This past weekend, Texas State hosted League One Volleyball (LOVB), a professional volleyball league, at Strahan Arena. LOVB consists of six professional teams. Four of those teams, Austin, Omaha, Salt Lake and Madison, made their way to San Marcos for a three-match set.
The fans were treated to three matches of high-caliber volleyball, all three of which went five sets. Here is a recap of all the matches that took place at Strahan:
LOVB Austin vs. LOVB Omaha
The first match of the weekend pitted Austin and Omaha against each other. Omaha came out victorious over Austin in five sets, 25-23, 17-25, 25-16, 23-25, 15-12. Omaha setter Laura Dijkema was named Player of the Match after breaking the league record for assists in a single match with 62.
“To be honest, I didn’t even know anything about this ‘assist’ system, so I didn’t know what kind of record I made,” Dijkema said. “I think our attackers made really good choices in attacks…our reception line [is] really stable and consistent, so I’m really happy with all of my teammates.”
Despite the loss, Austin’s Madisen Skinner shined. Finishing her night with 22 kills and 17 assists. As a team, Austin hit .335, something Austin interim head coach Chris McGown pointed to as a bright spot.
“Hitting .335 and losing is not an easy thing to do,” McGown said. “That’s as good as we’ve played, I think since I’ve been here, so that’s a bright spot for us for sure.”
LOVB Salt Lake vs. LOVB Omaha
Salt Lake outside hitter Roni Jones-Perry won player of the match, as she propelled her squad to victory as Salt Lake completed the two sets to one comeback and came out victorious over Omaha 24-26, 31-33, 25-19, 25-15, 15-11.
“I’m really proud of my crew for grinding it out,” Salt Lake head coach Tama Miyashiro said. “To come back is really important for us at this point of the season.”
Jones tallied 22 kills, four blocks, a league record-tying four aces and 14 digs en route to winning player of the match Saturday evening at Strahan.
Each of the first two sets took extra points to finish. Set one was as back and forth as it gets, as there was never a deficit larger than four, and two sides were deadlocked at the 10, 15 and 24-point marks. After a Salt Lake error gave Omaha the 25-24 lead, a Dijkema block put set one in the books.
Set two was even more eventful than the first. A marathon of a second set saw Omaha in complete control for most of it. Jumping out to an 18-10 lead, Omaha looked like it was going to cruise to the 2-0 lead over Salt Lake.
With the score sitting at 22-15, Salt Lake went on a massive 7-0 run to knot set two up at 22-22. Leading to the ensuing barrage of extra points it would take to close out the second set. The two sides traded points all the way to 31-31 before Omaha middle blocker Sami Francis took matters into her own hands, netting the next two points for Omaha and claiming set two, 33-31.
With its backs to the wall, Salt Lake won a gritty set three 25-19 and won set four rather comfortably 25-15, setting the stage for a second straight five-setter in as many nights as Strahan.
The two sides found themselves tied 7-7 at the halfway point of the fifth and final set. From there, Salt Lake went on a 6-1 run to put themselves in a position to close out the match. Serena Gray called game with the final kill of the match, completing Salt Lake’s comeback victory.
“Going into the fifth, we had been working to play one point at a time, and the fifth set goes pretty quick, so it’s even more important to stay steady and not let the other team go on runs,” Jones-Perry said. “We did a good job just settling in and staying aggressive with the things we wanted to execute.”
LOVB Madison vs. LOVB Austin
For any fans who stayed to watch the second match of the Saturday night doubleheader thinking, they were treated to yet another five-set match between Madison and Austin. In the end, Madison came out victorious over Austin, 22-25, 25-23, 25-12, 23-25, 15-11.
“Well, we’re finding ways to make these games fun,” Madison head coach Matt Fuerbringer said. “[To] never lose focus at the job at hand is really impressive and really good for us to go through as we’re coming into these last couple weeks of the season.”
Austin began the match, winning set one 25-22 on the backs of Skinner and Logan Eggleston. The second set saw the two sides trade runs and keep hanging around with each other all the way up to a 23-23 stalemate late in the second set. Back-to-back errors ended up being the undoing for Austin in the second set as they allowed Madison to even things up at one set apiece.
The third set was all Madison, building a 12 point lead and ultimately winning by 13 points 25-12.
Although it looked like Madison may again win the set comfortably after taking a 13-8 lead, The third set ended up being much more competitive. A 6-0 run catapulted Austin in front of Madison 14-13. From that point, Austin never relinquished the lead, holding on all the way to the end of set four, winning it 25-23.
Just as Madison did in set four, Austin built a five point lead in the fifth set at 6-1. With the fifth set only being played to 15, it appeared Austin was well on the way to closing out the weekend with a win. Madison decided to give Austin a taste of their own medicine this set and rallied from the 6-1 deficit all the way back to win the set 15-11. Claiming match victory.
Madison’s Annie Drews Schumacher won player of the match. Annie tallied a league-record 28 kills.
For more information on LOVB Volleyball, visit https://www.lovb.com/.
