This Week’s Match
RISE at San Diego // Fri., Feb. 23 // 10 p.m. EST // Viejas Arena
Watch: YouTube at 10 p.m.
Season Series: First of four meetings overall, first of two at Viejas Arena
All-Time Series: 0-0 Overall, 0-0 Away
Noteworthy: Grand Rapids looks to improve to 2-0 on the road this season and maintain its first-place spot on top of the League standings. After dropping three away matches to start the season, San Diego will be the last Pro Volleyball Federation team in the inaugural season to host its home opener. Three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings is an owner of the Mojo.
Going the Distance: In a battle of the League’s top two teams, the Rise needed all five sets on Sunday to defeat the Atlanta Vibe for the second time this season. Grand Rapids won the first two sets (25-19, 25-18) before dropping the next two (25-23, 25-23) to reach its first five-set match in franchise history. Trailing 9-7, the Rise used an 8-2 run to close out the fifth set, 15-11, and win the match, 3-2. Impressively, the Rise generated a .500 attack percentage in the fifth set with 11 out of their 15 points coming off kills. Seven of those kills came from veteran opposite hitter Emiliya Dimitrova, who only had eight attack attempts in the frame (.875).
Dynamic Dimitrova Recognized: The final set heroics against Atlanta only captured a fraction of what Dimitrova delivered when she was continuously called upon. She finished with a match-high 26 kills with three attack errors on 58 swings to produce a season-best .397 hitting percentage.
As a result, Dimitrova was named the Week 4 Pro Volleyball Federation Player of the Week. She also added two blocks and an ace for a total of 29 points — tied for the second-most individual points in a Pro Volleyball Federation match. With 22 digs, Dimitrova recorded her third double-double performance this season. With 66 kills this season, she ranks second on the team behind Claire Chaussee (68).
Pro Volleyball Federation weekly award winners:
- Week 1: Alli Linnehan, OH, Atlanta Vibe
- Week 2: Leah Edmond, OH, Atlanta Vibe
- Week 3: Adora Anae, OH, Orlando Valkyries
- Week 4: Emiliya Dimitrova, OPP, Grand Rapids Rise
Fast Starts: The Rise have won the opening set in all four matches so far this season. Grand Rapids is winning the first set by an average of 5.75 points. They are also 2-0 when scoring the first point of the match. The Rise hit .333 (vs. CLB), .235 (at ATL), .342 (vs. OMA), and .255 (vs. ATL) in first sets, while hitting .257 overall for the season.
Grote Finds Her Groove: Middle blocker Marin Grote put together her best match against Atlanta on Sunday with a season-high eight kills (.300 hitting percentage) and seven blocks. Grote turned in four blocks and three kills in the first set alone. She also had an ace, a dig, and an assist. Grote currently leads the Rise with 18 blocks this season, playing in 15 of the team's 16 sets.
Setter Switches: United States National Team member Ashley Evans played every point as the Rise's setter through the first two matches. The fourth set in the last two matches, however, has seen rookie setter Mac Podraza subbed in to give the Grand Rapids offense a boost. While Podraza hasn't been able to complete the comeback efforts to win either of the fourth sets, she has provided a spark coming off the bench. The Rise have outscored their opponents, 33-29, with Podraza running the offense.
A Role for Everyone: With the Rise trailing 9-8 to Atlanta in the fifth set, Rise head coach Cathy George turned to her bench and made a timely substitution by bringing in 5-foot-2 defensive specialist Camila Gómez to serve for Kayla Caffey. It was the first Pro Volleyball Federation appearance for Gómez, who helped the Rise surge ahead 11-9. That change in crunch time flipped the momentum to help Grand Rapids win the frame and the match.
Mojo’s Home Debut: The San Diego Mojo will be the final Pro Volleyball Federation team in the inaugural season to play in front of their home crowd. The fan support will be a welcome sight after they started the season with three consecutive road losses. Here is how the rest of the League faired in their home openers:
- Omaha vs. Atlanta (Jan. 24): Lost, 3-2
- Grand Rapids vs. Columbus (Jan. 25): Won, 3-0
- Orlando vs. Atlanta (Jan. 26): Lost, 3-2
- Atlanta vs. San Diego (Feb. 1): Won, 3-0
- Vegas vs. Omaha (Feb. 15): Lost, 3-1
- Columbus vs. Omaha (Feb. 21): Tonight at 7 p.m.
Coast to Coast: The Rise begin their longest three-match road stretch this season. The first trip out West to San Diego will be a 3,690-mile round trip. That is followed by a two-stop journey the following week to Orlando (1,025 miles) with a return flight back over to San Diego (2,140 miles). Add the 1,845 miles to get home to Grand Rapids and the total distance over the next week and a half to zigzag across the country will roughly be 8,700 miles.
This is the first of three segments on the calendar with three straight away matches. There will be another at the end of March that will feature contests in Columbus (3/20), Vegas (3/26), and Omaha (3/28). The Rise will only play two home matches in March, against Columbus (3/9) and Vegas (3/17). The other long road trip will be at the end of April and will feature the same three cities as before, albeit in a different order: Vegas (4/20), Omaha (4/26), and Columbus (4/28).
Rise - Mojo Connections: There are a handful of players who are linked together or have ties to Michigan or California:
- Rise middle blocker Kayla Caffey and Mojo libero Shara Venegas played in Puerto Rico together during the 2022-23 season with Criollas de Caguas.
- During the 2021-22 season, Mojo outside hitter Kendra Dahlke played in the French professional league with Pays d'Aix Venelles while Rise setter Ashley Evans played for Terville-Florange OC. A year prior, Dahlke played in Greece for AO Thiras, the same team Rise outside hitter Symone Abbott joined the following season.
- Rise libero Sarah Sponcil (UCLA) and outside hitter Shannon Scully (USC) both went to college in California. Scully is from Huntington Beach, Calif.
- Mojo middle blocker Alison Bastianelli is a Marysville, Mich., native who played college volleyball for Illinois and was a volunteer assistant coach for Michigan in 2021.
Two Franchises, Two Wins: Feb. 9 marked the first time in nearly 17 years that two DP Fox Sports & Entertainment franchises won on the same night. On March 4, 2007, the Griffins won 3-1 at Rochester and the Arena Football League’s Rampage triumphed 44-42 at Colorado. The two teams last played on the same date on April 5, 2008. The next time the Rise and Griffins play on the same date will be March 1, with the Griffins at home against Iowa and the Rise at Orlando.
Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Rise