for their star, on account of the special status he had in the league. He was a phenomenon, as unique a cultural figure as the sport has seen. But he couldn’t have done it alone. The Jordan Rules weren’t Jordan’s rules. He didn’t write them.

On Tuesday night, Caitlin Clark was poked in the eye by the Connecticut Sun guard Jacy Sheldon, who crowded Clark as she reeled; she pushed Sheldon, and then was rammed to the ground by Sheldon’s teammate Marina Mabrey. Clark had been shoved and grabbed all night, and had done a little shoving herself; much of it had escaped the censure of the refs, which set the scene for the scrums that followed. By the end of the night, there had been five technical fouls and two flagrant fouls issued, and three players had been ejected. (One of the five technicals was later upgraded to a flagrant foul.) Everyone agreed that the referees should have kept tighter control of the game. The low quality of officiating has been an ongoing problem for the W.N.B.A. But that’s not what triggered the news alerts that followed. It was seeing Clark get pushed around, again.

The image of Clark burying absurd three-pointers off the dribble and on the run—as she did in that game against the Sun, and as she had done three days before in a win against the defending champions, the New York Liberty, who had previously been undefeated—is one of the most inspiring things in all of sports. And the media and online chatter that surrounds Clark is one of the most depressing. A lot of that discussion (a polite word for it) centers on whether Clark is overly targeted by her opponents, and why. Social media is flooded with compilations of her being whacked and hitting the deck.

For longtime fans of the league, and, it seems, for more than a few people in and around it, the context of all that contact is important. The league is “very physical,” these tenured fans explain to the new ones (or “casuals”). Players, especially rookies, get this treatment all the time. And Clark is a very good player—a great one—but she’s not on the level of A’ja Wilson, or Breanna Stewart, or Napheesa Collier, at least not yet. Failing to recognize this context, these fans suggest, is a kind of erasure: it diminishes the history of a league that has long been full of great players, most of them Black and many of them queer.

Even some of Clark’s biggest supporters are careful to consider her as a key figure in the long progression of the sport, rather than as a sui-generis phenomenon. The sports journalist Howard Megdal, founder of the Next, an online outlet that focusses on women’s basketball, recently wrote a book about Clark that goes deep on the history of basketball in Iowa, where she’s from. In Megdal’s telling, Clark—with her charisma, her all-American backstory, her reasonable handling of such fraught circumstances, and yes, her race—is helping to supercharge a surge of interest in women’s basketball that was already well under way. And there’s plenty of evidence to back that view. W.N.B.A. ratings have been rising for years. The sport was succeeding and finding new audiences despite egregious underinvestment. Although Clark is clearly the league’s biggest draw, ratings have been breaking records even when she doesn’t play. The owners of the Golden State Warriors paid a fifty-million-dollar expansion fee to join the league in 2023 before Clark had joined the pros. Just a few years earlier, teams were selling for about a fifth of that. The Golden State Valkyries’ valuation now is projected to be nearly ten times that—in some part because of the attention Clark has brought to the sport, but not because she fills the stands at the Chase Center, in San Francisco, every night. The Valkyries are projected to bring in fifty-five million dollars in revenue from sponsorships and ticket sales this year alone, far more than Clark’s team, the Indiana Fever, raked in last year. They are succeeding because they are resourced and marketed like an actual professional sports team.

To others, any effort to downplay Clark’s individual appeal is preposterous. “As the most promising day in the history of the WNBA arrives, the American cultural spotlight shines brighter than it ever has on a female athlete in a team sport, and on the possibility she brings to lift basketball and all women’s sports to a place they have never been,” the USA Today columnist Christine Brennan wrote, ahead of Clark’s league début. “But the glare of that bright and sometimes harsh light hasn’t fixed on the magical Caitlin Clark alone. Over the past couple of weeks, it has focused on the players who have come before her, some of whom strangely appear to be having trouble accepting and dealing with her fame, even as they will benefit greatly from it.” Brennan, whose book about Clark, “On Her Game,” will be published in early July, believes that the W.N.B.A. is fumbling the ball by not more aggressively promoting Clark. After the scuffles between the Fever and the Sun on Tuesday, Brennan suggested that the W.N.B.A. needed to protect its most popular player. “This happened last night to the most important audience magnet and TV and corporate draw in the history of a business (WNBA) that is desperately trying to advance and succeed in a very crowded, male-dominated sports marketplace,” she wrote on X, quote-tweeting a video of the altercation captioned “This league treats her like a punching bag.”

