In a week when head coach Tayyiba Haneef-Park received the highest honor in the sport, the San Diego Mojo are hitting the key stretch of their Pro Volleyball Federation season. The Mojo (6-10) defeated the Orlando Valkyries on the road Thursday night in five sets and have another road match Saturday at the Atlanta Vibe (9-8). With 12 games remaining in the regular season, the Mojo are seventh in the eight-team PVF. They will have opportunities to move up; their remaining schedule includes games against every team ahead of them in the standings. Earlier this week, Haneef-Park was among six selected to the USA Volleyball Hall of Fame, joining Lindsey Berg, Mike Dodd, Tom Hoff, David Lee and Kerri Walsh Jennings. A three-time Olympian, Haneef-Park helped lead the U.S. Women’s National Team to Olympic silver medals at the 2008 Beijing games and at the 2012 London games. She starred at Long Beach State, leading her team to a 33-1 record and an NCAA runner-up finish in 2001. She ranks seventh on the school’s all-time list with 1,421 kills. Haneef-Park competed for Team USA for over a decade, contributing to multiple podium finishes at the FIVB World Cup and World Grand Prix. In February, Haneef-Park was selected as an assistant coach for the women’s national team coaching staff leading up to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The Mojo plays their next home match on Wednesday night against Orlando at Viejas Arena. Seals host Las Vegas Fresh off a thrilling 13-11 home win over Vancouver last Friday, the San Diego Seals will host the Las Vegas Desert Dogs Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at Pechanga Arena for Native American Heritage Day. With six games remaining in the regular season, the Seals (6-6) sit eighth in the NLL standings; the top eight teams qualify for the playoffs. This week, the team acquired Poway High School product Marquez White from the Buffalo Bandits. He not appeared in any games as he recovers from knee surgery. White starred collegiately at Princeton, where earned first-team All-Ivy League honors and was named a USILA All-American as a senior while leading the Tigers to Ivy League championships in both 2023 and 2024. Las Vegas (3-10) sits last in the 14-team NLL, but beat the Seals 12-10 in Las Vegas on Jan. 18. Sunday’s event honors Native Americans, who have been playing lacrosse since the 12th century. The first 2,000 fans through the gates will receive a commemorative Seals Native American heritage hat Gulls host weekend series The Gulls’ push for a berth in the AHL playoffs reaches an inflection point this weekend, when the club takes on the first-place Colorado Eagles at Pechanga Arena. The teams met at 7 p.m. Friday and will run it back at 6 p.m. Saturday. At 23-25-5-3, San Diego sits ninth in the American Hockey League’s 10-team Pacific Division. The Gulls are within striking range of Bakersfield and Tucson, who are tied for seventh place. The top seven teams make the playoffs. Colorado’s 32-15-5-3 record is the third-best in the 32-team AHL. Legion idle The San Diego Legion (4-0) of Major League Rugby are on a bye week and will host Miami next Saturday at Torero Stadium. The Legion are the lone unbeaten team in MLR and are coming off a 36-28 home victory over RFC Los Angeles. Right lock Vilie Helu (17 ruck arrivals, eight tackles) was named to the MLR First XV for his performance against RFCLA. Flank Ryan James (Cathedral Catholic High School) scored the game-clinching try and has four trys on the season, matching teammate Tomas Aoake.