COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 17, 2025) — Fifteen U.S. Women’s National Team athletes are on their way to Łódź, Poland, to compete at the 2025 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) Final Round, July 23-27. The top eight teams from the preliminary phase advanced to the Finals, and the U.S. earned its spot with a 7-5 record, finishing eighth in the standings.

The U.S. Women will open the single-elimination bracket on July 23 at 7:30 a.m. PDT against No. 1 seed Italy in the quarterfinals. Other countries who qualified for the Final Round are Brazil, Japan, Poland, China, Türkiye and Germany. All matches will be streamed live on VBTV.

Head coach Erik Sullivan’s roster for Poland includes three 2024 Olympians: setter Jordyn Poulter, middle blocker Dana Rettke and outside hitter Avery Skinner.

Eleven of the remaining players competed in at least one of the three preliminary rounds: outside hitters Madi Skinner, Roni Jones-Perry, Sarah Franklin and Logan Eggleston; liberos Morgan Hentz and Lexi Rodriguez; setter Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres, opposite Stephanie Samedy; and middle blockers Brionne Butler, Amber Igiede and Tia Jimerson.

Outside hitter Khalia Lanier will make her 2025 debut at the Finals. Lanier made her VNL debut in 2023, playing in two of the preliminary rounds and the Finals. She also played in week two in 2024.

The VNL Finals bring together the world’s top teams for a shot at the title. Since the tournament’s inception in 2018, the U.S. Women have consistently been among the top performers, winning gold in 2018, 2019 and 2021.

U.S. Women’s VNL Finals Roster

No. Name (Pos., Ht., Hometown, College, USAV Region)
2 Jordyn Poulter (S, 6-2, Aurora, Colo., Illinois, Rocky Mountain)
3 Avery Skinner (OH, 6-1, Katy, Texas, Kentucky, Lone Star)
6 Morgan Hentz (L, 5-9, Lakeside Park, Ky., Stanford Univ., Pioneer)
7 Lexi Rodriguez (L, 5-5, Sterling, Ill., Univ. of Nebraska Great Lakes)
8 Brionne Butler (MB, 6-4, Kendleton, Texas, Univ. of Texas, Lone Star)
9 Madisen Skinner (OH, 6-2, Katy, Texas, Univ. of Kentucky and Univ. of Texas, Lone Star)
13 Amber Igiede (MB, 6-3, Baton Rouge, La., Univ. of Hawaii, Delta)
16 Dana Rettke (MB, 6-8, Riverside, Ill., Univ. of Wisconsin, Great Lakes)
19 Khalia Lanier (OH, 6-2, Scottsdale, Ariz., Univ. of Southern California, Arizona)
21 Roni Jones-Perry (OH, 6-0, West Jordan, Utah, BYU, Intermountain)
22 Sarah Franklin (OH, 6-4, Lake Worth, Fla., Univ. of Wisconsin, Florida)
25 Tia Jimerson (MB, 6-3, Sugar Hill, Ga., Univ. of Ohio, Southern)
32 Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres (S, Honolulu, Hawaii, Univ. of Texas, Aloha)
33 Logan Eggleston (OH, 6-2, Brentwood, Tenn., Univ. of Texas, Southern)
34 Stephanie Samedy (Opp, 6-2, Clermont, Fla., Minnesota, Florida)

Coaches
Head Coach: Erik Sullivan
Assistant Coach: Mike Wall
Second Assistant Coach: Brandon Taliaferro
Second Assistant Coach: Tayyiba Haneef-Park
Second Assistant Coach: Joe Trinsey
Team Manager: Rob Browning
Team Doctors: William Briner, James Suchy, Chris Lee, Andrew Gregory
Physiotherapist: Kara Kessans
Physical Trainers: Shawn Hueglin, Shannon Boone
Mental Performance Coach: Andrea Becker, Katy Stanfill
Performance Analyst: Virginia Pham

VNL Finals Schedule
July 23: USA vs. Italy, 7:30 a.m. PDT
July 26: Semifinals
July 27: Medal matches

Week 1 Results: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 4 Italy def. USA, 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 30-28)
June 5 Brazil def. USA, 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-19)
June 6 Czechia def. USA, 3-2 (23-25, 20-25, 25-17, 25-20, 27-25)
June 8 USA def Korea, 3-0 (25-13, 28-26, 25-17)

Week 2 Results: Belgrade, Serbia
June 18 USA def. Serbia, 3-2 (25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 22-25, 15-11)
June 19 Poland def. USA, 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-18)
June 21 USA def. Netherlands, 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-19)
June 22 USA def. France, 3-2 (25-22, 26-24, 20-25, 21-25, 15-13)