Brennan has been writing about women’s sports for decades, and, like Megdal, she tries to place Clark’s ascendance in context. But her history highlights the success of Title IX and of the U.S. women’s soccer team, along with Iowa, and her argument is that Clark is a singular figure. In this view, Clark is a living revolution, a rupture in the history of women’s basketball and maybe in all of women’s sports. And there’s evidence to support this view, too. Twice as many people watched the W.N.B.A. draft last year, when Clark was drafted, compared with this year, for instance. Ratings and attendance when Clark plays are significantly higher than when she does not. (Her games averaged more than a million viewers last season; the league’s other games averaged less than half that.) No other player in the history of women’s basketball comes remotely close to her celebrity. It’s hard to think of an analogue who drives such a high percentage of interest in attention in any other team sport. “When will these ladies realize, accept, and appreciate @CaitlinClark22 is the best thing that ever happened to women’s basketball,” the tennis legend Chris Evert wrote on X, quoting one of Brennan’s tweets.

“Yeah, she gets targeted,” the former Celtics player and N.B.A. Hall of Famer Paul Pierce said, on Kevin Garnett’s podcast, after the matchup between the Fever and the Sun. “It’s like Jordan got targeted,” he went on. “The ‘Jordan Rules.’ They had the ‘Jordan Rules.’ When you’re so good, yeah, you’re gonna get targeted. It just is what it is.”

It’s an obvious comp, even if Clark hasn’t yet achieved the kind of success that Jordan eventually achieved. And the comparison can be extended, giving us another way to think about Clark. Was Jordan inevitable, or was he sui generis? Does he deserve the credit for the explosion of interest in the N.B.A. around the world, or was he a talented player in the right place at the right time? It’s an interesting question, but it’s one that, thirty years later—and in the wake of reports that the Los Angeles Lakers are being sold at a valuation of ten billion dollars, months after the Boston Celtics sold for six billion, which had been a high-water mark for any team sale in the United States—seems very much beside the point. The league became a juggernaut. No star could quite match Jordan, but that hardly mattered. They burned bright enough. And the idea that the Pistons, or any of his opponents, should have thanked Jordan at the time is more than ridiculous. For one thing, Jordan wouldn’t have become Jordan without their spite.

Clark has lately been bulking up, as Jordan once did. She spent the off-season in the weight room, doing single-leg plyometrics so that she couldn’t be knocked off balance as easily. Her arms are jacked now. She knows the game plan against her. Her own coach, Stephanie White, helped to write it—she coached the Sun last year, when the team knocked the Fever out of the playoffs, before coming to the Fever in the off-season.

There is a Midwestern wholesomeness to Clark; it’s part of her broad appeal. But she can be ornery and just as competitive as Jordan was (even if the stories about her compulsions—so far, at least—involve Halloween candy rather than gambling). Along with those videos of Clark getting mauled on the court, there are popular online clips decoding her trash talk. We don’t yet know if the animus that Clark faces—whether it’s professional or personal, whether it’s race-related or not—will activate her. All that bumping and bruising puts her at a higher risk of injury and exhaustion. Playing against the Valkyries, on Thursday night, two days after the Sun game, she was held to two points in the first half, and missed all seven of her three-point-shot attempts. But she has also shown an electric ability to turn defeat, and doubt, into motivation. After Clark was left off the U.S. Olympic team—an omission that Brennan holds up as evidence that the old guard is out to get her—her scoring and playmaking exploded, and she dragged the Fever, which had lost nine of its first eleven games, into the playoffs. As Megdal writes, when U.S.A. Basketball left Clark off the team, “The best possible thing happened for Clark and the Fever.” She seems to take special pleasure not only in scoring but in making a show of her dominance, and of proving herself.

