A judge has ruled that Quinnipiac University in Connecticut can’t replace its women’s volleyball team with a cheerleading squad under federal laws governing gender balance in college sports.

Quinnipiac had axed volleyball as a budget-cutting measure, hoping to save some $5000 per student per year by replacing it with cheerleading. But the anti-discrimination law known as Title IX requires gender equity in varsity sports, and the volleyball team sued, saying cheerleading didn’t qualify.

In a decision handed down this week, federal judge Stefan Underhill declared that cheerleading is “too underdeveloped and disorganized to be treated as offering genuine varsity athletic participation opportunities for students.”

Quinnipiac says they now plan to create a women’s rugby team.