Sports

(UVALDE, Texas) — After a summer plagued with grief, anxiety and anger, Uvalde gets an escape, celebrating the high school’s first home football game of the season.

Residents will descend on the Honey Bowl Stadium on Friday night to watch the Uvalde High School Coyotes take on the C.C. Winn High School Mavericks. Uvalde’s stadium is just 2.4 miles from Robb Elementary School, where 19 elementary students and two teachers were killed on May 24.

Senior Uvalde linebacker Justyn Rendon was selected by his coaches and peers for the honor of wearing the No. 21 jersey this season, commemorating the 21 victims killed.

“I automatically started crying,” his mom, Venessa Rendon, said when she learned the news. “I was proud. It was a very humbling moment.”

Justyn Rendon said nearly everyone in town was impacted by the massacre, including his own family. His youngest brother was at Robb that day and survived.

“I was devastated, I couldn’t get here fast enough. All the ‘what ifs?’ started playing through my mind,” said his father, San Antonio police officer Eluterio Rendon.

Now football is “like a therapy,” Justyn Rendon told ABC News.

At practice “everybody didn’t have to feel the sadness and the sorrow. They just were able to feel the comfort of the family that we have,” the 18-year-old said.

As the team gathered for a pre-game dinner Thursday night, they were greeted by surprise visitors: Houston Texans coach Lovie Smith and Texans linebackers Christian Kirksey and Kamu Grugier-Hill.

“Whenever you have the opportunity to be of help, to be of inspiration, or just to be a person that can get, you know, things of these young men’s minds. You can talk ball with, or talk life with, you just want to be there,” Texans linebacker Christian Kirksey told ABC News. “I think that we have a job not just playing football, but to be role models and to be a helping hand.”

“I think it’s awesome,” Uvalde coach Wade Miller said of the NFL visit. “It makes us feel the love that we’re getting from around the world and especially the state of Texas. And to have those guys here and keeping up with us, makes our kids feel really special.”

The surprises kept coming on Good Morning America Friday. The Texans are gifting Uvalde with new uniforms and equipment for the season, and will honor the team with “Uvalde strong” stickers on their helmets at their first home game on Sept. 11.

“We’ll always be in you corner, we’ll always have your back,” Kirksey said.

The Texans are also hosting a football clinic for the Uvalde community on Friday.

“The guys just enjoy giving back,” Texans owner Cal McNair told ABC News. “All these guys have really embraced that as what they do and what they believe in.”

The special NFL visit was made possible by the Texans’ athletic trainer, Roland Ramirez, who is a Uvalde native.

“It’s been tough. Some really close friends have lost loves ones … so it hits home for me,” he said.

Ramirez said he’s glad the Texans can extend support and encouragement to the high schoolers — and he’s especially excited to watch his alma mater take the field Friday night.

Uvalde football ended last season 2-8. But already this year is off to a new start.

The season began last Friday with an away game. Uvalde beat the Carrizo Springs Wildcats, scoring a total of 21 points — a poignant and powerful reminder of the 21 lives lost.

“It was just a sign that the 21 angels are looking down at this community, and saying that they’re here, that they’re still present, and that they will remain present. So that was a pretty, pretty special moment,” Eluterio Rendon said.

Defensive end Jonathan Elizondo, 17, said the tragedy has brought the team together and that they’re mentally stronger now.

Elizondo transferred to Uvalde in the wake of the shooting to lend support to his family. He has cousins who attended Robb.

“I just don’t want them to see this as, like, a tragic town, you know? I want there to be positivity again,” he said.

Football “brings everybody together” in Uvalde, and Justyn Rendon said he’s excited to “bring the joy back to this town” at Friday’s home opener.

“It’s gonna mean a lot more this season. … It’s gonna be very emotional, very exciting,” he said. “And hopefully those little kids get to come out and watch us win. And that they don’t have to feel like scared, or have to be sad, but they get to feel the joy of being around their friends, their families.”

“This team means a lot to me,” added 16-year-old quarterback Brodie Carnes.

Carnes said Friday night’s game is “gonna be packed. Our community is kinda down … we’re gonna go out there and play for them.”

“It took us a while to be able to smile again without feeling guilty,” Eluterio Rendon said. “I believe that football will hopefully bring the community out … find a reason to smile, by enjoying watching our kids do what they love to do.”