One of the themes of Smith’s “Jordan Rules” is that Jordan needed his teammates to win. The Bulls needed to exploit the space that all the attention on Jordan left open. But Jordan also needed the Pistons; he needed the doubters to drive him, and he needed the bumps to make him strong. I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up saying the same of Clark. They are both, as the former N.B.A. commissioner David Stern said of Jordan, “at once credible and incredible,” both tied to this earth and seemingly transcending it, part of history and engaged, thrillingly, in its disruption. ♦

Sports

UC Davis Athletics Announces Fall ESPN+ Broadcasts

Story Links DAVIS, Calif. — UC Davis Athletics has announced its ESPN+ streaming schedule for the upcoming fall sports season, with 31 games set to air from Aug. 14 through Nov. 22, 2025. Coverage includes selected contests from women’s soccer, men’s soccer, field hockey, men’s water polo, football, and women’s volleyball. Women’s […]

Published

2 minutes ago

August 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

DAVIS, Calif. — UC Davis Athletics has announced its ESPN+ streaming schedule for the upcoming fall sports season, with 31 games set to air from Aug. 14 through Nov. 22, 2025.
Coverage includes selected contests from women’s soccer, men’s soccer, field hockey, men’s water polo, football, and women’s volleyball. Women’s soccer will kick off the streaming schedule on Aug. 14, with additional broadcasts for the aforementioned sports spanning through late November.

The streaming lineup provides convenient access for Aggie fans and supporters, enhancing visibility for UC Davis Athletics programs throughout the fall.

ESPN+ Fall Streaming Schedule:
Women’s Soccer:

Aug. 14 vs. Fresno State

Aug. 21 vs. San Jose State

Sept. 4 vs. Saint Mary’s

Sept. 14 vs. Montana

Sept. 25 vs. UC Santa Barbara

Sept. 28 vs. Cal Poly

Oct. 12 vs. Long Beach State

Men’s Soccer:

Sept. 3 vs. Saint Mary’s

Sept. 13 vs. Seattle University

Sept. 18 vs. Pacific

Sept. 24 vs. San Jose State

Oct. 8 vs. UC Santa Barbara

Oct. 18 vs. UC Riverside

Field Hockey:

Sept. 5 vs. Ball State

Sept. 11 vs. Ohio

Sept. 12 vs. Michigan

Men’s Water Polo:

Sept. 6 vs. Stanford

Sept. 6 vs. San Jose State

Oct. 17 vs. Fullerton

Football:

Sept. 20 vs. Southern Utah

Sept. 27 vs. Weber State

Oct. 11 vs. Northern Arizona

Nov. 1 vs. Idaho State

Nov. 22 vs. Sacramento State

Women’s Volleyball:

Oct. 2 vs. Fullerton

Oct. 4 vs. UC Irvine

Oct. 9 vs. UC San Diego

Oct. 23 vs. UC Santa Barbara

Oct. 28 vs. UC Riverside

Oct. 30 vs. Hawai’i

Nov. 20 vs. CSUN

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Sports

DWU Volleyball Slotted Fifth in GPAC Preseason Poll, Receive Votes Nationally

SIOUX CITY, IA — The Dakota Wesleyan volleyball team was picked to finish fifth in the 2025 Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Coaches Preseason Poll, the GPAC announced this morning. Dakota Wesleyan received 77 points after finishing 13-16 (7-9 GPAC) last year with a trip to the conference tournament. Concordia has been picked to win the […]

Published

17 minutes ago

August 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

SIOUX CITY, IA — The Dakota Wesleyan volleyball team was picked to finish fifth in the 2025 Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Coaches Preseason Poll, the GPAC announced this morning.

Dakota Wesleyan received 77 points after finishing 13-16 (7-9 GPAC) last year with a trip to the conference tournament. Concordia has been picked to win the conference with 117 votes, while Northwestern is the projected runner-up with 115 votes. The Tigers also received votes (10 total points) in the NAIA’s 2025 preseason volleyball poll, being named amongst 27 other schools who just missed out on the top 25.

DWU will open the season on the road with its first trip in Valley City, ND, where they will face Valley City State and Dickinson State. The Tigers will open up at home on September 6th against Waldorf.

