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EXCLUSIVE: California high school seniors Hadeel Hazameh and Alyssa McPherson are suing their school district over alleged Title IX violations within their girls’ volleyball team. The two teens stepped away from the team in September in protest of a trans player.
They still wanted to go and watch their team play its first state playoff game of the season last Wednesday. But Hazameh and McPherson alleged that their coach wouldn’t let them sit with their teammates on the bench for that game.
Former Jurupa Valley players Hadeel Hazameh, left, and Alyssa McPherson watch a CIF Southern Section Division 5 girls volleyball playoff match against Valencia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Placentia, California. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
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After sitting with their teammates for senior night earlier this month, the two teens alleged that Jurupa Valley High School volleyball coach Liana Manu told them that next time they want to sit with the team, they had to let her know first.
“So this time we were just going to respect her and ask her, ‘Can we sit on the bench?’ And she was like, ‘Unfortunately, no, today you can’t,'” Hazameh alleged of Manu. Hazameh added that the coach offered to explain why after the game, but the player didn’t take her up on the offer.
McPherson said, “I had texted her myself too, around 4:30, and I asked her if I could sit on the bench because she told Hadeel I had to ask for myself. So I asked for myself, and I never got a response from her.”
The two girls purchased tickets to sit at the game with spectators. There, they regrouped in the crowd with a group of “Save Girls’ Sports” protesters.
Footage of the two girls at the game has gone viral on X. One clip, which caught the attention of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, showed two older women in the back of the bleachers making malicious hand gestures, allegedly to Hazameh and McPherson.
Another clip showed two other women yelling loudly behind the two teens, seemingly cheering for the game on the court. Hazameh alleged one of the women yelled at her to stop recording a video of the match.
Valencia went on to win the game in straight sets, ending Jurupa Valley’s season.
Fans pose during a CIF Southern Section Division 5 girls volleyball playoff match against Valencia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Placentia, California. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
TRANS SWIMMER BANNED FROM WORLD ATHLETICS AND STRIPPED OF RECENT RESULTS AFTER REFUSING SEX TEST
Hazameh and McPherson felt a deep sense of relief.
“I just wanted it all to end,” McPheron said. “No one deserves to be knocked out [of the playoffs] because of an unfair advantage. And I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. So I was just hoping this would be done and over with.
“I was just relieved that it was all over and like, the season’s done.”
Hazameh added, “I’m just very glad that the biological girls and the other team, worked really hard, and they still won.”
They never imagined that their high school volleyball careers would end with them rooting for their own team to lose. But the circumstances took a toll on them over the last two months.
Hazameh said she recently broke down in tears when she went back to read some old text messages that were exchanged at the end of summer with a friend who graduated last year.
“‘I pray that my senior year is as amazing as your guys’ year, and I just hope that I have an amazing year,'” the text message read. “I just broke down in tears because my senior year has absolutely been horrible, and everything that I was excited for and looking forward to just crumbled.”
Hazameh and McPherson recounted stories of getting hurtful messages on social media, and getting “dirty looks” in the hallways. But they even allege their principal has helped contribute to it.
“She even gathered the volleyball team and she told them that they don’t have to give us high fives and basically show sportsmanship to us,” McPherson alleged.
But through it all, the two teens still believe they’re “doing the right thing.”
And they’re not done playing high school sports either, even if it means sharing a team with the trans athlete.
Both Hazameh and McPherson say they will re-join the girls’ track team in the spring, even if the trans athlete will be competing as well. Last year, the trans athlete won two state championships in girls’ triple jump and high jump.
Hazameh has lost to a trans athlete in at least seven track and field competitions throughout her high school career.
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This season they are all set to be seniors, and are expected to compete together while Hazameh and McPherson’s lawsuit against the school district rages on in the background.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Jurupa Unified School District and Jurupa Valley High School girls’ volleyball booster club for comment.
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