Week 3 Results: Arlington, Texas
July 9 USA def. Thailand, 3-1 (28-26, 21-25, 27-25, 25-15)
July 10 USA def. Dominican Republic, 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-20)
July 12 USA def. Canada, 3-2 (26-24, 23-25, 20-25, 25-21, 19-17)
July 13 China def. USA, 3-2 (18-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-21, 18-16)

“F1: The Movie” arrived in theaters after a year of anticipation, especially from Formula One (F1) fans who were ready to scrutinize every detail and eager to point out any inaccuracies to see if Hollywood had actually sensationalized the sport. But, the real letdown wasn’t the racing at all.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the film stars Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, a washed-up driver who has been retired from F1 for 30 years. The movie follows APXGP, a fictional team, featuring Damson Idris as Joshua Pearce, a talented but immature rookie, and Kerry Condon as Kate McKenna, the team’s technical director and the first and only woman to hold that title in the film’s F1 universe.

The movie was one of the most anticipated releases of the summer and had a strong opening weekend making $140 million globally and $55.6 million in the United States .

While the movie was met with mixed reactions, it got several things right, including the cinematography.

It is clear Kosinski went to great lengths to achieve as much realism as possible. Pitt and Idris trained in Formula Two (F2) cars which were modified to resemble F1 cars. Seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, served as a producer for the movie. Scenes were filmed during real races in the 2024 season, including Silverstone, the Las Vegas Strip Circuit and the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Several F1 drivers and team principals appeared as themselves, as did Sky Sports F1 commentators Martin Brundle and David Croft. Presenters Will Buxton and announcer Leigh Diffey were also involved in the film.

While there were technical inaccuracies, they likely stemmed from limited run-time. The setting itself only left nine races for the team to improve their performance. Some plot points would have led to major penalties and even disqualifications, but the movie prioritized pacing and character arcs over strict accuracy.

That said, small inaccuracies were not the film’s biggest problem.

The most disappointing aspect of the movie was its portrayal of the female characters.  While the movie made it clear that they were aiming to showcase the growing role of women in motorsports by highlighting four female team members, those efforts were undermined almost immediately.

McKenna, the groundbreaking technical director, ends up romantically involved with Hayes despite repeatedly insisting she would never date someone on the team, especially someone as arrogant and difficult as him. Her reversal feels forced, reinforcing the trope that a woman in power can’t exist in a male-dominated field without being reduced to a love interest.

Then there’s Jodie played by Callie Cooke, the only female member of the pit crew whose primary arc involves a series of mistakes, including one during a pit stop that ruins Pearce’s race. The intended message seems to be about learning from failure and escaping self-doubt. But, in a sport where women are already hyper-criticized, having the only female mechanic repeatedly mess up only reinforces harmful perceptions, ones that are already used to exclude women from the sport.

A smaller but still frustrating moment occurs when a woman approaches Pearce at a nightclub to ask if he can introduce her to real-life F1 driver Carlos Sainz. It’s a joke that is intended for laughs but doesn’t land when you consider how often women are told they only like F1 because they find the drivers attractive. The scene feels like it’s playing into the stereotypes rather than challenging them.

F1 offers built-in drama with rivalries, jealousy and high-stakes competition; the movie even added unresolved family dynamics. Both Hayes and Pearce lost their fathers at age 13, hinting at an emotional storyline about chasing a shared dream that could’ve been explored more deeply. Instead, I feel like we got a romantic subplot and gendered mishaps that felt unnecessary.

By the end of the film, I felt entertained, but also like I had just watched a high-budget Brad Pitt fanfiction. Speaking of Pitt, his casting is arguably the biggest inaccuracy of all. A 61-year-old F1 driver simply wouldn’t be realistic given the sport’s physical demands.

If viewers are genuinely interested in learning about F1, this film could be a decent start. It is visually stunning and action-packed, but the best way to experience F1 is to watch the real thing. The sport itself already has all the intensity, emotion and excitement the big screen could ever hope to capture, without needing to fall back on old, tired tropes.

Ximena Cordero is the web and copy editor for The Prospector and may be reached at [email protected] 

The list features student athletes with a GPA of 3.2 and higher. Outstanding laurels include GPAs between 4.0-3.71, Superior is 3.70-3.41 and Excellent is 3.40-3.20.