For full GPAC Release, click here. The NAIA’s preseason top 25 can be viewed here.

All things DWU Volleyball, click here.

Don’t forget to follow Dakota Wesleyan University Athletics across all social media platforms! #RollTige

FACEBOOK / TWITTER/X / INSTAGRAM

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Sports

Chamov hired as women’s track and field assistant coach

Arkansas women’s head coach Chris Johnson announced the hiring of Iliyan Chamov (Il-e-an Cham-ov) as an assistant coach with the Razorback track and field program. Chamov has been an assistant coach at Missouri the past 10 seasons working with the men’s and women’s jumpers and combined events. Previously, he was an assistant coach at Southern […]

Published

30 minutes ago

August 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Arkansas women’s head coach Chris Johnson announced the hiring of Iliyan Chamov (Il-e-an Cham-ov) as an assistant coach with the Razorback track and field program.

Chamov has been an assistant coach at Missouri the past 10 seasons working with the men’s and women’s jumpers and combined events. Previously, he was an assistant coach at Southern Illinois at Edwardsville (2013-15) as well as NAIA school Lindenwood (2009-11).

“It’s exciting, it’s the best program in the country, the best program in the world,” noted Chamov. “Of course, I have big shoes to fill, but that makes it more exciting. I’m very eager to start working.”

Johnson noted: “We’re fortunate to get Iliyan, he has a plethora of experience being in the SEC while at Missouri. He’s tireless recruiter, and a really, really good coach. He’s going to help us in the vertical jumps as well as the horizontal jumps along with the multi. So, it gives the rest of the staff some relief from having to do all those things.

“He’s going to bring that knowledge and a recruiting expertise to the University of Arkansas. I think he did a fantastic job during this time at Missouri with plenty of All-Americans and conference champions. He’s going to help our program continue to fill out and be the program we want it to be, and that’s being very balanced.”

Over his time frame as an assistant coach, athletes coached by Chamov have totaled 57 All-America honors (first and second team), 14 conference champions with seven titles attained in the SEC, along with a NCAA champion and seven NAIA champions.

The 2025 season produced the national champion as Jonathan Seremes won the NCAA Indoor triple jump and SEC Indoor titles while Kristi Perez-Snyman claimed the SEC Outdoor women’s high jump. Chamov coached athletes earned five first-team All-America honors this past season.

“The SEC is the most competitive conference in the country and I’ve been rubbing shoulders with Arkansas the entire time I was with Missouri,” said Chamov. “We came here for a lot competitions while I was at Mizzou and I had the pleasure to experience the quality of the facilities and the quality of the team.

“I’ve known the coaches for quite a long time and they show a lot of quality on their end. That’s what makes it even more exciting, because now we’re going to be coaching together to win championships.”

Chamov, who hails from Yambol, Bulgaria, is a 2006 graduate of the University of Ruse in Bulgaria, where he earned a physical therapy degree. He is also a 2012 graduate of Lindenwood University (St. Charles, Mo.), where he earned his undergraduate degree in athletic training and a master’s in human performance.

The experience of being an international athlete himself helps Chamov during the recruiting process.

“It’s very beneficial,” noted Chamov. “A lot of international athletes leave their countries, family, friends, environment, and culture just to get to an education and better opportunities to compete.

“I believe I bring a lot on the table with that because I’ve walked through that path in the past and I know exactly how they feel. I can assist them through the process and give them an opportunity to be a better student-athlete.”

Johnson noted that Chamov is a fourth generation coach within his family and his mother coaches in Europe.

“That piece of it is really going to help us,” said Johnson. “He’s very much on top of it and his wife is from France, so they’re intertwined in the European network. That’s going to help us in recruiting and being able to acquire some kids from Europe.”

Upon graduation from Lindenwood, Chamov became an assistant coach at his alma mater and led the Lions to tremendous success in the NAIA. He mentored seven national champions and 16 All-Americans.

For his success as an athlete and a coach, Chamov was inducted into the Lindenwood Hall of Fame in 2014.

Chamov and his wife, Celia, have a daughter, Noami Essi-Petya, who was born in November of 2018. Celia was a six-time NAIA champion at Lindenwood.