ABC News’ Olivia Osteen, Jenny Wagnon Courts, Katie Conway and Kat Caulderwood contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Venus Williams and Serena Williams, a pair who first walked onto the national stage of professional tennis in the 1990s, have most likely walked off the court together for the last time.

The legendary sister act likely came to a close on Thursday night after the pair lost 7-6(5), 6-4, to the Czech team of Linda Noskova and Lucie Hradecka.

The first-round game marked, most likely, the final time Serena Williams and her older sister Venus Williams would play in a Grand Slam doubles tournament together. Serena Williams had announced that she was “evolving away” from tennis in a personal essay in Vogue in August.

Venus Williams had told reporters earlier in the week that the idea to play together was her sister’s.

“She’s the boss so I do whatever she tells me to do,” she had said while smiling.

The two sisters have dominated the tennis world for nearly three decades, ending their go as a pair on the same court they had won their first U.S. Open Doubles title in 1999. The duo would go on to win 22 titles, 14 Grand Slams and three Olympic gold medals while playing together.

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(SAN DIEGO) — The woman who has accused ex-NFL punter Matt Araiza and two of his college teammates of raping her during a party last year talked about the alleged incident in an interview with “Nightline.”

The alleged victim, who was 17 at the time of the incident and asked not to be identified, said the sexual assault took place last year during an off-campus party at San Diego State University and she said it lingers in her mind.

She is suing Araiza, who was released by the Buffalo Bills last week, and two former San Diego State football players, Zavier Leonard and Nowlin Ewaliko, accusing them of gang-raping a minor. The alleged victim says she wants charges filed and the men arrested.

“I’m really just looking for the closure, because I can’t stop thinking about it,” the woman told “Nightline.”

The alleged gang rape took place during a party on Oct. 17, 2021, according to the lawsuit. The victim was a high school student at the time while Araiza, 21, and Leonard and Ewaliko, both 18, were on the San Diego State football team.

The alleged victim told “Nightline” she was intoxicated, in and out of consciousness that night, but there were several blocks of the night that she remembers “like they were just yesterday.”

The alleged victim said that she talked with Araiza outside of the house, where he gave her a drink and performed sex acts on her.

After that initial encounter, the alleged victim said she was led back inside into a bedroom, according to the lawsuit.

“When I walked into that room and I saw that there were several guys already in there, I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, and I expected it,” she said.

There she said Araiza and his teammates violently gang-raped her, leaving bruises and bloody marks. She also said her piercings were ripped out. The victim told “Nightline” that she never once gave the men her permission for sex and said she was screaming during the incident.

“I feel like it should be clear to anybody that that’s not consensual sex,” she said.

The alleged victim said she contacted the police the next morning, filed a report and went to the hospital.

She said she didn’t initially know the identities of her alleged attackers.

Detectives in the sex crimes unit arranged recorded pretext calls with the men who were believed to be in the room when the gang rape took place. The alleged victim said that Araiza was on one of those calls.

“He told me that we had hooked up and he told me that I should get tested for chlamydia. I then was told by my detectives to clarify what he meant by hookup, and so I asked him if we had had actual sex and his tone completely changed from that point,” she said.

The alleged victim said that Araiza then denied having sex before hanging up, as was alleged in the complaint

The police finished their investigation in early August and turned it over to the San Diego District Attorney’s office.

No arrests have been made in the case, and police have not publicly identified any suspects.

“This case remains under review by our office for potential criminal charges,” the San Diego DA’s office told ABC News in a statement.

Araiza was signed by the Buffalo Bills as a sixth-round draft pick in April with a $4 million contract.

The victim said she threw up after hearing the news of Araiza’s signing.

“I was really upset because I thought that I had been doing everything that I was supposed to be doing in order to get them to face consequences,” she said. “I reported it right away and I was giving all my evidence to authorities and just to see him continuing on and thriving while I felt like my life was completely torn apart.”

The alleged victim’s attorney, Dan Gilleon, said he was in touch with the Bills in July about the suit. On Aug. 27, two days after the lawsuit was filed, the Bills released Araiza.

Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said in a statement that “our culture in Buffalo is more important than winning football games.”

“At this time, we just think it’s the best move for everyone to move on from Matt,” Beane said.

The accuser said the Bills and the NFL did the right thing by releasing him from the team.

