A federal judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit filed by members of Quinnipiac University’s volleyball team alleging gender discrimination in the university’s athletic programs.

Judge Stefan Underhill’s ruling means if he finds Title IX violations, he can order remedies for all current and future female athletes at Quinnipiac, not just the five members of the team who sued. He rejected an attempt to add nonstudents who would have been deterred from enrolling at Quinnipiac as part of that class.

Quinnipiac, a private university in Hamden, Conn., with 5,400 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate students, last year sought to drop volleyball and add women’s cheerleading as a sport, prompting the lawsuit from several players and Robin Sparks, the volleyball coach.