Sports
Oliveira and Williams Beat Nation’s Top Doubles Team, Dukes Fall at #6 UNC
Next Match: at Virginia 1/18/2025 | 1 p.m. Jan. 18 (Sat) / 1 p.m. at Virginia History CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – James Madison dropped a 7-0 decision to sixth-ranked North Carolina on Sunday at the Chewning Tennis Center, but its play was highlighted by the team of Ines Oliveira and Sophie Williams capturing a doubles victory […]
Next Match:
at Virginia
1/18/2025 | 1 p.m.
Jan. 18 (Sat) / 1 p.m.
at Virginia
History
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – James Madison dropped a 7-0 decision to sixth-ranked North Carolina on Sunday at the Chewning Tennis Center, but its play was highlighted by the team of Ines Oliveira and Sophie Williams capturing a doubles victory against the nation’s top-ranked tandem.
Oliveira and Williams dominated play on court one, as it dispatched the duo of UNC’s Susanna Maltby and Carson Tanguilig, who entered the spring as the nation’s #1 doubles team. Tied at 1-1, the JMU two rattled off five more victories, including a pivotal deuce point while up 4-1.
It’s JMU’s first victory against ITA-ranked individuals since Jan. 20, 2023, when Oliveira rallied past #50 Elaine Chervinsky of Virginia in the 2023 spring opener (3-6, 6-2, 10-5).
After winning 6-0 on court two, UNC squeaked out the doubles point and 1-0 match lead on court three, where 20th-ranked Tatum Evans and Theadora Rabman won consecutive games to down JMU’s Hope Moulin and Daria Munteanu, 6-4.
In singles play, Carolina won five of its six singles matches in straight sets, as JMU faced three current top-25 singles individuals, in addition to its top player, who finished #9 in the 2024 final ITA rankings.
With the match already clinched by the Tar Heels, Mia Saveljic nearly claimed court five, as she rallied in set two to force a super tiebreaker with Alanis Hamilton. In the super tiebreaker, Saveljic fell behind 9-5 before staving off four match points, to square the breaker at 9-9.
After regaining the lead on a Saveljic double fault, Hamilton won the decisive point while back on serve to cap off the match. She defeated Saveljic by scores of 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (11-9).
JMU returns to the court on Saturday, Jan. 18 with another top-10 matchup, as it travels to Charlottesville, Va., to take on #9 Virginia. The opening serve is set for 1 p.m.
#6 North Carolina 7, JMU 0
Doubles Results
Court 1: Ines Oliveira/Sophie Williams (JMU) def. #1 Susanna Maltby/Carson Tanguilig (UNC), 6-1
Court 2: Reese Brantmeier/Alanis Hamilton (UNC) def. Elena Kraleva/Mia Saveljic (JMU), 6-0
Court 3: #20 Tatum Evans/Theadora Rabman (UNC) def. Hope Moulin, Daria Munteanu (JMU), 6-4
Singles Results
Court 1: Reese Brantmeier (UNC) def. Elena Kraleva (JMU), 6-1, 6-3
Court 2: #9 Theadora Rabman (UNC) def. Daria Munteanu (JMU), 6-2, 6-1
Court 3: #20 Carson Tanguilig (UNC) def. Ines Oliveira (JMU), 6-1, 6-2
Court 4: #23 Tatum Evans (UNC) def. Katie Codd (Duke), 6-1, 6-3
Court 5: Alanis Hamilton (UNC) def. Mia Saveljic (JMU), 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (11-9)
Court 6: Claire Hill def. Hope Moulin (JMU), 6-3, 6-1
Order of Results: Doubles (2, 1, 3*); Singles (6, 2, 3*, 1, 5, 4)
Sports
JUDGE: SFA must temporarily reinstate women’s golf, bowling and beach volleyball
The injunction allows for the sports to participate in the 2025-26 seasons, while a final decision waits in the future. NACOGDOCHES, Texas — CBS19 has confirmed with sources a judge has granted an injunction, forcing Stephen F. Austin State University to temporarily reinstate women’s golf, bowling and beach volleyball. The injunction allows for the sports […]
The injunction allows for the sports to participate in the 2025-26 seasons, while a final decision waits in the future.