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Sports

Volleyball Welcomes Seven Additions Ahead of 2025 Season

Story Links CHARLESTON – With the 2025 pre-season underway, Head Coach Carry Brown and the Charleston Southern volleyball staff have been pleased with the seven new additions who joined the program this off-season. #1 Emersyn Reiter | Outside Hitter | Freshman | 6’0″ | Mooresville, NC | Lake Norman High School Of […]

Published

40 minutes ago

August 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

CHARLESTON – With the 2025 pre-season underway, Head Coach Carry Brown and the Charleston Southern volleyball staff have been pleased with the seven new additions who joined the program this off-season.

Of all seven new additions to this year’s VolleyBuc roster, no one has had their eyes set on being a Buccaneer longer than Emersyn Reiter. Reiter originally committed to play at Charleston Southern in April of 2024, and just a few months after that commitment, the Lake Norman High School star accumulated 222 kills, 71 digs, and 19 service aces during her senior campaign.

When asked about her true freshman outside hitter, Head Coach Carry Brown touched on the mental components Reiter brings to the program.

“Emersyn has a competitive fire that we need in a freshman. What she brings to our program is heart, passion, and a determination to improve. I have been waiting to coach her for a long time, now the moment is here… I know she will do great things here at CSU!”

One of two Polish additions to the 2025 squad, Ola Matusiak has arrived in Charleston to begin her collegiate volleyball career. Before making her way to the United States for the first time this August, Matusiak collected highly competitive volleyball experience in her home country of Poland. Last year, she played for one of the Top-8 clubs in Poland’s 19U division (LKS Lódz). She also won the team championship and tournament MVP award in her Polish equivalent of a state (Lodzkie Voivodeship).

Matusiak is also the tallest setter on record in Charleston Southern program history (6’2″). Head Coach Carry Brown made note of Matusiak’s size being one the strongest attributes her Polish freshman brings to the table entering this season.

“Ola’s height and hands will be great assets to our program… she collected a ton of experience playing top level and highly competitive volleyball in Poland.”

The tallest player on this year’s roster, Emma Bednarek arrived in the Lowcountry in the Spring of 2025. With her comes a wealth of on-court, collegiate volleyball experience. The Argentina-native played in 247 sets during her time at Trinity Valley Community College in Texas, and not only was she on the court, she was an impressive contributor on the stat sheet. As a sophomore, her 139 total blocks ranked 9th in the country (NJCAA Division 1) as well as 23rd in the hitting percentage category (0.335).

Bednarek’s physical attributes and history of being successful around the net were highlighted by her new head coach, Carry Brown.

“Emma brings size and a solid block to our program. She can attack any kind of set anywhere at the net. We have seen tremendous growth in her game after only being here for a few months.”

Another Spring 2025 addition, Manon Braunsteffer, has joined Coach Brown’s program after dominating the junior college ranks. During her two-year stint with the Monroe University Mustangs, Braunsteffer recorded 450 kills, 156 total blocks, and 68 digs, yet her most impressive statistic as an underclassman was her hitting percentage. In 2022, Braunsteffer led the nation (NJCAA Division 1) in the category posting a 0.438 mark on 484 attempts. Following that performance up in 2023, Braunsteffer again finished top-three in the country with a 0.397 mark on 406 tries.

Off of the volleyball court, Braunsteffer is also an avid traveler. Although one of her new teammates, Emma Bednarek, is the South American representative on the 2025 roster, Braunsteffer cited that portion of the globe as being home to one of her favorite recent travels, Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Brazil.

When asked about what her French-blocker brings to the roster this season, Head Coach Carry Brown brought up several characteristics.

“Manon brings physical strength, a quick arm swing, and solid blocking ability to our front line. She is a true competitor who I’ve enjoyed seeing stack up against our other experienced players.”

A Chicago-native and Marist High School graduate, Cara McLean committed to play for Charleston Southern in March of 2025.

Attention to detail and competitive energy were two of the areas Head Coach Carry Brown highlighted in regards to McLean.

“Cara’s is an outright competitor… her last year in high school, she led her program to a 4A state championship in Illinois. Her work ethic and attention to detail really rounds out our setter position group.”

