Sports

Judge rules against Stephen F. Austin in Title IX case

Published

4 months ago

August 2, 2025

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.

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A reverse-sweep comeback over Louisville pushes Texas A&M volleyball to third-ever Elite Eight

Published

48 seconds ago

December 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

(KBTX) – In the middle of the third set of Friday’s NCAA Tournament region semifinal volleyball match, Texas A&M opposite hitter Logan Lednicky glanced at a random piece of paper in the middle of the score’s table.

After being the first team to 15 points in both of the first two sets, the third-seeded Aggies’ allowed No. 2 seed Louisville to rally and set up a three-game sweep. The Aggies needed a rare reverse sweep to keep their season alive. They were looking for an answer to the situation they found themselves in.

Sometimes the sign is literally a sign.

“Something great is about to happen,” the piece of paper read.

Three sets later, the Aggies were celebrating on the court of the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Nebraska, having rallied to beat Louisville 3-2 in a five set thriller. It was A&M’s first reverse sweep since September 29 of last year, when the Aggies’ came from behind to beat Missouri in Reed Arena.

“I’m like floating on air,” Lednicky said after the match. “That was the most insane experience I have ever been a part of.”

From the start, A&M appeared to be in control of the match, jumping out to a 17-12 lead. However, after A&M reached 15 points, Louisville did not commit another error in the set. The Cardinals closed out the set on a 6-3 run to take the first game.

History repeated itself in the second set. A&M pulled out to a 21-16 lead, but allowed a 5-0 Cardinal run to tie the game. An 8-0 run ultimately sealed the 2-0 start for Louisville and put the Aggies’ season in jeopardy.

It wasn’t unfamiliar territory for the Aggies. Not only did A&M travel to Nebraska last season for the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament, they fell behind 2-1 to Wisconsin and needed to push the game to a fifth set to try to advance. That effort fell short in the final game, 15-13, ending the Aggies season.

The story of this season wouldn’t end the same way.

“I think we spent a lot of time under tension,” Aggie middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla said. “I think that was something we all said when we were in that fifth set, just knowing that we had been here before. We played here before. We’ve been in this exact situation before and it’s really just on us to turn it around and capitalize.”

The Aggie block leader was key at the net in the match turn-around. A&M finished the match with 17 blocks, 12 of which came from Cos-Okpalla. The Aggies had nine blocks in the fourth set, seven off the hands of Cos-Okpalla.

The senior finished with nine kills, to go along with her blocking effort and a .316 hit percentage.

“Even when I wasn’t getting blocked or good touches, I think I was in a good enough spot to like funnel out space for the defense to work behind me,” Cos-Okpalla said. “We can just run our offense from there. So yeah, it takes everybody on the team honestly, but, yeah, I’m just so proud.”

The fifth set saw nine ties and three lead changes in a back-and-forth struggle for the next line of the bracket. The Aggies needed a 3-0 run through the middle of the set to take a 10-9 lead, thanks to two Louisville errors and a block by Cos-Okpalla and Lednicky. Then, the Aggies closed the match out on a 5-2 run with outside hitter Kyndal Stowers recording the final kill.

Lednicky paced the Aggies with 20 kills and added 12 digs and seven blocks. Stowers had 17 kills and 11 digs.

Louisville’s Chloe Chicoine led all attackers with 26 kills.

A&M hit at a .277 clip, slightly better than Louisville’s .229.

The Aggies advance to the program’s third-ever regional final and will face the No. 1 overall seed Nebraska on its home court Sunday at 2 p.m. The Cornhuskers took down No. 4 seed Kansas 3-0 in a match directly following A&M’s win.

In the meantime, A&M can take a moment to relish in the program they’ve builtin the three years of the Morrison era.

“My No. 1 thing that I said when I first got here was to get it back to where its was and take it further and we have it back to where it was… Now, it’s time, in two days, to take it further,” Morrison said.

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Gonzaga Volleyball signs Lydia Fisher

Published

16 minutes ago

December 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

SPOKANE, Wash- Gonzaga Volleyball continues to build for the future with the addition of another signee for next season, as head coach JT Wenger announced the signing of Lydia Fisher on Thursday night.

Coming to Spokane after completing her high school career her hometown of Dallas, Lydia has starred for Highland Park High School as middle blocker and right side hitter. She was named to the First Team All-District while representing the Scots. Fisher helped the team to a capture a state championship last month, as Highland Park won the 5A State Championship. A 6’5″ blocker, Fisher will help further establish the net front presence for the Zags when she comes to campus next season.

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Badgers news: Wisconsin back in Elite 8 with big win over Stanford

Published

49 minutes ago

December 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The Wisconsin Badgers are back in the Elite 8. The Badgers faced off against the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal on Friday afternoon, winning 3-1 to face the No. 1-seeded Texas Longhorns in the Elite Eight on Sunday.

Mimi Colyer had one of her best games as a Badger, recording 27 kills on 51 attempts with just eight errors. Carter Booth had 14 kills of her own with zero errors, while Una Vagajic had 13 kills as well. The Badgers had 70 kills as a whole, while Charlie Fuerbringer had 61 assists.

Wisconsin started off the first set well, getting off to an early 7-3 lead as Colyer and Booth each recorded a pair of kills. Things got tight, with Stanford cutting the lead to 10-9, but Wisconsin went on a 5-0 run to separate itself, with Colyer recording two more kills in the stretch.