NACOGDOCHES, Texas — CBS19 has confirmed with sources a judge has granted an injunction, forcing Stephen F. Austin State University to temporarily reinstate women’s golf, bowling and beach volleyball.
The injunction allows for the sports to participate in the 2025-26 seasons, while a final decision waits in the future.
On Jan. 17, SFA announced its upcoming beach volleyball schedule — just months after the team wrapped up the most successful season in school history. But 125 days later, those same athletes were told they’d never play for SFA again.
Players like Sophia Myers had just returned home for summer break when they received a surprising message.
“I got up and. There was a message at 8:15 in the morning from our compliance saying, hey, mandatory Zoom call at one. And so everybody in our group chat is texting like, ‘what do you guys think this is? Just kind of waiting from eight in the morning till 1 p.m. was just kind of — it was torture, honestly.”
During that Zoom call, the team was blindsided: SFA was cutting the beach volleyball program.
Hours later, the university released a public statement: men’s and women’s golf, women’s beach volleyball, and even the two-time national champion women’s bowling team were all being eliminated.
“We even had girls who had committed two days before to our school, to our team, and they’re sitting in on the Zoom call. And it was just kind of like, ‘hey guys, thanks for joining.’ And then they just dumped probably the worst news we could have heard about our program on us,” Myers said. “It was just me, my teammates, and our head coach and our assistant coach, and she asked us, ‘does anybody have anything to say,’ and everybody was just in tears crying.
Myers recalled being mad and frustrated. She asked how is this allowed under Title IX?
Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education or athletic program receiving federal funds.
This is where Arthur Bryant, a longtime civil rights attorney, came in. Myers and five other athletes turned to him to fight for their teams.
On June 30, the athletes filed a federal lawsuit claiming sex-based discrimination and seeking to stop SFA from eliminating the women’s beach volleyball, bowling and golf teams.
“Well, we have two goals with this lawsuit. The first is to immediately stop the elimination of these teams, but the larger and even bigger, more important goal is to get SFA to comply with the law and treat women and men equally when it comes to participation opportunities going forward, ” Bryant said.
Bryant’s team says they have uncovered more than a decade of Title IX noncompliance at SFA.
Under Title IX, athletic opportunities must reflect student body demographics. SFA’s undergraduate population is 63% female.
Before the cuts, women made up just 47% of the athletic program. After the cuts, the women’s sports make up 42%.
“That’s way off. It’s mass sex discrimination. To actually get in compliance with Title IX, SFA would have to add over 200 opportunities for women to play sports,” Bryant said.
Instead, Bryant’s team says SFA has cut every women’s sport added since 2003. The only men’s sport added in that time —baseball — is still active.
The university cited budget issues and looming revenue-sharing rules in Division I sports as reasons for the cuts.
“You can’t discriminate against women to make money,” Bryant said. “You can’t discriminate against women to avoid losing money. You can’t avoid discriminating against women because some people would rather support men’s sports or watch men’s sports than women’s sports. Doesn’t matter.”
The university promised to honor athletic scholarships for affected athletes, but Myers wasn’t on scholarship. As a walk-on, she now relies solely on academic aid.
“You’re going to walk on, and we’ll be able to give you money later, is what the coach told me,” Myers said.
The school is also allowing these athletes to transfer, but changing colors just isn’t as easy as walking through the portal, especially for athletes like bowling, whose transfer portal had already closed.
“We had only a couple of days to get ourselves in the portal and start communicating with coaches, essentially. And I only had one school in mind, and unfortunately, that school had already filled all their spots because the portal had already been open for some time,” Myers said. “So it made things extremely difficult, and also, not to mention, if I wanted to transfer, there would be a good bit of my credits of school that wouldn’t transfer over.”
