SFA beach volleyball players sue university for retaliation

NACOGDOCHES — Beach volleyball players from Stephen F. Austin State University filed a lawsuit against the head coach and the university, claiming they faced retaliation for their support of a Title IX lawsuit against the institution, according to our news partner, KETK.

The suit was filed Monday by Ryann Allison, one of the two plaintiffs, among seven female student athletes, who have filed a Title IX sex discrimination class action lawsuit against the university. The action was prompted by the decision to cut three women’s athletics programs, including beach volleyball. The case is currently still in litigation.

At the end of the 2025-2026 school year, Allison was the only athlete to remain at SFA with plans to continue her senior season. In response to the initial lawsuit, the school reinstated all three programs into the athletic department.

Throughout the initial case, Allison and the second plaintiff, fellow teammate Brynn Dowd, were outspoken in their support for the lawsuit. Dowd expressed that she was proud of what the Title XI plaintiffs were doing and that she would also like to help rebuild the previously cut program, documents said.

Shortly after the end of the season on April 28, Allison had an end-of-year meeting with head beach volleyball coach Gretchen Hand that resulted in Allison being removed from the team for the next season. Dowd reported experiencing the same thing.

The lawsuit states that the defendants had no legitimate reason to remove the players from the team, and when asked why, Hand allegedly told the plaintiffs separately, “You don’t need to understand why.” In addition to her first given reason, Hand reportedly told Dowd that her decision “wasn’t about ability.”

Documents said that both plaintiffs demand a trial by jury. A spokesperson from SFA said the investigation is ongoing and that the university will not be commenting at this time.

Where Myers vs. Stephen F. Austin State University stands now

Filed in 2025, the case first began when the university axed three women’s programs (beach volleyball, golf and bowling) due to alleged budget cuts. The lawsuit against the institution claimed that the university discriminated against its female student-athletes by eliminating the teams.

In September 2025, the university filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on three grounds, as they had already reinstated beach volleyball and golf and claimed that the plaintiffs’ allegations were insufficient to show noncompliance with Title IX.

According to court documents obtained by KETK News, U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. Truncale ruled that the motion to dismiss is “granted in part and denied in part.” Despite the procedural ruling that SFA “won” the first ground, the case can still go “forward, full steam ahead,” Arthur Bryant, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said.

The next steps for the plaintiffs are a motion for their class certification and a motion to preserve the claims of all the women athletes, he said, for the trial set in mid-December.