Sports

Title IX Violations Cited in Letter to Reinstatement Cal Poly Swim

Published

6 months ago

June 29, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Title IX Violations Cited in Letter to Reinstatement Cal Poly Swim

Citing Title IX Violations, Champion Women Sends Demand Letter for Reinstatement of Cal Poly Women’s Swimming

Several months after Cal Poly announced it was cutting its swimming programs, citing the House Settlement as the reason, Champion Women and Equity IX Sports Law have sent a letter to the university’s president demanding the women’s program is reinstated. Champion Women, headed by Olympic swimming gold medalist Nancy Hogshead, and Equity IX Sports Law, spearheaded by Leigh Ernst, have notified the school that its athletics department is not in compliance with Title IX.

The demand letter was sent to Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong. Additionally, the organization forwarded multiple documents that statistically show where Cal Poly is not in compliance with Title IX. Those documents, compiled by Cal Poly swimmers, can be found below.

Champion Women – Title IX Statistics
Cal Poly Facts & Information Sheet (Compiled by Champion Women)

Recently, Armstrong announced that fundraising efforts by members of the swim teams and alumni did not meet the necessary support required to reinstatement the Cal Poly swim programs. Armstrong will now have to answer to why the school is out of Title IX compliance, but has opted to cut a women’s athletics program.

Here is the letter sent to Cal Poly President Armstrong by Champion Women and Equity IX Sports Law:

Dear President Armstrong,

We have been retained by members of the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (“Cal Poly”) Women’s Swimming & Diving Team (“Women’s Swimming”) to address concerns regarding gender-based inequities within the university’s athletic programs.

We respectfully request that Cal Poly take the necessary actions to ensure both immediate and long-term compliance with applicable state and federal laws. We urge your prompt attention to this matter and look forward to discussing potential solutions with you.

Elimination of Women’s Swimming – Violation of Title IX

On March 7, 2025, you publicly released “Letter from President Armstrong on Budget and Organizational Changes,” which announced that both Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Programs (“Programs”) would be “discontinued effective immediately.”

The elimination of Women’s Swimming is a violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”). Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs and activities, including athletics, for institutions that receive federal financial assistance.1 Title IX’s implementing regulations further specify that:

“[n]o person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, be treated differently from another person or otherwise be discriminated against in any interscholastic, intercollegiate, club or intramural athletics offered by a recipient, and no recipient shall provide any such athletics separately on such basis.” 34 C.F.R. § 106.41(a).

This provision clearly mandates that Cal Poly must offer equitable athletic opportunities, and the elimination of Women’s Swimming on March 7, 2025, violates that mandate. Below are facts, data, and law that clearly demonstrate that Cal Poly cannot cut its Women’s Swimming Team. Further, Cal Poly needs to add additional women’s athletic teams.

Similarly, under California state law, discrimination on the basis of sex is prohibited in schools, and individuals are guaranteed the right of equitable treatment, benefits and an equitable opportunity to participate in all academic extracurricular activities, including athletics. Cal. Educ. Code § 221.8.2 This state provision further reinforces the protection offered under federal law, Title IX, ensuring that women have the same opportunity to participate in athletic programs as their male counterparts.

Based on available information, Cal Poly is not in compliance with Title IX or the Cal. Education Code § 221.8.

Evidence we have reviewed is clear: in Cal Poly’s athletic department, male students are receiving disproportionately more participation opportunities than female students, more athletic scholarship dollars, as well as more favorable treatment and benefits. These discrepancies directly contradict the requirement of both federal and state law, which mandates equal opportunities and equitable treatment for all students.

Equal Participation Opportunities, Equal Athletic Scholarships, & Equal Treatment and Benefits

Title IX prohibits three broad categories of discrimination against student-athletes based on sex. First, educational institutions must provide female students with equal athletic participation opportunities. 20 U.S.C. § 1681. Second, educational institutions must provide men and women with equal athletic scholarships.3 Third, long-standing federal law mandates female students receive equal treatment and benefits compared to their male counterparts.4

Cal Poly is engaging in all three forms of sex discrimination. Specifically, Cal Poly has failed to provide female athletes with equal participation opportunities, equal athletic scholarships, and has not ensured that female athletes receive equal treatment and benefits. These actions represent separate violations of Title IX.

Facts from the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act

According to the most recent publicly available Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (“EADA”)5 report submitted by Cal Poly to the Department of Education, in the 2023-24 academic year, Cal Poly has an undergraduate population of 10,697 men and 10,774 women, with women representing 50.2% of total undergraduate enrollment.