Bryant noted that normally schools would notify athletes of much sooner than SFA, such as the beginning of the school year rather than the end.
“SFA announced at the very end of the year when people had already put down money for housing for next year, when they’ve put things in storage, when they’ve left and gone out of the state, when clients have gone, miles and miles and miles away,” Bryant said. “It couldn’t have been worse just how it affected these young women and the men and the team that was eliminated. Just the way it was handled was truly disturbing.”
Despite all this, every woman involved in the lawsuit has decided to stay at SFA. Their legal team has filed for a preliminary injunction, hoping the court will reverse the cuts immediately so the teams can have and prepare for a season.
“Beach volleyball isn’t something that you can just hop into,” Myers said. “It’s a very physical sport, and it takes a lot of endurance, and you can’t just stop playing and then show up in August and say, ‘hey, I’m on the team.’”
And compete in the sport these women love.
“It is really hard to accept and swallow. Honestly, I just — I have no words when I talk about it, because it does affect me, and I know volleyball isn’t forever, and that’s why I chose a school like SFA, so that I could do academics along with it. But it’s like, these are my last four years to finish my sport and, like, be done and come to terms with that. But not knowing it was my last season, and not knowing that was my last time with my teammates is just really — it’s just so sad,” she said.
When asked for comment on the lawsuit, SFA released the following statement, “The university takes its Title IX obligations seriously and is prepared to respond through the legal process. As this is an ongoing legal matter, the university will not comment further at this time.”
Bryant said he strongly believes they’re going to win this case.
Sports
Judge rules against Stephen F. Austin in Title IX case
A gender discrimination lawsuit against Stephen F. Austin State University could have national implications after U.S. District Judge Michael J. Truncale ordered SFA to reinstate three women’s sports teams Friday, Aug. 1. Six Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) athletes from the women’s bowling and beach volleyball teams filed a class action lawsuit in the […]
A gender discrimination lawsuit against Stephen F. Austin State University could have national implications after U.S. District Judge Michael J. Truncale ordered SFA to reinstate three women’s sports teams Friday, Aug. 1.
Six Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) athletes from the women’s bowling and beach volleyball teams filed a class action lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas against their school this summer claiming Title IX discrimination after the university announced in May it would be cutting those two programs and men’s and women’s golf effective the end of the 2024-25 academic year. “The decision was based on sustained departmental budget deficits and the anticipated financial impact of upcoming revenue-sharing requirements with Division I athletes” SFA athletics said in a press release.
The plaintiffs sought to keep the school from axing these programs.
SFA argued that the plaintiffs’ case is based “exclusively on a three-part test contained in guidance and interpretation documents,” rather than the Title IX statute itself. Defendant lawyers urged the court to disregard the policy interpretation handed down by the U.S. Department of Education 46 years ago, citing the 2024 Supreme Court ruling Loper-Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. If the court declined, however, defendant lawyers claimed SFA still complies with Title IX under the 1979 guidance.
After two days in court, spanning 17 hours and 14 witnesses, Judge Truncale issued a written ruling in favor of the plaintiffs. SFA has been ordered to reinstate all three women’s teams. Truncale affirmed that the Loper-Bright case cannot be applied to Title IX in what plaintiff attorney John Clune called an “incredibly important” win for gender equity in sports.
“If a court were to find that Loper-Bright meant that the Department of Education was not allowed to rely on policy interpretations of their own regulations, the entire framework for compliance with gender equity in sports would be thrown out the window,” Clune told USA TODAY. “You’d still be required to have gender equity in sports, but what that means and how you decided would no longer exist.
“… Really happy about the ruling, but we’re not surprised by the ruling. If you follow the law, this is what the outcome should be.”