Committing to the VolleyBucs back in February of this year, Laila Hilton is excited to finally be in the Holy City playing for Carry Brown‘s volleyball program. The Denver, Colorado native played her first two seasons down in South Georgia at Fort Valley State University. At FVSU, Hilton received valuable on-court experience as she appeared in 151 sets through the two seasons. As a freshman, her 167 kills ranked second on the 2023 Wildcat roster.

Hilton’s talent on the volleyball court, in addition to her academic excellence and history of volunteer leadership work, makes her an ideal addition to what Head Coach Carry Brown is building her program to be at Charleston Southern.

“My first thought when I think about Laila is how good of a teammate and person she is. She works endlessly to improve her skill set which sets a great example and helps her teammates do the same… her volleyball IQ and college volleyball experience on top of all that makes her an outstanding transfer addition to our program,” said Coach Brown.

The oldest of Coach Brown’s additions to the 2025 roster is Oliwia “Liv” Durka. Having played at nearly all levels of college volleyball (NC State, Dodge City Community College, and St. Leo University), Durka brings a wealth of experience to the Buc Dome. Most recently, as a senior at St. Leo, the Szczecin, Poland native ranked first on her team in kills (274) and third in both blocks (37) and service aces (27).

Durka has already noticeably taken freshman, Ola Matusiak under her wing as she herself was a true freshman from Poland just four years ago.

Experience was the number one quality highlighted by Head Coach Carry Brown when asked what Durka brings to this year’s group.

“Liv’s experience across all levels of college volleyball is going to be tremendously valuable for us. When crunch time situations arise this season, her detailed understanding of the game will be utilized.”

Charleston Southern will open the regular season on August 29th as they host the 2025 Buc Dome Invitational. Their first official match-up of the year will be at 12:30 PM against Loyola Maryland.

For all the most up-to-date coverage involving CSU Volleyball, follow us on Instagram and X/Twitter @csubucs_vb.

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Sports

Defending National Champion Opens 2025 Season at No. 1

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Indiana Wesleyan headlines the Top 25 Poll to kick off the 2025 women’s volleyball season after successfully defending its title in 2024. The Wildcats also received all 19 possible first-place votes. The 2025 women’s volleyball season officially starts on Friday, Aug. 15, when teams will begin their pursuit of winning the […]

Published

46 minutes ago

August 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Indiana Wesleyan headlines the Top 25 Poll to kick off the 2025 women’s volleyball season after successfully defending its title in 2024. The Wildcats also received all 19 possible first-place votes.

The 2025 women’s volleyball season officially starts on Friday, Aug. 15, when teams will begin their pursuit of winning the Battle for the Red Banner in Sioux City, Iowa.

1. Indiana Wesleyan, 540 points

2024 Record: 37-2

Week 1: Aug. 21-22 home tournament, facing MidAmerican Nazarene (Kan.), Columbia (Mo.), and Concordia (Neb.)

Stat to know: received 19 first-place votes. Enters the season with a 34-game win streak. Won second consecutive title.

2. Bellevue (Neb.), 522 points

2024 Record: 32-5

Week 1: Aug. 22 Hope International Slam, facing College of Idaho, Southern Oregon, Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio)

Stat to know: is in the Top 5 of active ratings streaks with 44 consecutive appearances in the ratings prior to today’s poll

3. Corban (Ore.), 493 points

2024 Record: 27-6

Week 1: Aug. 21-22 MBU Spartan Invitational, facing St. Thomas (Fla.), Viterbo (Wis.), Midland (Neb.) & Missouri Baptist

Stat to know: opens season with a roster boasting six key returners, as the team only graduated three starters after 2024 season

4. Concordia (Neb.), 473 points

2024 Record: 27-4

Week 1: Aug. 16 Home vs York (Neb.); Aug. 21-22 Indiana Wesleyan Tournament, facing Columbia (Mo.), MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), Indiana Wesleyan

Stat to know: returns two NAIA All-Americans in Ashley Keck & Gabi Nordaker

5. Eastern Oregon, 459 points

2024 Record: 31-5

Week 1: Aug. 21-22 Montana Tech Tournament, facing Montana State-Northern, William Carey (Miss.), Providence (Mont.), Taylor (Ind.)