During that same academic year, Cal Poly’s athletic department provided men with 403 athletic opportunities and women with 296 athletic opportunities, using the duplicated count. As such, women comprised 42.35% of total athletic participation opportunities. Using the unduplicated count, Cal Poly reported 357 males and 223 female athletes, meaning women comprise just 38.45% of all Cal Poly athletes.

Again, with the duplicated count, Cal Poly would need 38.9% more athletic opportunities for women in order to equal the number of opportunities the school provides to men, or 115 more women.

Using the unduplicated count, Cal Poly would need to add 141 more female athletes to its athletic programs in order to achieve equity in athletic participation opportunities.

Additional Facts From Roster Counts on Cal Poly’s Athletics Website

In 2023 – 2024, according to a roster count from Cal Poly’s athletics’ website,6 Cal Poly gave 365 men and 237 women athletic opportunities, including swimming. According to the Cal Poly website, women that year were just 39.3% of the athletes at Cal Poly.

In 2024 – 2025, according to a roster count from Cal Poly’s athletics website, Cal Poly provided athletic opportunities to 341 men and 220 women, including swimming. Again, according to the Cal Poly website, women were just 39.2% of athletes at Cal Poly.

EADA Athletic Scholarship Data

Women athletes at Cal Poly are entitled to equal athletic scholarship allocation while participating in athletic educational opportunities.7According to the EADA’s latest data, Cal Poly needs to add $1,428,121 in athletic scholarship aid for women.

EADA Athletic Recruiting Dollars Data

Women athletes are entitled to equal treatment while participating in athletic educational opportunities, including equal recruiting.8 According to the EADA’s latest data, Cal Poly needs to add $124,327 in recruiting dollars for its women’s sports.

Title IX Liability

On March 7, 2025, Athletic Director Don Oberhelman informed members of both the men’s and women’s swimming teams that both Swimming Programs were being discontinued. During this in-person meeting on campus, Mr. Oberhelman was directly asked whether the elimination of Women’s Swimming constituted a Title IX violation. He responded by stating that cutting Women’s Swimming does not violate Title IX.

Mr. Oberhelman’s assertion is legally incorrect and reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of federal anti-discrimination law.

Even prior to the announced elimination of Swimming, Cal Poly would have needed to add 141 more female athletes to achieve compliance with Title IX.

Eliminating Men’s and Women’s Swimming cut 29 male athletes and 29 female athletes. The simultaneous discontinuation of both the Men’s and Women’s Swimming Teams, with the same number of athletes on each team, does not mitigate Cal Poly’s Title IX liability. But with women comprising 37.3% of total athletic participation, the cuts actually widened the participation gap between female enrollment and athletics participation to 12.9%.

Obviously, eliminating Women’s Swimming reduced athletic participation opportunities for women.

Here, the facts show that the gaps between men’s and women’s athletic opportunities at Cal Poly remains large. Both before and after the cuts to one or both Swimming Teams, women were not, and are not, receiving equal educational opportunities:

in the percentage of women athletes in the athletic department,
in the percentage of women athletes Cal Poly needs to add, and
in the additional number of female athletes needed to equal the opportunities it currently provides its male students.

Financial Constraints Do Not Exempt Title IX Compliance

Financial constraints or budget cuts are not a valid excuse for non-compliance with federal laws. As a federally funded institution, Cal Poly is legally required to ensure that its athletic programs provide equal opportunities and treatment for female athletes, regardless of budgetary concerns.

Your March 7, 2025 letter to the teams stated that, “Cal Poly’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs will be discontinued effective immediately. While this is disappointing news to share, the financial realities made this decision unavoidable.” On June 16, 2025, you reiterated your financial concerns, stating, that despite raising $9 million, “the fundraising effort has fallen well short of the goal to reinstate the program.”