SFA has 30 days to file an appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, according to federal rules of appellate procedure. Spokespersons for the athletic department and university did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Should SFA file an appeal, it would likely seek expedited or emergency treatment of this appeal, as fall classes begin Aug. 25.
What is the three-part test?
Under the Department of Education’s three-part test, a school can be in compliance with the participation aspects of Title IX in any one of the following ways:
- The number of male and female athletes is substantially proportionate to their respective enrollments; or
- The institution has a history and continuing practice of expanding participation opportunities responsive to the developing interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex; or
- The institution is fully and effectively accommodating the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.
The plaintiffs in this case argued that SFA violated all three prongs. The plaintiffs filed a report by former chief executive officer of the Women’s Sports Foundation, expert witness Donna Lopiano, Ph.D., to prove such. Using EADA data and annual NCAA participation reports, Lopiano wrote that women made up 62.8% of SFA’s enrollment during the 2023-24 academic year but less than 35% of SFA’s varsity athletes.
SFA cited the 2024 Supreme Court ruling Loper-Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo in an effort to have the three-part test thrown out. The Supreme Court’s decision made in favor of Loper-Bright overturned a 40-year precedent known as “the Chevron doctrine” directing courts to defer to government agency interpretations of “ambiguous” laws. But Judge Truncale wrote in his decision that Loper-Bright is about an agency’s interpretation of a statute, not an agency’s interpretation of its own regulation. He also wrote that Loper-Bright does not overturn any case law that previously interpreted policy. Thus, it does not apply to Title IX’s 1979 policy interpretation.
Breaking down the Title IX lawsuit against Stephen F. Austin State University
Sophia Myers, Kara Kay, Ryann Allison, Elaina Amador, Berklee Andrews and Meagan Ledbetter filed a class action lawsuit on June 30 against Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) after it announced the elimination of women’s beach volleyball, women’s bowling and men’s and women’s golf on May 22. The six plaintiffs, represented by renowned Title IX attorneys Clune and Arthur Bryant, are current athletes on the women’s beach volleyball and bowling teams.
They argued that the university violated Title IX by depriving them of equal opportunity in intercollegiate athletics and sought an emergency preliminary injunction to preserve the three women’s programs “and all other women’s teams at SFA, until this case is resolved.”
“Title IX mandates that schools provide equal participation opportunities for men and women to compete in intercollegiate sports,” the initial complaint read. “Nonetheless, SFA has a long history of depriving female athletes of an equal opportunity to participate. Consistent with that history, SFA opted to further discriminate against women in violation of Title IX by eliminating three successful women’s teams: beach volleyball, bowling, and golf. SFA’s decision undercuts Plaintiffs’ civil rights and, if permitted to move forward, will irreparably harm their academic and athletic careers.”
SFA, represented by Marlayna Marie Ellis and Sheaffer Kristine Fennessey of the attorney general’s office, argued that the plaintiff’s case is based “exclusively on a three-part test contained in guidance and interpretation documents, rather than the statute or 1975 implementing regulation.” Defendant lawyers urged the court to disregard the three-part test but affirmed that SFA is Title IX compliant regardless, citing the test’s first and third prongs.
The first prong requires “the number of male and female athletes is substantially proportionate to their respective enrollments.” The third requires “the institution is fully and effectively accommodating the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.” Defendant lawyers claimed there is “no strict rule” defining “substantially proportionate,” and that SFA “effectively accommodates the interest and abilities of women, despite the discontinuation of the women’s beach volleyball, bowling, and golf teams.”
Financial pressure from House settlement not valid defense for cutting women’s sports
SFA opted into the House settlement, where schools are able to pay athletes directly starting this athletic year with a $20.5 million cap per institution. These new financial pressures are why athletic director Michael McBroom said the decision to cut teams was made.