“I can understand why [the NFL] might get backlash from those that may not believe what happened, but I know they did the right thing,” she said.

Araiza, however, has denied the accusations via a statement through his attorney.

“The facts of the incident are not what they are portrayed in the lawsuit or in the press. I look forward to quickly setting the record straight,” he said.

His attorney, Kerry Armstrong, released an additional statement contending the suit is a “money grab.”

“He is 100% adamant that he never forcibly raped this young lady or forcibly had sex with her in any type of way,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong also said in an interview with local station KFMB that his client did not know the victim was underage or intoxicated.

“He never gave her a drink, never gave her any intoxicating substance and she was not visibly intoxicated when he was talking to her,” he told the station.

Arazia’s parents also released a statement Monday defending their son and condemning the media.

“He has been extorted, discriminated against, harassed and the subject of multiple and continuous threats of violence and death. We have all been canceled. Every member of our family,” they said in their statement.

Marc Carlos, the attorney for Ewaliko, told ABC News his client denies the allegations while Jahmal Kersey, the attorney for Leonard, declined to comment about the accusations.

The alleged victim said even though she was intoxicated at the party her actions should not be used to minimalize what happened to her that night.

“I know I made mistakes that night. However, I don’t think that any sort of mistakes deserves what was done to me that night, and they still need to be held accountable for what they did,” she said.

The alleged victim said she’ll get real closure if arrests are made.

“I know this is something that’s going to stick around forever, but I think the closure will help. And I really do hope that I get it,” she said.

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(NEW YORK) — Serena Williams won her second-round match of the U.S. Open Wednesday on yet another electric night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, defeating the WTA No. 2-ranked player Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in three sets, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-2.

After the match, Williams said that “there’s still a little bit left” in the tennis superstar.

“This is what I do best. I love a challenge. I love rising to a challenge,” Williams said during a post-match interview. “The last couple matches here in New York, it’s really come together.”

Williams said she kicked it into gear after she lost the second set because she said she thought “this could be it.”

“I’m honestly just looking at [winning the U.S. Open] as a bonus. I don’t have anything to prove. I don’t have anything to win. I have absolutely nothing to lose,” Williams said. “I’ve had an ‘X’ on my back since ’99… I really enjoy just coming out and enjoying [playing], and it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do that.”

Williams defeated 80th-ranked Danka Kovinić of Montenegro in two sets, 6-3, 6-3, on Monday night, in an electric match that could have been her last professional singles appearance. Following her win, a celebration for Williams was held at center court, including appearances from tennis legend Billie Jean King and a taped message narrated by Oprah Winfrey.

All eyes have been on Williams, 40, who had announced earlier this month in a personal essay for Vogue that she would be “evolving away” from tennis.

In her nearly three-decade-long career, Williams has won 23 major singles titles — the most in the Open Era for men or women — but is in pursuit to notch one more at Arthur Ashe Stadium, on the same court she won her first major title in 1999.

Williams will reunite with her older sister Venus Williams to play a doubles first-round match on Thursday night. Her third round singles match will be against Australian player Ajla Tomljanovic on Friday.

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(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
Tampa Bay 2, Miami 1
Washington 5, Oakland 1
Chicago Cubs 7, Toronto 5

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Houston 5, Texas 3
Baltimore 4, Cleveland 0
Seattle 5, Detroit 3
Chicago White Sox 4, Kansas City 2
Boston 6, Minnesota 5
LA Angels 3, NY Yankees 2

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Milwaukee 6, Pittsburgh 1
San Diego 5, San Francisco 4
NY Mets 2, LA Dodgers 1
Atlanta 3, Colorado 2
St. Louis 5, Cincinnati 3
Philadelphia 18, Arizona 2

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Chicago 85, Connecticut 77
Las Vegas 78, Seattle,73

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Philadelphia 4, Atlanta 1
Columbus 1, Miami 0
New York 1, CF Montral 0
Chicago 0, New England 0 (tie)
LA Galaxy 2, Toronto FC 2 (tie)
DC United 2, New York City FC 1
Houston 2, Los Angeles FC 1
Nashville 4, Colorado 1
Orlando City 3, Seattle 2
Real Salt Lake 3, Minnesota 0
Portland 0, Austin FC 0

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Serena Williams is set to begin her second-round match of the U.S. Open against the WTA No. 2-ranked player Anett Kontaveit of Estonia Wednesday night.