Title IX mandates that equitable access to sports programs, and this obligation cannot be circumvented due to financial limitations. In other words, Cal Poly cannot justify discriminatory treatment based on funding sources from boosters, sponsors or other third party sources. As the Civil Rights Restoration Act made clear, Title IX prohibits discrimination in all programs and activities of an institution that receives any federal funds, regardless of how a particular program or activity is funded.9 The fact that there may be different funding sources for different teams is irrelevant to the institution’s obligation to ensure equal treatment for the male and female sports programs. According to the Office for Civil Rights Investigator’s Manual:

[W]here booster clubs provide benefits or services that assist only teams of one sex, the institution shall ensure that teams of the other sex receive equivalent benefits and services. If booster clubs provide benefits and services to athletes of one sex that are greater than what the institution is capable of providing to athletes of the other sex, then the institution shall take action to ensure that benefits and services are equivalent for both sexes.10

In Brown v. Cohen, the court noted that if funding were a sufficient defense against claims of discrimination, Congress would not have needed to enact Title IX, which aims to eliminate gender discrimination in educational programs receiving federal assistance.11

Retaliation

Title IX prohibits retaliation against any individual who complains of sex discrimination, including parents, coaches, and students, regardless of whether that person was the direct victim of discrimination in the original complaint.12

Complainants seeking to exercise their rights under Title IX are afforded both statutory and regulatory protections against retaliation. Retaliation from complaints of sex discrimination is considered “intentional conduct that violates the clear terms of [Title IX].’” Ollier v. Sweetwater Union High Sch. Dist., 858 F. Supp. 2d at 1113.

It is our understanding that Title IX and retaliation claims related to Women’s Swimming have already been filed against Cal Poly. Therefore, it is imperative that Cal Poly take all necessary steps to ensure that no member of Women’s Swimming, nor anyone associated with them (including family members, friends, their supporters, or coaches), is subjected to any form of retaliation.

Remedy – Reinstate Women’s Swimming, and

Provide Women with Equal Treatment & Benefits

We respectfully request that Cal Poly representatives meet with us to engage in productive and structured negotiations aimed at helping the university implement both immediate short and long-term changes, to ensure compliance with Title IX. Specifically, we propose the following actions:

Reinstate Women’s Swimming immediately;
Elevate Women’s Athletic Scholarships on the Swimming Team;
Ensure Women’s Swimming and all female athletes at Cal Poly receive Equal Treatment and Benefits, including Recruiting Budgets; and
Create a plan to add additional women’s teams post-haste, to provide women at Cal Poly with equal educational opportunities.

We look forward to discussing these matters with you and working toward a resolution that ensures full compliance with both federal and state law.

Please respond to this letter as soon as possible and, in any event, no later than Monday, July 7, 2025.

Sports

Nebraska Volleyball ready for NCAA Regional Final versus Texas A&M

Published

11 minutes ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Athletics) – The top-ranked Nebraska volleyball team hosts an NCAA Regional Final for the third straight year at John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Sunday. No. 1 Nebraska will face No. 6 Texas A&M at 2 p.m. on ABC.

ABOUT THE HUSKERS

• Nebraska (33-0) finished the regular season unbeaten for the third time in school history (1994 and 2000), dropping only seven sets overall and one in Big Ten play.

• Nebraska’s 33 straight wins is the second-longest win streak in school history in the NCAA era. The Huskers have won at least 33 matches in three straight seasons.

• The Huskers also hold a nation-leading home court win streak of 63 matches, tied for the second-longest home win streak in program history. Nebraska has won 29 consecutive NCAA Tournament matches played in the Devaney Center, a school record.

• The Huskers won their third straight Big Ten title with a perfect 20-0 record in conference play. It was the Huskers’ first unbeaten conference season since 2004 in the Big 12.

• Nebraska has now won 37 conference titles all-time, including six in the Big Ten (2011, 2016, 2017, 2023, 2024, 2025).

• The Huskers have won three straight conference titles for the first time since 2004-08.

• Dani Busboom Kelly became the first volleyball coach in Big Ten history to win the conference title in their first year as head coach at the school. John Cook won a Big Ten title at Nebraska in his first year in the conference in 2011, but it was his 12th season as head coach at Nebraska at the time.

• Nebraska has hit over .400 nine times this season, a school record in the rally-scoring era.

• Nebraska is 95-0 this season in sets when reaching the red zone (20 points) first.

• The Huskers have won 48 consecutive sets at home, tied for the second-longest streak in school history, trailing only the 52 consecutive home sets won spanning the 2001-02 seasons.

• NU’s offense ranks first nationally with a .355 hitting percentage. The Huskers haven’t hit better than .300 in a season since 2007 (.327). The school record for hitting percentage in a season is .331 in 1986.

• The Huskers rank first nationally in opponent hitting percentage at .121. NU led the nation in opponent hitting percentage in 2022 and 2023 and was sixth in 2024.