The athletic department reported a $1 million surplus during the 2024 fiscal year, with about $24 million in institutional support out of $28.8 million in total operating revenue. In FY2023, SFA reported a $61,000 deficit, with $19.4 million in institutional support. And in FY2022, SFA reported a $275,000 deficit, with $17.7 million institutional support.
Plaintiffs argued, successfully, that “budgetary constraints are not a legitimate defense to Title IX.”
“The funding of those revenue-sharing payments for football players and men’s basketball absolutely cannot come at the expense of women’s sports,” Clune said. “So this is a huge message to schools across the country. Whatever you have to do to figure out how you’re going to fund your revenue-sharing payments, it’s not going to come at the expense of women’s opportunities to participate in sports. That’s a big deal.”
Reach USA Today Network sports reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.
Sports
Lane Kiffin’s daughter Presley flexes USC-gold bikini for beach volleyball tradition
Lane Kiffin’s youngest daughter Presley Kiffin just flexed her official USC Trojans volleyball uniform. Now, she flexed a USC gold bikini for a big Manhattan Beach, California tradition. The Ole Miss Rebels coach’s 18-year-old daughter Presley just graduated high school in Southern California after playing in the powder puff girls football game. Dad even came […]
Lane Kiffin’s youngest daughter Presley Kiffin just flexed her official USC Trojans volleyball uniform. Now, she flexed a USC gold bikini for a big Manhattan Beach, California tradition.
The Ole Miss Rebels coach’s 18-year-old daughter Presley just graduated high school in Southern California after playing in the powder puff girls football game. Dad even came to graduation in his favorite Ole Miss blazer.
Presley just had a beach hang with mom Layla Kiffin on Fourth of July before the two part ways when she goes to college and the reconciled wife of Lane Kiffin heads to be with dad and Presley’s sister Landry, 20, and Knox, 16, in Oxford Mississippi.
RELATED: Lane Kiffin shares sweet moment with reconciled wife Layla before Ole Miss season
On Friday, Presley was mom again for the big annual Charlie Saikley 6-Man Beach Volleyball Tournament in Manhattan beach where it’s quite the scene. Presley and friends hit the “Sixer” in USC gold colored bikinis.
RELATED: USC-bound Lane Kiffin daughter Presley and volleyball co-eds rock pickleball fits
Mom Layla posted video of her playing as well.
Presley will soon be trading in the sand for the hardwood as a Trojans freshman volleyball player in the class of 2025.
There are now two Kiffins to root for in college athletics.
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Sports
Rosters Announced For USA Water Polo Futures Cadet & Youth Training Trips
Story Links Irvine, CA – August 1 – A host of rosters have been announced for current and upcoming USA Water Polo Futures training trips for athletes at the Youth and Cadet level. Congratulations to all the athletes and coaching staff selected. Futures Youth Boys – Athens, Greece Adam Afar Ryder […]
Irvine, CA – August 1 – A host of rosters have been announced for current and upcoming USA Water Polo Futures training trips for athletes at the Youth and Cadet level. Congratulations to all the athletes and coaching staff selected.