Williams defeated 80th-ranked Danka Kovinić of Montenegro in two sets, 6-3, 6-3, on Monday night, in an electric match that could have been her last professional singles appearance. Following her win, a celebration for Williams was held at center court, including appearances from tennis legend Billie Jean King and a taped message narrated by Oprah.

All eyes have been on Williams, 40, who had announced earlier this month in a personal essay for Vogue that she would be “evolving away” from tennis. If she loses tonight, it will end a nearly three-decade-long dominant career in professional tennis.

But she won’t be done at the U.S. Open in Flushing: Williams will also reunite with her older sister Venus Williams to play a doubles first-round match on Thursday night.

Williams has won 23 major singles titles — the most in the Open Era for men or women — but is in pursuit to notch one more at Arthur Ashe Stadium, on the same court she won her first major title in 1999.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(SAN DIEGO) — San Diego State University officials made their first public statements addressing a civil lawsuit filed against former punter Matt Araiza and two other football players of allegedly gang-raping a 17-year-old girl.

“To be absolutely clear, we take allegations of sexual assault very seriously and do not support any actions or behaviors that cause harm to others,” Athletic Director John Wicker said Monday at a press conference.

The university officials pushed back against criticism of how the school handed the sexual assault allegations, with Wicker telling reporters, “It is absolutely not true that we swept this under the rug,” at the press conference.

Wicker defended the university’s handling of the accusations, saying because the alleged assault was said to have happened at an off-campus party, “the San Diego Police Department had the jurisdiction over this matter” and the university allowed SDPD’s request to investigate the sexual assault allegations.

“We are committed to hold accountable students who violate the universities policies,” said Head Coach Brady Hoke at the press conference.

Wicker alleged SDPD asked the university not to investigate the allegations because they felt it would “impede or negatively impact their investigation.”

The Buffalo Bills released rookie Araiza on Saturday after he was named in the lawsuit along with two of his San Diego State University teammates. The 22-year-old NFL rookie has denied the accusations.

“This afternoon, we decided that releasing Matt Araiza was the best thing to do. Our culture in Buffalo is more important than winning football games,” Buffalo Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said in a statement posted to the team’s Twitter account on Saturday.

Beane added that the team had spoken to the accuser’s lawyer and that “we tried to be thorough, and thoughtful and not rush to judgment.”

“With the serious nature of allegations and we just can’t, we don’t have the means to put all the facts together. And there’s multiple versions of what happened and you know, he’s a football coach. I’m a GM like we don’t have access to everything. And so that’s more important than playing football. And so we want Matt to focus on that,” he said.

Beane also said the team’s investigation into the allegations is ongoing.

In a statement to ABC News, Araiza’s parents alleged a “war” was waged on their son and alleged he has been “extorted, discriminated against, harassed and the subject of multiple and continuous threats of violence and death.”

“He has been released from his job and our entire family continues to receive horrific threats of violence and death. We have all been canceled. Every member of our family. Salacious rumors grew as fact. There are multiple witness reports to deny the claims that are made against him. The legal system is designed to find the facts and make decisions. They should be allowed to do that,” Araiza’s parents said in a statement.

An attorney for Araiza told ABC News in a statement that he does not understand why the university is receiving backlash as they were just following the SDPD’s directive.

“As far as SDSU, I feel sorry that the school has been raked over the coals since this story broke. It is my understanding that the San Diego Police Department told them to back off and let them (SDPD) do the investigation, and then SDSU complied with that directive,” Kerry Armstrong, an attorney for Araiza, said in the statement.

Armstrong denied the accusations of rape against his client and alleged he has several witnesses who talked to his investigator and will “back up much of Araiza’s story.” Armstrong also said he does not know what happened in the bedroom, but alleged that Araiza was not present.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
Arizona 3, Chicago White Sox 2
Minnesota 8, San Francisco 3
Kansas City 15, San Diego 7

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Tampa Bay 12, Boston 4
LA Angels 8, Toronto 3
Houston 3, Baltimore 1
Detroit 9, Texas 8
Seattle 4, Cleveland 0
Oakland 4, NY Yankees 1