• The gap between Nebraska’s hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage is .234, by far the best in the nation. The next closest are American (.149), Pittsburgh (.145) and Wisconsin (.144).

• Nebraska ranks fourth nationally in kills per set at 14.69.

• The Huskers are seventh nationally in assists per set at 13.47.

• Nebraska ranks 16th nationally with 2.74 blocks per set.

• Over the last five seasons (2021-25), Dani Busboom Kelly has a 153-15 record for a .911 winning percentage, which is the best by any Division I head coach in that span.

• Nebraska is 13-0 against ranked opponents this season. The 13 victories against ranked opponents are tied for second in school history, one shy of the school record (14 in 1998).

• Nebraska played 24 sets in the month of October and went 24-0. In only two sets did an opponent reach 20 points (at Purdue – 23 in set one, and at Michigan State – 20 in set three).

• Nebraska swept 15 matches in a row and won 48 sets in a row from late September through mid-November. Both were the longest such streaks since the 2007 team swept 17 matches in a row and won 53 sets in a row.

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Pitt Advances to Fifth-Straight NCAA Volleyball Semifinal

Published

28 minutes ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – No. 1-seeded Pitt defeated Purdue in four sets on Saturday night to advance to its fifth straight NCAA Volleyball Championship Semifinal.

ACC Player of the Year Olivia Babcock was named the Pittsburgh Regional Tournament MVP for the third straight season after recording 42 kills, 12 digs and five blocks in wins over Minnesota and the Boilermakers.

Babcock joined teammates Marina Pezelj and Brooke Mosher on the 2025 Pittsburgh Regional All-Tournament team. In tonight’s win, Pezelj registered a double-double with a career-high 14 kills and 12 digs, while Mosher totaled 47 assists, four kills and four blocks.

The Panthers will take on the winner of Nebraska and Texas A&M at 6:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, December 18, at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

NCAA Volleyball Championship Results
NCAA Tournament – First and Second Rounds

Thursday, December 4
#8 UCLA 3, Georgia Tech 2
#5 Miami 3, Tulsa 1
North Carolina 3, #6 UTEP 1

Friday, December 5
#1 Pitt 3, UMBC 0
#2 Louisville 3, Loyola Chicago 0
#4 Kansas 3, #5 Miami 1
#2 SMU 3, Central Arkansas 0
#3 Wisconsin 3, North Carolina 0
#2 Stanford 3, Utah Valley 1

Saturday, December 6

#2 Louisville 3, Marquette 2

#1 Pitt 3, Michigan 0

#2 SMU 3, Florida 0

#2 Stanford 3, Arizona 1

Thursday, December 11 – Regional

#1 Pitt 3, #4 Minnesota 0

#3 Purdue 3, #2 SMU 1

Friday, December 12 – Regional

#3 Wisconsin 3, #2 Stanford 1

#3 Texas A&M 3, #2 Louisville 2

Saturday, December 13 – Regional Final

#1 Pitt 3, #3 Purdue 1

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Volleyball Ends Season With Elite Eight Loss

Published

44 minutes ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Creighton Volleyball’s first Final Four appearance will have to wait, as the No. 11 Bluejays fell in three sets at the Regional Final for a second straight season at No. 2 Kentucky on Saturday evening in Lexington, Ky. Scores of the match in favor of UK were 25-19, 25-13, 25-18.

With its 26th consecutive win, Kentucky (29-2) will play the winner of tomorrow evening’s winner between No. 3 Texas and No. 10 Wisconsin in Austin, Texas. That national semifinal will take place on Thursday night in Kansas City, Mo. Creighton ends Brian Rosen‘s first season at the helm with a 28-6 record after tasting defeat for the first time since Sept. 16

Creighton and Kentucky were tied at 14-all in the first set before Kentucky pulled away with a 5-0 run and ended up taking a 25-19 decision. UK All-Americans Brooklyn DeLeye and Eva Hudson both had six kills as UK had 17 kills to CU’s nine. Nora Wurtz had three aces in the frame, setting CU’s single-season school record of 59 set by Molly Moran in 2000.

The second set was all UK, as the hosts raced to leads of 7-1 and 12-4 and never trailed in a 25-13 victory to move in front 2-0. DeLeye had seven kills and the Wildcats hit .289 while holding CU to .000 hitting in 43 swings.

The third set featured seven ties and three lead changes before UK closed out the sweep with a 25-18 win.