Stat to know: The Mounties only losses in 2024 were to Cascade Collegiate Conference teams but they are picked as the No. 2 in the conference to open the season.

6. Southern Oregon, 439 points

2024 Record: 32-4

Week 1: Aug. 15-16 Raider Invitational, facing Simpson (Calif.), Park Gilbert (Ariz.), Arizona Christian

Stat to know: advanced to the semifinals for the first time in school history, where its run ended with a loss to the eventual national champion

7. Northwestern (Iowa), 423 points

2024 Record: 32-1

Week 1: Aug. 22 Siouxland Invitational, facing Spartanburg Methodist (S.C.), Valley City State (N.D.), McPherson (Kan.), Missouri Valley

Stat to know: Was working on an undefeated season until they were surprised in championship pool play by Montana Western for the team’s first loss of the season. The Red Raiders look to have another strong season with top returners Zavyr Metzger, Emma Westphal, Maddy Sampson, Logan Miller & Liv Reitsma.

8. IU Kokomo (Ind.), 382 points

2024 Record: 33-6

Week 1: Aug. 20 Home vs Bethel (Ind.)

Stat to know: returns their two top players in Lexi Broyles and Mya Grigsby.

9. St. Thomas (Fla.), 374 points

2024 Record: 33-1

Week 1: Aug. 15 Southeastern (Fla.) Tournament, facing Reinhardt (Ga.) & Point (Ga.)

Stat to know: Advanced out of pool play for the first time in 2024 and graduated five players that contributed significantly to the team’s previous success, but reloads with three freshmen and three transfers.

10. Providence (Mont.), 351

2024 Record: 27-7

Week 1: Aug. 22 Big Sky Challenge, facing Nelson (Texas), Eastern Oregon, Evergreen State (Wash.), Taylor (Ind.)

Stat to know: UP won the Frontier Conference regular season & championship and will look to defend their conference titles with new teams added to the league this season

RANK	INSTITUTION	RECORD	POINTS
11	Montana Western	25-10	317
12	McPherson (Kan.)	30-7	317
13	Oklahoma Wesleyan	31-4	308
14	Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio)	31-5	290
15	Aquinas (Mich.)	40-3	277
16	Viterbo (Wis.)	26-11	261
17	Montana Tech	20-12	236
18	College of Idaho (Idaho)	22-14	209
19	Missouri Baptist	27-12	208
20	Midland (Neb.)	18-13	192
21	Nelson (Texas)	31-6	188
22	Marian (Ind.)	25-9	184
23	The Master’s (Calif.)	21-8	131
24	William Carey (Miss.)	29-11	91
25	Central Methodist (Mo.)	RV	85

Receiving Votes: Columbia (Mo.) 62, Texas Wesleyan 52, Morningside (Iowa) 44, Grace (Ind.) 35, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 34, Dakota State (S.D.) 31, CIU (S.C.) 31, Park (Mo.) 31, Indiana Tech 29, Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 21, Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 18, Benedictine (Kan.) 18, Oregon Tech 17, Cornerstone (Mich.) 16, Bushnell (Ore.) 15, Reinhardt (Ga.) 15, Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 10, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 8, Taylor (Ind.) 7, Rio Grande (Ohio) 7, Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) 6, Cumberlands (Ky.) 6, St. Ambrose (Iowa) 5, Carroll (Mont.) 4, Valley City State (N.D.) 3, OUAZ (Ariz.) 2

Poll Methodology

The national poll is for publicity purposes only and does not influence the selection process for national championship consideration.
A panel of head coaches representing each conference and the Continental Athletic Conference (Independents) votes in the poll.
The Top 25 teams are selected using a points-based system:
- 30 points for a 1st-place vote, 29 for 2nd, 28 for 3rd, and so on.
The highest and lowest rankings received by each team are discarded before final tallying.
Teams receiving only one point are not listed as “receiving votes.”
For the Preseason Poll, there is no “previous ranking” column since it is the initial poll and differs from the prior rating system.