Futures Youth Boys – Athens, Greece
Adam Afar
Ryder Bjork
Jasper Feldman
Tanner Gorman
Caden Keene
Caleb Kulak
Jack Lansing
Calvin Lubsen
Cade O’Hare
Lucas Pearce
Salvatore Recca V
Mason Tunney
Neveh Yechiely
Cutter Leach
Nicholas Austen
Staff
Austin Ringham
Staurt Sokil
Apostolos Karagiannis
Lesly Brown
Bryan Lynton
Futures Cadet Boys – Athens, Greece
Lincoln Bott
Asher Chemerinski
Arda DeMiryurek
Dane Fishback
Ren Fujikake
Zane Kieckhafer
Austin Miller
William Mills
Walter Mundt
Jack Wieman
Henry Gorsche
Wyatt Warkentin
Mark Stoneham
Baron Ounjian
Mattias Purcell
Staff
James Staresinic
Luke Chandler
Caleb Terzich
Futures Youth Girls – Budapest, Hungary
Ellison Brush
Isabella Jurgensen
Margaret Ryan
Natalie Whitfield
Delaney Hook
Mia Fabros
Julia Gustafsson
Quinn Arroyo
Eden Coughran
Kiernan Hogan
Eve Webb
Bethany King
Christina Flynn
Sydney-Anne Kring
Lily Holloway
Staff
Melissa Seidemann
Douglas Eichstaedt
James Collie iii
Lyric Soto
Jacob Melger
Futures Cadet Girls – Budapest, Hungary
Juliana Horton
Gia Jacob
Siena Doble
Natalie Arata
Catherine Bambury
Abigail Billish
Blake Hofley
Isabella Masdiaz
Amaya Dresevic
Louise Walls
Eva Johnson
Paige Segesman
Taytum Banda
Teodora Diaconu
Gianna Adams
Joslyn Cox
Staff
Brenda Villa
Gina Castagnola
Christopher Vidale
Alyssa Diacono
Regional Youth Boys – Belgrade, Serbia
Pierce Bateman
Brendan Bogansky
Asher Brunner
Dane Fox
Oliver Geheb
Landon Heuer
Julius Hoxaj
Jack Lindberg
Dylan McManus
Daniel Mirejovsky
Thomas Singleton
Nicholas Zimmerman
Samuel Eastaugh
Robert Norell
Staff
Petar Momolovich
Benjamin Hoffschneider
Regional Cadet Boys – Belgrade, Serbia
Anthony Albus
Ethan Allen
Colton Coney
Koanui Keaulana
Lucas Levy
Filip Malezanov
James McRae
Tabari Morgan
Atirau Morton
Mason Nordquist
Joan Prats
Martin Robredo
Cole Sharp
Luke Welton
Staff
Joseph Molina
Trevor Campbell
Marko Dzigurski
Regional Youth Girls – Belgrade, Serbia
Ruth Garcia
Kaileilani Harvey
Kaylani Zhang
Courtney Smith
Katherine McCullough
Kamryn Sallas
Isabella Recker
Ellyssa Brandt
Cecilia Elena Caligiuri
Maile Farden
Staff
Nicholas Alexander-Frosig
Farrah Kunkel
La’akea Dedrick Gum
Emily Blackwell
Regional Cadet Girls – Belgrade, Serbia
Logan Davidson
Skylar Flowers
Emily Jensen
Hana Kulasic
Leihiwa McElheny
Margaux Purcell
Harper Rich
Amanda Myott
Samantha Maldonado
Leonna Castro
Emma Daniel
Matilda Ogle
Eleanor Kriplen
Kathleen McCarthy
Staff
Kirby Kaptur
Courtney Johnson
Emily Blackwell
Robert Juhas
Sports
Ukrainian Duo Reaches Quarterfinals at 2025 European Beach Volleyball Championship | Ukraine news
A landmark event took place in the history of Ukrainian beach volleyball: the pair Tetiana Lazarenko and Maryna Hladun reached the quarterfinals of the Women’s European Championship for the first time, defeating the German duo Linda Bock and Louisa Lippmann in the round of 16 match. At this tournament, Ukraine was represented by three pairs: […]
A landmark event took place in the history of Ukrainian beach volleyball: the pair Tetiana Lazarenko and Maryna Hladun reached the quarterfinals of the Women’s European Championship for the first time, defeating the German duo Linda Bock and Louisa Lippmann in the round of 16 match.
At this tournament, Ukraine was represented by three pairs: Lazarenko/Hladun, Yeva Serdiuk/Daria Romaniuk, and Valentyna Davydova/Angelina Khmil. After the group stage, two Ukrainian duos advanced to the playoffs – Lazarenko with Hladun and Davydova with Khmil.
