COLUMBUS – Jenna Rosenthal is an elite volleyball player with a career spanning three countries, an impressive collegiate career with two All-Big EAST selections, two podium finishes in discus at the Big EAST Track and Field Championships and, oh yeah, she’s also a civil engineer.
After returning to the United States following a short career in Finland and Germany, the Milwaukee native was about ready to pursue her degree she got from Marquette University and did so for a short time before she got sucked back into the volleyball world.
“I was okay with hanging up my shoes,” Rosenthal said. “Clearly, I had more years in me; it could’ve gone a lot longer, but the price over there was too great to pay.”
The price was being at home for only two weeks in the calendar year while overseas in her first year in Europe. She didn’t speak the same language as her coaches, missed weddings and events in her friends’ lives and didn’t have much support around her. Although in just three seasons she had already worked her way up to one of the best teams in the German Bundesliga, she couldn’t continue living so far from home.
“You think things are just going to be the same when you come back, but they’re not,” Rosenthal said. “People live their lives, things happen, people get sick, people get married, and you’re sort of an arbitrary thought because you’re in Europe and can’t come back.”
So, after three seasons Rosenthal came back to the U.S. and went to work as a civil engineer in an office. That office job only lasted nine months before another league called for a five-week tournament, where she played the best volleyball of her life. Shortly after, in November of 2022, Pro Volleyball Federation came calling.
At first, Rosenthal was just taking pictures and helping the league with some of its original promotion materials, but she quickly became an advocate for Pro Volleyball Federation – America’s first women’s professional volleyball league since the 1980s.
“I was so honored to be in on the early phases of this, because there’s so many players like me who have so many more years and could go so much farther but call it quits early because of other circumstances,” Rosenthal said.
The Fury’s middle blocker chose Pro Volleyball Federation because she doesn’t want other athletes that are in college or even younger to have to move overseas to pursue volleyball. She is passionate about building something for the younger generations so, as she puts it, they don’t have to put their skills on display in a dark gym in eastern Europe.
“It’s not about my career anymore, it’s about their career,” she said. “I still got it, I’m not old, but it’s really about building something special. Engineering is cool, but the parks and public space design can wait.”
For now, Rosenthal and the Fury are focused on building the team in anticipation of their inaugural season.
Columbus will play next on Friday, February 16 at Orlando. The Fury host the Omaha Supernovas at Nationwide Arena on Wednesday, February 21, for their home opener.
“I think our team is a bunch of people coming together to be greater than the sum of the parts,” Rosenthal said. “We really enjoy and respect each other, there’s not a lot of ego whatsoever. We all have a mutual understanding that we’re all here to give our best.”
As for the quality of play, the league features multiple Olympians, NCAA National Champions and All-Americans. The Fury roster features Megan Courtney Lush, an Olympic alternate in 2021 and a two-time national champion at Penn State, as well as Pro Volleyball Federation number one draft pick, Asjia O’Neal, who just wrapped up her collegiate career with back-to-back titles at Texas.
“I’m so excited to finally have a product to show the world,” Rosenthal said. “From starting talking about this thing a year and a half ago, we didn’t even have teams. Having a product to sell and to point to and to show that this is real pro volleyball is absolutely amazing.”
As the players are settling into their new environment in Columbus, they are becoming increasingly more comfortable. Especially for Rosenthal, a Midwesterner through and through, Columbus offers a sense of familiarity. Along with that, Rosenthal will be able to have her family and friends come out to watch her play.
“The desk will be waiting for me who knows how many years in the future,” Rosenthal said. “I’m just so unbelievably grateful that I can do this as my job. At home.”