NATIONAL LEAGUE
LA Dodgers 8, Miami 1
Washington 3, Cincinnati 2
Pittsburgh 5, Philadelphia 0
Colorado 1, NY Mets 0
Milwaukee 9, Chicago Cubs 7
St. Louis 6, Atlanta 3

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PRESEASON
NY Jets 31, NY Giants 27
Pittsburgh 19, Detroit 9

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Seattle 76, Las Vegas 73
Connecticut 68, Chicago 63

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Atlanta 3, DC United 2
Orlando City 2, New York City FC 1
LA Galaxy 2, New England 1

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(DURHAM, N.C.) — A Duke University women’s volleyball player targeted by a fan using hateful, racial slurs while playing a game against Brigham Young University calls the incident an “opportunity” to curate a healthy environment for Black people in collegiate athletics.

Rachel Richardson, a sophomore at Duke, said she’s not angered by the situation that occurred at last Friday’s game, but would rather show compassion and educate people using her platform to spread awareness for similar incidents in the future.

“I’m not the first person, I’m not the last person,” Richardson told ABC News Tuesday. “This isn’t an isolated incident, but it’s an opportunity for not just me, but for anyone who has an opinion, anyone who has a voice to decide that it should be the last time.”

Richardson heard the slur “every time she served,” according to former Texas county prosecutor Lesa Pamplin, who is running for county judge and said Richardson is her goddaughter in a tweet posted on Saturday.

“She was threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus. A police officer had to be put by their bench,” Pamplin tweeted. “Not one freaking adult did anything to protect her.”

Richardson didn’t condemn BYU for this incident, but singled out the alleged perpetrator.

“I know a lot of times when things like this happen, the perpetrators are met with anger. And that’s not what I want to happen in this moment,” Richardson said. “I don’t think that all of BYU should be condemned because grouping all of BYU together with the few students or non-students that were doing it would be the same thing that those people did to me, like viewing all Black people as less than. And I don’t want to sit down to a level.”

The fan, who was not a student, was sitting in the BYU student section, and was identified by Duke during the game, according to BYU. The fan has since been banned from all BYU athletic venues.

“To say we are extremely disheartened in the actions of a small number of fans in last night’s volleyball game in the Smith Fieldhouse between BYU and Duke is not strong enough language,” BYU said in a statement. “We will not tolerate behavior of this kind. Specifically, the use of a racial slur at any of our athletic events is absolutely unacceptable and BYU Athletics holds a zero-tolerance approach to this behavior. We wholeheartedly apologize to Duke University and especially its student-athletes competing last night for what they experienced.”

BYU Athletic Director Tom Holmoe, spoke out following the incident involving Richardson, telling their supporters to “not cross the line where you would hurt or harm anyone in any way,” and is taking the necessary steps to better educate his staff and student-athletes on ways to handle inappropriate behavior from fans in the future.

Although Holmoe spoke out against the racism, Richardson posted a statement on Twitter Sunday, claiming officials and BYU coaching staff were aware of what was happening during the game but failed to stop the fan and end the behavior.

“This is an opportunity to dig deep into closed cultures which tolerate amoral racist acts, such as those exhibited Friday night, and change them for the better,” Richardson said Sunday. “It is not enough to indicate that you are not racist, instead you must demonstrate that you are anti-racist.”

Nina King, Duke University Vice President & Director of Athletics, said Friday’s alleged incident is unacceptable and all players should be able to compete in a safe environment.

“Duke student-athletes should always have the opportunity to compete in an inclusive, anti-racist environment which promotes equality and fair play,” King said in a statement on Saturday.

As for Richardson, she plans to continue making strides and serving nets on the volleyball court and to continue spreading light and compassion on and off the court.

“It’s not that you’re just a terrible person because you made that mistake the one time, it’s that you’re ignorant and that you need to be educated,” Richardson said. “Hopefully, that person can also meet you with compassion, open their heart, and be willing to learn and be willing to share what they’ve learned, because that’s how it happens. You know, it starts with one place and then it spreads.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
Toronto 5, Chi Cubs 4

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Minnesota 4, Boston 2
LA Angels 4, NY Yankees 3

NATIONAL LEAGUE
LA Dodgers, 3 Miami 2
St. Louis 13, Cincinnati 4
Milwaukee 7, Pittsburgh 5
Arizona 13, Philadelphia 7
San Diego 6, San Francisco 5

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.