DeLeye paced the Wildcats with 18 kills and added 12 digs, while Hudson had a double-double with 13 kills and 15 digs. The Wildcats had 47 kills, 62 digs, eight blcoks and two aces on .263 hitting.

Martin and Johnson led Creighton with eight kills and Annalea Maeder had her fourth straight double-double with 26 assists and 13 digs. Creighton hit .066 and had 29 kills, 47 digs, nine blocks and three aces.

The match marked the final contest for Bluejay seniors Ava Martin, Kiara Reinhardt, Annalea Maeder and Sky McCune.

NOTES: Creighton’s Ava Martin and Sydney Breissinger were named to the Lexington Regional All-Tournament Team … Creighton had its 23-match win streak snapped, which was tied for the second-longest in program history … Kentucky has won 22 straight matches at home … Creighton’s nine-match win streak in true road matches was snapped, which tied a school-record … Creighton fell to 0-14 all-time against teams ranked first or second … Creighton is now 20-15 all-time in 15 NCAA Tournament appearances … Creighton had been trying to become the first school without football to make the Volleyball Final Four since Santa Clara in 2005 … Five of Creighton’s losses this season came to teams ranked in the top-five at the time of the match (#1 Nebraska, #2 Penn State, #2 Kentucky, #4 Louisville, #5 Texas). … Ava Martin tied Jaali Winters (595.5 in 2015) for most points in a single-season in Creighton history … Each of Creighton’s last 27 matches have been won by the team to win the first set.

Below is the NCAA VB Lexington Regional All-Tournament Team as voted by media present at the event.

Brooklyn DeLeye – Kentucky* (*Most Outstanding Player)

Ava Martin – Creighton

Sydney Breissinger – Creighton

Molly Tuozzo – Kentucky

Lizzie Carr – Kentucky

Eva Hudson – Kentucky

Noemie Glover – Arizona State

Kentucky Postgame Quotes

Kentucky Head Coach Craig Skinner

Opening Statement…

“I’m just really proud of our team and the performance that they had this weekend was impressive, and we asked our team to be relentless and we were relentless all evening and you can’t thank our players for giving themselves to this team and this program enough. They have done it all year long and can’t thank our administration enough for giving us the resources to build a special program. So, it takes a collective effort, a lot of people to get to this point and want our players to build and experience a Final Four, which we’ve got that chance to do. It’s awesome. But our job isn’t finished and we’ve got to get ready to play some good volleyball in Kansas City, so magical season needs to continue.”

On what it means to coach in Memorial Coliseum for the tournament…

“A lot, magical stuff. It’s just it’s hard to do. It takes a collective effort and administrators, coaches, people, players, staff, managers, all of that. I’ve been there before, done it, and obviously I can’t wait to do it again, but I just want our players to be able to feel what it’s like to be at that level, because it’s a really cool experience, and I don’t worry about the effort we’re going to give on Thursday night, so I just I want to make sure we can enjoy the opportunity and anything happens in the Final Four.”

On the crowd …

“It’s a dream to do that, and it’s hard to convince people by just saying it and talking about it and I just felt like I had to do something that would get the attention to people that don’t pay attention to volleyball. And so now that they’ve come, they’re hooked, and they’re gonna be hooked for a while, it just is an exciting brand of sports and, you know, a rising tide lifts all boats, and the more we can do for the University of Kentucky, and the other teams in this department, it makes us all better. We can’t do that without the help of administration to see the value in volleyball.”

On the effort the entire team puts into defense…

“One hundred percent. To hold a team like that to .066 is a lot to do with your defense, and you know, it’s a mentality. We have to establish a defensive mentality in practice. We hammer balls at them all the time, they’re flying all over the gym, making plays. We have a couple rules, we’ll reason why you don’t go for the ball; that would be out of bounds, hear the whistle, or some sort of danger is in the way. Outside of that, you better go for the ball. But it’s just, you have to set that in practice, and we’ve spent a lot of time this year, just hammering that into our team, and it’s, man, it’s fun to watch, too.”

On what Eva Hudson has contributed to the team this year…

“Yeah, I just thank Eva for giving Kentucky a chance the third time, twice striking out to get her here and I think she saw something in this program that could bring something out of her. But I think everybody in the stand sees the level of competitor that she is, and there is zero that will fear her in the eyes of competition. It’s fun to be a part of people like that, and when you have people like these two at the table and others that are just competitors every single day, they’re going to win in life and Eva is, there’s no doubt about that. She’s going to win in life because she’s relentless in what she does, and I think people want to watch her play all the time.”