In the round of 16, Lazarenko and Hladun were the first to take the court, facing the German athletes Linda Bock and Louisa Lippmann, who are ranked 54th in the world. The Ukrainians lost the first set 16-21, despite having an early lead. However, in the second set, they managed to turn the game around, winning 21-19.
In the deciding set, trailing 2-5, the Ukrainians made an impressive comeback and finished the match with a score of 15-10, which allowed them to advance to the quarterfinals of the Women’s Euro 2025.
This result is the best ever for Ukraine in the history of women’s beach volleyball at the European Championships. Previously, the highest achievement was reaching the round of 16, which Lazarenko and Hladun also accomplished in 2024. At the previous championship, the Ukrainians won their group but were eliminated in the first playoff round.
Among men, the best result is the bronze medals won in 2023 by the duo of Serhii Popov and Eduard Reznik.
UPDATED: In the round of 16, the pair Valentyna Davydova/Angelina Khmil also competed, facing the two-time European champions from Latvia, Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova. The first set ended with a loss for the Ukrainians 25-27, they won the second 21-16, but in the deciding set they failed to convert five match points and lost 18-20.
Thus, only one Ukrainian pair – Hladun and Lazarenko – will compete in the quarterfinals of Euro 2025 in beach volleyball. Their opponents will be the Dutch Mila Kenink and Raisa Schoon. The match is scheduled for Friday, August 1, at 16:00 Kyiv time.
Sports
Julie Hovland Joins Kentucky Women's Golf Coaching Staff
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Julie Hovland, former Illinois women’s golf assistant coach, has been hired as a University of Kentucky women’s golf assistant coach, it was announced by head coach Golda Borst on Friday. “I’m super excited to join the Kentucky women’s golf family,” Hovland said. “The short time I’ve spent with Golda and Will (Sallee) […]
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Julie Hovland, former Illinois women’s golf assistant coach, has been hired as a University of Kentucky women’s golf assistant coach, it was announced by head coach Golda Borst on Friday.
“I’m super excited to join the Kentucky women’s golf family,” Hovland said. “The short time I’ve spent with Golda and Will (Sallee) has been amazing. They’re both great to be around, and I can tell already Kentucky is such a special place to be. I can’t wait to meet the team in person and get the season started. I’m very grateful for the opportunity.”
“We’re excited to welcome Julie to our coaching staff and the KWG family,” Borst said. “I know she’s going to be a great asset to our team as she comes from a strong playing and coaching background, while her positive attitude precedes her. We can’t wait to get to work and get this season underway!”
Prior to arriving in the Bluegrass, she spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Illinois (2023-24, 2024-25). In her most recent season in Champaign, she helped guide the Fighting Illini to a strong spring, which included two runner-up finishes at the Spring Break Shootout and the Florida State Match Up, followed by winning the Boilermaker Spring Classic. The Fighting Illini also finished in third place at the 2025 Big Ten Championship at the Havre de Grace, Maryland, in April.
Before that, she spent one season as a graduate assistant at her alma mater South Alabama (2022-23). Hovland helped lead the Jaguars to one tournament victory to go along with five top-five finishes as a team, while she also coached two individual medalists on the season.
Hovland was a five-year letterwinner at South Alabama from 2018-22, ending her collegiate career as one of the most decorated players in program history. She became the first Jaguar to be named Sun Belt Conference Women’s Golfer of the Year in 2021, earning two medalist honors during the season to go along with five top-five finishes. Hovland also became the first golfer to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Regional Championship in program history. During her senior season, Hovland set program records for lowest 54-hole tournament score (-12, 204), birdies in a tournament (19) and matched a program record by firing a 66 at the USA Intercollegiate.
A native of Bergen, Norway, Hovland attended WANG Toppidrett Oslo and was a member at Oslo Golf Club. She helped the club win junior Norwegian titles in 2016 and 2017, and a senior title in 2016.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on X, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
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Lane Kiffin’s daughter Presley flexes USC-gold bikini for beach volleyball tradition
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