Ava Houlahan, Charlotte Riches, Hadley Harbilas and Kate Mallery nabbed Outstanding honors with CJ Weigel, Grace Houlahan, Kayla Yelensky, Lindsey Lucas and Rachael Carver nabbing Superior accolades with Ally Lurie, Olivia Krotts and Shanna Davidson corralling Excellent marks.

 

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., July 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — PubMatic (Nasdaq: PUBM), the independent technology company delivering digital advertising’s supply chain of the future, today launched an AI-powered Live Sports Marketplace that enables advertisers to target specific game moments across streaming platforms in real-time. This breakthrough proprietary technology analyzes live game data, offering granular event-level curation and real-time access to premium live sports ad inventory.

The Live Sports Marketplace launches with FanServ as its premier partner, providing immediate access to premium NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL and National Women’s Soccer League inventory, including exclusive local programming for the Minnesota Twins, Colorado Rockies, and Cleveland Guardians. This partnership is a pivotal step in unifying and expanding access to premium live sports inventory across the digital ecosystem.

“FanServ was built by fans, for fans, and now, with PubMatic, we’re redefining how brands reach and engage fans through programmatic sports advertising. This partnership is about more than just access, it’s about precision and possibility,” stated Brad Friedman, CEO of FanServ. “By combining FanServ’s deep sports expertise with PubMatic’s unique event-level curation, we’re empowering brands to connect meaningfully at the exact moments that matter most, across every platform they love,” added Ben Goodfriend, VP of Demand Partnerships.

The Live Sports Marketplace launches with substantial momentum, building on PubMatic’s sports advertising business where live sports activity has more than tripled in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The company exceeded its entire 2024 live sports activity in just the first six months of 2025, positioning it to more than double last year’s performance and demonstrating explosive market demand for precision-targeted live sports solutions. Beyond FanServ’s premium inventory, the marketplace provides unified access to major publishers including MLB, FuboTV, DirecTV, Spectrum Reach, and Roku, and covers comprehensive sports content from major leagues (MLB, NBA & WNBA, NHL, MLS) to alternative sports (surfing, pickleball, MMA, FIFA, NASCAR & F1, tennis, golf, cricket) and NCAA college athletics. The company has recently monetized CTV inventory for the official FIFA Club World Cup, which took place from June 19 to July 17.

Currently, traditional programmatic sports buying often fails to distinguish between low- and high-engagement moments, leading to wasted impressions during less impactful periods, such as commercial breaks in lopsided games, while missing opportunities to reach audiences during the most valuable, high-attention moments. The marketplace addresses these and other critical pain points, including fragmented streaming and under-monetized inventory, limited targeted precision across live events, and the technical complexities of managing unpredictable viewership spikes and behaviors. The Live Sports Marketplace enables advertisers and publishers to unlock the full value of live sports audiences through:

• Industry-First Event- and Channel-Level Precision: PubMatic’s proprietary AI enables advertisers to target specific games, teams, or even high-impact moments, across a fragmented streaming landscape, maximizing relevance and engagement for every campaign.
• Dynamic Scheduling & Real-Time Packaging: By importing and analyzing live TV schedules from all partners, the marketplace uses up-to-the-minute sports schedules, ensuring brands can target the right moments as they happen across all publishers.
• Expert Management of Live Spikes: PubMatic’s owned-and-operated infrastructure can expertly manage unpredictable spikes in live viewership, with the potential for separate endpoints for DSPs dedicated to live sports, ensuring seamless, reliable ad delivery at scale, even during the most high-demand moments.
• Scalability and Automation Roadmap: The platform is designed to provide both immediate manual flexibility and future automation, supporting scalable, automated deal creation and reporting. This ensures that both buyers and sellers can benefit from streamlined workflows and real-time insights as the market evolves.

“This revolutionary technology and premium partnership with FanServ transforms fragmented live sports inventory into programmatically accessible, of-the-moment opportunities, setting a new standard for precision and impact in digital sports advertising,” stated Nicole Scaglione, VP of CTV and Online Video at PubMatic.

According to eMarketer, 114.1 million people are projected to watch live sports digitally in 2025, compared to 82.0 million via traditional TV. As audiences migrate to streaming and connected devices, there is a real need for real-time, precise, and scalable ad delivery during unpredictable, high-attention moments. With the Live Sports Marketplace, PubMatic delivers the precision, speed and reliability advertisers need to succeed.