Kentucky Student-Athletes

#7 Eva Hudson, OH

On her last game in HMC …

“I mean it was absolutely magical. Every time they exceed expectations our whole team has for them. There was a time there at the end when I just looked around when it got really chaotic and it was a really cool experience and I just can’t thank them enough for an amazing year.”

On the team’s defense …

“Craig asked us to be relentless all evening. That sort of defense is so frustrating, one of your best shots and it being dug up. That was our mindset every time.”

On flipping the switch to another level in the second half …

“In the first, especially the first few points of the first set it was hard to find the rhythm with a game with so much pressure and a lot of high expectations, but I think in the second and third, we really found groove, our flow state, and we just capitalized on it.”

#17 Brooklyn DeLeye

On the team’s defense …

“Also props to the staff, I mean they really had a good game plan going into the match and I think we just executed that at a high level. Even if Creighton was making changes throughout the match, they were still telling us every single time we were at the net what to do.”

On Trinity’s play …

“You know she’s just one of the hardest workers out there, and I know when she got her shot to come in to serve she was going to make the most out of it. So, I mean, just props to her and just the person she is, because she was just a huge momentum shift whether that was her serving or just her presence out there, she will be your biggest hype man.”

Creighton Postgame Quotes

Creighton Head Coach Brian Rosen

On Kentucky’s serving…

“I thought our service did a nice shot. We had them under a 2 for most of the match. So I thought we did a decent job there. They shot well, their outsides were obviously really good, and even when we defended some of the balls, we just couldn’t find a way to win some of those long rallies. I just thought their defense tonight was the difference. They were an arm and ball back up. We ended up with nine blocks. I thought we could have had 18 tonight. They covered so well, just kept plays alive long enough for their outsides to terminate eventually. And so again, I just I give them a lot of credit for that. We fought as long as we could and just couldn’t find those stretches late in the first and the third when I thought we had chances.”

On Ava and Kiara …

“They’re like the two people that I knew the most and met when I took this job as an assistant a long time ago. Ava played on the same club team as a player I had just committed at a previous stop. I was the head coach at Nova Southeastern University before I got here, and committed a kid named Taylor Stockman to that program, and Ava was on the same team. And so I knew her really well when I came here, and then Kiara was the only athlete that I met when I was on my visit. They are just two really special individuals, getting Kiara to come back for the sixth year, allowed us to have the run that we had, her play is really, really good, and I think she’s one of the best middles in the country. But what she does beyond that is so much more important to our program. She’s the best leader, and the best teammate and does everything the right way, and then she jokes about being the team mom, and she really is. Even in her six years, making sure everyone has the right jerseys and spandex and all those kinds of things, but also brings so much joy. And Ava, the way she plays and competes is a pleasure to watch. I mean, sometimes in practices and film, the amount of times like my mouth drops watching her play is just remarkable. This is her last college game. I’m excited that she was able to go on this run, excited to watch her play at the next level. She’s earned this opportunity to play in the pro leagues and have a great career. She’s just special good and always shows up in the big moments and the two of them, the mark that they’ve left on our program, I know Kiara will be the winningest player to ever play at Creighton and it’s going to be hard for anyone to beat that. Ava, I believe, like just set the postseason record for kills. She’ll finish top three in her career and maybe cement herself as the best player to ever play at Creighton, and we have a pretty good list of players so it says a lot about who she is.”

On crowd atmosphere…

“I think volleyball has been booming for years now. It started with the woman behind you. I see Kathy DeBoer back there, putting volleyball on her back and trying to grow it as much as she could. When I was at Nova, she called me to start a beach team once. It’s grown and grown and grown since I started getting into it and starting watching it, and so I love that moments like this are now on ESPN. We got to get the first and second rounds on ESPN too. So I love that it’s on TV more. I know tonight there was a Kentucky men’s basketball game I heard down the street and still sold this place out tonight, which says a lot about a place that I know at one point was a basketball school. Maybe they’re a volleyball school now. We like to joke that we’re volleyball school too. And so I think so many fans and communities are seeing like how special this sport is. I think it’s the most spectator friendly sport there is. It’s so fast paced, it’s so athletic, it’s physical, it’s gritty, it’s fun. And so I’m just so grateful that all these fans are getting to see this in person, and people are able to see it at home, and I hope even though it didn’t go the way we wanted, I hope the match was fun for viewers to see, and they come back and watch more next time.”