From there, Wisconsin comfortably led the rest of the way, ultimately taking the first set 25-17. From there, though, things got tight.

The second set was back-and-forth to start, as neither side had more than a two-point lead through the midway point in the set. Stanford began to pull away, though, going on a 4-1 run when leading 15-14 to get a four-point lead late in the set. That proved to be the difference, as the Cardinal extended that lead to 22-16 before ultimately taking the set 25-21.

Tied at 1-1, the Badgers had a great response coming into the third set, starting off with a 5-2 lead. Stanford hit Wisconsin back, though, tying things up at seven apiece, and the back-and-forth action continued from there. Once again, neither side had more than a two-point advantage until Stanford took a 17-14 lead off back-to-back kills from Ella Rubin.

It seemed like the momentum might be turning in Stanford’s favor, but Wisconsin stormed back with a four-point run to take an 18-17 lead as Natalie Wardlow had three consecutive service aces. Both sides traded points over the next few rallies, tying things up back again at 21 apiece.

The two biggest points of the set came next. Kristen Simon had a service ace of her own before Mimi Colyer got a kill to put Wisconsin up 23-21. Jordyn Harvey got a kill for Stanford, which Carter Booth responded to with a kill of her own. 24-22. Grace Egan had an attack error to cut the lead to one, but rebounded with the set-clinching kill and Wisconsin took the third set 25-23 for a 2-1 lead in the match.

Once again, Wisconsin started the fourth set well, getting out to a 7-3 lead thanks to a flurry of Stanford mistakes. The Cardinal had two service errors and three attack errors in the first ten points, and the Badgers capitalized. But, Stanford slowly chipped back at the lead and flipped the script, taking a 13-12 lead midway through the set.

After both sides traded a point, Wisconsin went on a three-point run to take a 16-14 lead. That stretch proved to be the difference-maker as the Badgers never trailed from that point on. Stanford did tie things up at 19 apiece, but the Badgers had another three-point run. Then, after the Cardinal brought it back within one at 23-22, Mimi Colyer and Grace Egan delivered the final blows to send Wisconsin to the Elite Eight.

With the 3-1 win, the Badgers are facing the No. 1-seeded Texas Longhorns, who swept the No. 4 Indiana Hoosiers on Friday. That game will be played in Austin on Sunday.

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Wisconsin volleyball knocks off Stanford in Sweet 16, moves to Elite 8

Published

1 hour ago

December 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Updated Dec. 12, 2025, 7:56 p.m. CT

AUSTIN, Texas – Wisconsin volleyball has long eyed a deep postseason run.

In the NCAA tournament regional semifinals, the third-seeded Badgers fully looked the part as they outdueled second-seeded Stanford in four sets, 25-17, 21-25, 25-23, 25-22, to advance to the NCAA regional finals for the eighth consecutive season.

“The level of talent out there on the court and the level of play out there – that easily could have been a Final Four match,” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said afterward. “It’s unusual to see that high level and back and forth in the Sweet 16.”

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Nebraska volleyball faces Texas A&M in regional final on Channel 8

Published

1 hour ago

December 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Nebraska Vs Kansas Courtesy Photo — Courtesy Nebraska Athletics

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The undefeated Nebraska volleyball team is looking to punch its ticket to Kansas City with a win over Texas A&M on Sunday.

The Huskers face off against No. 6 Texas A&M on Channel 8. That game begins at 2 p.m.

Texas A&M is coming off a five-set win over Louisville, Husker head coach Dani Busboom Kelly’s former team.

Shortly after that match, Nebraska swept Kansas in a dominant performance inside a sold-out John Cook Arena.

The Huskers are now onto their 34th regional final in program history. That is the most regional final appearances in NCAA history.

Nebraska gets another postseason game at the Bob Devaney Center. The Huskers have won 90 home matches in the NCAA Tournament.

Only four schools nationally have 90 or more victories in the tournament.

Nebraska and Texas A&M have faced off 39 times, most recently in 2010 when the Huskers swept the Aggies on the road.

Nebraska has won 32 of those matchups.

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Tracking undefeated women’s volleyball teams in 2025

Published

2 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

We are tracking all remaining undefeated teams in DI women’s volleyball for the 2025 season. Only Nebraska is left standing after Texas fell to Texas A&M in a five-setter on Friday, Oct. 31.

Since 1981, there have been only four programs — five teams — to finish a season undefeated and win a national title: Penn State (2008, 2009), Southern California (2003), Nebraska (2000) and Long Beach State (1998).

READ MORE: Every undefeated national champion in college volleyball history

Penn State holds the longest win streak in DI women’s volleyball history with 109 match victories from 2007-10, with the Nittany Lions winning four consecutive titles (2007 through 2010). The 2009 title team is the most recent undefeated champion.

Will there be another team to etch its name into history this season? Follow along here:

Undefeated DI women’s volleyball teams in 2025

Rankings are from the AVCA:

No. 1 Nebraska (33-0): The Huskers’ extend their win-streak to 33 after most recently sweeping Kansas on Friday, Dec. 12 in the regional semifinal of the NCAA tournament. Next: vs. Texas A&M (NCAA Tournament)