California female athletes open up on alleged treatment from high school after filing Title IX lawsuit

California high schoolers stepped away from their volleyball team to file a lawsuit over the state's transgender athlete policies after spending the previous three years sharing a locker room with a biological male.

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." 

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