On the message to the team in the locker room after the loss…

“I love them. I said that before but just that I love them. I’m so grateful to them. Again, back in April, when Coach Booth stepped down, every single one of them could have left. You know, even (Ava) Martin could have got a lot of money to go to a lot of places and chose to stay here and fight and wear that Creighton blue. And Kiara could have said, you know, never mind on the sixth year, but all of them stayed committed to represent Creighton, to play for me and for this staff. And so the biggest thing I told them was that I love them and how grateful I am to them for not just sticking with me, but showing up every day and fighting like crazy, not just for me, but for the people next to them. And, you know, the two things that I talked about in my first press conference was I’m gonna fight to keep the culture, and we’re gonna keep the same goals of going to a final four. These two and everyone else in that locker room are our culture. And they did everything they could to protect it this season. And obviously, we fell a few sets short of going to a final four this year, but I’m so proud of the fight they had. I don’t know how many people anywhere put us in an elite eight this season with losing 4 all Americans and all the things we did. But I know they did. And so just grateful for them and for all they did this season for our Creighton community.”

Creighton Student-Athletes

#8 Ava Martin, OH

On making adjustments…

“It’s always frustrating when things aren’t going your way. Their swings, I feel like they would just have little things that nothing really seemed to go our way. It happens, and I think it stinks and obviously we’re trying to make adjustments throughout the game, but our main goal was just to keep going for it.”

On playing for Creighton’s and what it means to her…

“I just have so much love for Creighton volleyball. Oh, I mean, even with Booth leaving I think all of us had it down our mind that we would stay just because of what we have here, and culture is so special and so amazing, and even the people that transfer in, they really let us know how lucky we are to have what we do. And our big thing is playing with joy, and I really hope other people can do that because we just have so much fun out there playing together, and that’s what we really want to show. We’ve had a good time and we love each other, and we want other people be able to see that as well. I think that’s just what makes us so hard is because we just love each other so much and we love the sport and volleyball and we’re just happy to be out there playing. Obviously we have big goals, final four and all those things, so that stinks, but I think one of the main things is just, you know, our time, together being done. It’s just really hard. And I’m just so thankful for Creighton. It’s just had very special place.”

On the program moving forward…

“It’s something we talk about every year. Obviously, it stings, and I wish we had another chance to get it back. The team next year is going to want to keep working for that too. I think it’s just an expectation here at Creighton now, to keep building off that and keep getting better. And yeah, obviously this hurts, but they’re going to get back in the gym this offseason and they’re going to continue to keep working toward that goal.”

#5 Kiara Reinhardt, MB

On Creighton’s play tonight…

“I mean I thought our serve receive was pretty strong all throughout the match. We were in system a lot and our defense, especially in the third set, we were scrapping, unfortunately, offensively. I think we weren’t where we wanted to be tonight. Again, cuddos to Kentucky’s defense they did great. I think defense and serve receive we were really good at tonight. I think there were, especially those small hard tough rallies that were just kind of a lot of junk kind of being thrown around. I mean, we were in a lot of those, and there were so many of them tonight, I feel like. So, I hope those showed a little bit of good tonight.”

On going through the last postseason run and showing the new players the ropes…

“It’s been a joy. I’ll remember you all, especially since you’re seniors just below me. I’m so thankful for the time I got to spend here. A lot of people said, ‘Wow, you really got them all, you’re so lucky,’ and it truly has been an honor and a privilege. They’ve kept me young and they’ve kept me laughing, and honestly, I got a lot more out of this than I expected by coming back for another year. It was really special to be able to connect with some of the younger girls I hadn’t spent much time with before, and to get to know them better. They’re such a sweet and special group, and I’m really so grateful.”

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Time, TV for Nebraska volleyball vs. Texas A&M in Elite Eight

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December 14, 2025

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Nebraska volleyball is playing like a champion but know nothing is guaranteed

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Pitt women’s volleyball outlasts Purdue for 5th straight trip to Final Four

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2 hours ago

December 14, 2025

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The Pitt women’s volleyball team (30-4, 18-2 ACC), behind Olivia Babcock’s 23 kills, defeated No. 3 Purdue, 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 22-25, 25-17), sending the Panthers to their fifth straight Final Four.

Up 23-17 in Set 4, Brooke Mosher buried two straight powerful service aces to send Pitt past Purdue. Mosher tallied three aces for the match.