To learn more about the Live Sports Marketplace and how it can elevate your live digital advertising strategy, please visit www.pubmatic.com/live-sports

About Fanserv:
Fanserv pairs the power of sports with the promise of digital by unifying inventory, enabling granular targeting, and providing unparalleled analytics. As the exclusive monetization partner for premiere teams, leagues, and federations, Fanserv delivers seamless monetization solutions purpose-built for live sports.

About PubMatic:
PubMatic (Nasdaq: PUBM) is an independent technology company maximizing customer value by delivering digital advertising’s supply chain of the future. PubMatic’s sell-side platform empowers the world’s leading digital content creators across the open internet to control access to their inventory and increase monetization by enabling marketers to drive return on investment and reach addressable audiences across ad formats and devices. Since 2006, our infrastructure-driven approach has allowed for the efficient processing and utilization of data in real time. By delivering scalable and flexible programmatic innovation, we improve outcomes for our customers while championing a vibrant and transparent digital advertising supply chain.

Press Contact:
Ashley Jacobson, Director of Corporate Marketing, press@pubmatic.com
Broadsheet Communications for PubMatic, pubmaticteam@broadsheetcomms.com

Bengal alumna Abby Garrity, Class of 2018, has been selected to the USA Deaf Women’s Volleyball Team. After beginning her volleyball career in 7th grade, she became a standout player at ISU and went on to thrive at the international level. She won two gold medals and a bronze in 2016 and 2017.

Now she is back, playing for one of the most promising programs in the world. The USA Deaf Women’s Volleyball Team finished second at the Deaf World Championships last summer, and now with Garrity joining for the upcoming Deaflympics the team will be going for gold. This November, they will travel to Tokyo to compete against the world’s best deaf teams in the hopes of bring back the gold.

Garrity says it can be a challenge not hearing very well on the court, but it has helped enhance her technique.

“It’s forced me to see the court better since I can’t rely on teammates telling me what is spots are open mid play,” said Garrity. “I also try and make eye contact with coaching staff to make sure I’m not missing anything being said. On the deaf team, we cannot wear our equipment when we play that helps us hear. We use sign language and I read lips really well.”

Read more about the athlete here. 

Earlier this month, I attended Gunpowder Press’s release of their new anthology, Women in a Golden State: California Poets at 60 and Beyond. Since 2025 commemorates the 175th anniversary of California’s statehood, the anthology features 175 California writers. My mother, Blanca Estela Palacio, would have been the same age as many of the women represented in the collection. For the world, she is forever immortalized at age 44. I am older than she was the last time I saw her alive, but not old enough to contribute to this anthology. The collection gives me an insight into what her life concerns would be as an aging Baby Boomer. Many favorite people and poets are included in this impressive poetry collection, and a few micro-essays are also tucked in.

As a child, I remember thinking that my mom was an exceptional woman who had grown up with the best music. I was the oddball teenager who preferred her parents’ music and dances to her own generation’s. My mother was proud of the fact that she was a Baby Boomer, the generation of children born to parents who lived through World War II, who protested the Vietnam War, who marched for peace, women’s rights, civil rights, and affirmative action.

While my mother was born in Texas, she was very much a California girl. California is where she grew up, became a teacher, an activist, and a single mother who also took care of her parents and siblings during her short life. Because I keep aging and my mother does not, I often wonder what her life would be like now. I become wistful around women who have the opportunity for mother-daughter dates. There’s so much about my life in Santa Barbara that I wish I could have shared with my mother. We often took summer road trips from Los Angeles to San Francisco and on several occasions visited my uncle who was stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, but we never stopped in Santa Barbara. I don’t think my mom knew the town existed. Solvang was our usual stopping point. To this day, I have no explanation as to why we never stopped in Santa Barbara. I know she would have loved it here.

Ten years after my mother passed, I met a mother traveling with her adult daughter. I was so happy for the two of them. I told them how lucky they were. Mother and daughter Lucy agreed. They had the same round face and blue eyes. It still puts a smile on my face to think of the two women sharing an aisle on the airplane with 20-year-old me. While I can no longer travel with my mother, we sure shared some fun adventures together to Hawai’i, Mexico, and Europe.

In reading Women in a Golden State, I see my mother in so many of the poems. Sharon Langley’s poem, “I Saw My Mom Today,” reminds me that I only need to look in the mirror to see my mother: “Purse. Pucker, now pose. / That’s her smile for sure. / I saw my mom today.”

Thanks to Gunpowder Press editors Diana Raab and Chryss Yost, there’s a collection of 175 poems that share the concerns of Women in a Golden State and the anthology my mother would be included in if she were a living poet.