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Cardinal Mooney volleyball sets sights on state tournament

The Cardinal Mooney volleyball team has established itself as one of the premier programs in Southwest Florida since winning a state championship in 2019. After graduating four seniors from last year’s 22-5 team that made it to a regional final, however, some might wonder if the Cougars can stay on top. That doubt could work […]

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1 hour ago

August 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The Cardinal Mooney volleyball team has established itself as one of the premier programs in Southwest Florida since winning a state championship in 2019.

After graduating four seniors from last year’s 22-5 team that made it to a regional final, however, some might wonder if the Cougars can stay on top.

That doubt could work in Cardinal Mooney’s favor this fall.

“I think people are maybe expecting us to have a drop off, but I don’t think that’s going to happen this year,” senior setter Layla Larrick said. “We have a bunch of good talent. We just have to figure out how it’s going to mesh together.”

Cardinal Mooney graduated three of its top four hitters from last year in Izzy Russell, Riley Greene and Zoe Kirby as well as Katie Powers, the team leader in digs.

That’s a tough loss for any team, but it could wind up creating a better, and more unpredictable offense for opposing teams to stop.

There are talented returners to lead the transition.

Charlee Hermann, a 6-foot-2 hitter who had the team’s second-most kills last season, is back along with the setter, Larrick and right side Sydney Sparma (fifth-most kills, third-most digs).

Junior outside hitter Charlee Hermann is expected to be Cardinal Mooney's top offensive player following the graduation of three top hitters from last year's team. — Junior outside hitter Charlee Hermann is expected to be Cardinal Mooney’s top offensive player following the graduation of three top hitters from last year’s team.

Another returner is Kelsey Fisher, a 5-foot-10 senior outside hitter who didn’t play indoor volleyball in 2024, but was a part of the beach volleyball team’s No. 1 pairing alongside Russell this past spring.

“My coach in Tampa (Jeff Lamp) and coach (Allan Knight) are best friends, and there was a little bit of talking going on,” Fisher said. “Indoor is my first love, and I decided to come back. It’s my last year, so I might as well have fun.”

Some newcomers have players and coaches excited as well.

Sophomore Brooke Gruhl transferred in from Venice, where she had 697 assists last season for an Indians team that went 14-10 and made it to a regional final.

Outside hitter Gracie Cody is the team’s only freshman, but is already turning heads.

“She’s honestly impressed me the most,” Larrick said of Cody. “I’ve never seen a more mature freshman before. She hits the ball really hard. She has a few mechanicals to work on, but once she gets those down, she’ll be a really good player when she gets older.”

With a mix of returners, newcomers, seniors and underclassmen, coach Knight views depth as the strength of his 2025 team.

It may take time, however, for Knight and his staff to figure out how these players work together and in what rotations.

“I think we have a lot of really good young talent on this team, but we’ve also picked up a few players from here and there, and that’s also strengthened our depth as well,” Knight said. “With our returning talent, our young developed talent and some new players on our squad, I think we’re right back where we were, as strong as ever.”

Junior right-side player Sydney Sparma is back as a veteran for a young Cougars team.

Players have classes together, sit together at lunch, share jokes over team meals and constantly communicate via the team’s group chat.

“In our team group chat, we are already making jokes with each other and some of us have known each other for like a week,” Sparma said. “We are already very friendly with each other, which is a big part of a sport that involves a lot of communication with each other on the court.”

Knight will test his new team early and often.

Cardinal Mooney will play teams such as Port Charlotte (Class 5A state semifinals in 2024), Tampa Prep (2A Region-2 final in 2024), and play in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Gainesville, all within the first month of the season.

The district, however, will be the Cougars’ to lose.

District opponents include Avon Park (16-9 in 2024, lost to Cardinal Mooney 3-0 in district tournament), Lake Placid (9-15 in 2024) and Sarasota Military Academy (7-10 in 2024).

If Cardinal Mooney can win that district, the regular season won’t matter much beyond being a test for another run at a regional championship.

“I think we are right on that same path that we were on last year,” Knight said. “It’s our goal to make it past our region and get to states, and I think this is the team that can do it, but we have a very competitive region. Some of our goals are very short-term and some are long-term. We want to get a feel of what we have and what’s going to work best for us.”

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