“That was insane,” Mosher said. “I mean, ending on an ace is something I wouldn’t have expected, but being able to see that ball drop and go to the final four is just insane.”

The Panthers won their 52nd straight match at home and their 15th straight at Peterson Events Center.

Their victory over Purdue was full-circle as their first Final Four appearance in 2021 came after a win over Purdue.

Pitt is the fourth team in NCAA history to make it to the Final Four five straight seasons.

Babcock, the reigning ACC and AVCA East region player of the year, took home the regional MVP by racking up 79 kills in the tournament so far. Babcock posted a .375 hitting percentage in the deciding game.

“I just think the fact that we’re able to just keep doing this just shows how strong of a team we are consistently,” Babcock said. “I just feel like we put in so much work this season, so I feel like this season it means a lot more.”

Pitt’s Marina Pezelj tallied 14 kills and 12 digs to give the Panthers momentum in the second set.

“She was doing a lot well,” coach Dan Fisher said. “I think she came up with some big blocks. Her passing was stable. Offensively, she just she made really good choices. I think she had about five shove kills when she saw those openings, which is kind of Purdue’s game. I think she was really in the moment making good decisions.”

Mosher led the Panthers with four blocks,and Bre Kelley tallied three.

Pezelj and Mosher were nominated for the Pittsburgh All-Regional team along with Babcock.

“It’s just a testament to how much work we put in and how hard we fought these past two games,” Babcock said. “It’s hard to move on, let alone be in the group of people who get honored for this, because it’s so hard to get here. I feel like there’s just so many good players, and the fact that we had players on our team who were able to step up for this occasion and help our team get these two wins just means a lot.”

Purdue found itself down 2-0. The Boilermakers, in their 11th straight tournament, battled back. With a 25-22 win in Set 3, Purdue, which notched three reverse sweeps on the season, looked to do it again.

Purdue was led by Akasha Anderson, who delivered 20 kills, and Kenna Wollard, who tallied 15. Dior Charles delivered nine blocks, and Taylor Anderson notched 51 assists.

Despite Purdue having the personnel, the Panthers were too strong to allow a comeback.

“I’m very proud of this team,” Wollard said. “I think we played a pretty clean game. Olivia Babcock is just an amazing player, and we did everything we had to try and stop her. And then they have some players that help her out and can get kills themselves too. You have to be perfect stopping them and you just get to the point where you can’t get enough, but I’m really proud of this team.”

Purdue’s Wollard, Akasha Anderson and Ryan McAleer were nominated for the all-regional team. SMU’s Malaya Jones rounded out the squad.

Anderson kept pounding away at the Panthers down 12-10 in the final set. Three straight Panther blocks and a vicious Babcock spike put them up 13-10, which gave Pitt momentum.

The Boilermakers led the first set early with a kill from Wollard that had them up 10-8. Back-to-back kills from Blaire Bayless and Kelley tied it 10-10.

Babcock notched a kill that put the Panthers up 11-10. They led the rest of the first set.

A Babcock kill and a Mallorie Meyer ace extended Pitt’s lead to 22-19 as it pulled away with the first set. Babcock racked up nine kills, including the last one of the set.

The Panthers went up 12-8 in the second set. Purdue, however, went on a 6-1 run led by Anderson to take a 14-13 lead. Babcock continued to step up. A Babcock block and an error on Purdue gave Pitt a 16-15 lead.

The Panthers didn’t look back and at 24-21, Mosher and Kelley blocked Anderson to earn the set.

Babcock tallied five kills, and Marina Pezelj notched three kills in Set 2.

The Boilermakers came out firing in the third set and didn’t trail once.

Down 17-14, Pezelj notched a kill, and a Mosher block cut it to 17-16. The Panthers inched back and tied it 24-24, but the Boilermakers had momentum as they finished with the 25-22 set win.

This led to Pitt owning the final set.

Purdue coach Dave Shondell congratulated Pitt.

“Dan Fisher has just done one of the most amazing jobs of of coaching in the history of the sport, by taking a team at Pittsburgh, that for so many years was just good … they couldn’t get over the hump — the same hump that we haven’t been able to get over at Purdue — and now five years in a row is in the Final Four. That doesn’t happen without somebody in charge that really knows how to build a program.”

As for Pitt, it faces undefeated Nebraska in the Final Four.

“It’s just surreal,” Mosher said. “It’s something I’ve dreamed of since I was little, and to be able to do it with this team is just incredible.”

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