This Week’s Matches
RISE at Orlando Valkyries // Fri., March 1 // 7 p.m. // Addition Financial Arena
Watch: YouTube at 7 p.m.
Season Series: 0-0 Overall, 0-0 Away. First of four meetings overall, first of two at Addition Financial Arena
Noteworthy: Grand Rapids faces Orlando for the first time. The Rise are 1-1 on the road this season, while the Valkyries are 2-2 at home. Orlando has alternated between wins and losses in every match so far this season. If that trend holds true, the Valkyries are in line for a win after dropping their last contest on Feb. 25 to the Omaha Supernovas.
RISE at San Diego Mojo // Mon., March 4 // 10 p.m. EST // Viejas Arena
Watch: YouTube at 10 p.m.
Season Series: 0-1 Overall, 0-1 Away. Second of four meetings overall, second of two at Viejas Arena
Noteworthy: The Rise look to avenge their Feb. 23 loss at San Diego. The Mojo won 3-1 by set scores of 36-24, 25-27, 25-23, 25-23. It was the first win in franchise history for San Diego.
Unable to Crash Mojo’s Home Opener: The San Diego Mojo were the last Pro Volleyball Federation team in this inaugural season to play in front of its home crowd. The fan support aided the Mojo to a 3-1 win over the Rise after San Diego had lost three consecutive road matches without winning a set. Here is how the League teams 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): Won, 3-1
- San Diego vs. Grand Rapids (Feb. 23): Won, 3-1
Sets That Refuse to End: The longest set in Pro Volleyball Federation history has been extended to 70 points, as the Mojo outlasted the Rise 36-34 to win a tightly contested opening frame on Feb. 23. The set featured seven Rise set points and five Mojo set points. It was the first time this season that the Rise suffered a first-set defeat.
Grand Rapids has now been involved in the three longest sets in League history. Unfortunately, the Rise have lost all three: 36-34 first set at San Diego, and 33-31 second set and 30-28 third set against Omaha on Feb. 12. The Rise are 2-7 in sets decided by the minimum of two points and are 10-6 in sets when the winner doesn't need to go beyond 25 points (or 15 points in the fifth set).
The 36-34 set against San Diego lasted 39 minutes, which was two minutes shy of tying overtaking the 41-minute second set against Omaha for the longest Rise set time-wise this season.
Jensen Makes Debut: Holland, Michigan, native and former Michigan State standout Alyssa Jensen (nee Garvelink) made her first professional appearance and start on Feb. 23 against the San Diego Mojo. The Rise 6-foot-4 middle blocker recorded one block and one dig early in the first set before getting subbed out for the rest of the match.
Setter Switches: United States National Team member Ashley Evans played every point as the Rise's starting setter through the first two matches and has started all five matches as well. Over the last three matches, rookie setter Mac Podraza has subbed in to give the Grand Rapids offense a boost. Podraza had a team-high 30 assists to Evan's 20 assists in the 3-1 loss Friday to San Diego. The Rise have outscored their opponents, 95-88, with Podraza running the offense, while Evans leads the team with 192 assists.
Bolding Called Up: Rise 6-foot-5 middle blocker Sydney Bolding has been called up to the team's active roster after starting the season on the practice squad. Bolding fills in for Kayla Caffey, who was placed on short-term injured reserve on Monday, Feb. 26. Bolding was selected in the second round, 11th overall, of the 2023 Pro Volleyball Federation inaugural draft. She played three seasons at Kansas State (2021-23) and two seasons at Jacksonville (2019-21), amassing 812 kills and 489 blocks across five seasons of collegiate play.
Parity Rampant: The "anyone can beat anyone" parity circle for the inaugural Pro Volleyball Federation season only took 18 League matches to be completed. The circle was closed with the Mojo picking up their first franchise win against the Rise. The circle: Grand Rapids beat Atlanta, which beat Omaha, which beat Orlando, which beat Columbus, which beat Vegas, which beat San Diego, which beat Grand Rapids.
Coast to Coast: The Rise are in the middle of their longest three-match road stretch this season. This first trip out west to San Diego was a 3,690-mile round trip. That is being followed by a two-stop journey this weekend 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 covered 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 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 – Valkyries Connections: While neither team has any players from the opposing state, former teammates will reunite this Friday:
- Rise setter Ashley Evans and Valkyries middle blocker Blake Mohler played at Purdue together for two seasons (2015-16). Mohler redshirted in 2015, but both played for the Boilermakers in 2016 with Evans collecting 1,403 assists and Mohler having 188 kills and averaging 0.92 blocks per set.
- Orlando outside hitter Carly Skjodt is a former University of Michigan volleyball captain and played three seasons (2016-18) with Rise director of volleyball operations MacKenzi Welsh-Vazquez. Skjodt also played in the AVP Beach Volleyball tour against Rise libero Sarah Sponcil.
- Outside hitters Shannon Scully (Rise) and Adora Anae (Valkyries) were part of the 2017 Utah volleyball team that reached the NCAA Tournament regional semifinals. Anae was a senior and Scully was a freshman.
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.
Dynamic Dimitrova Recognized: Emiliya Dimitrova was named the Week 4 Pro Volleyball Federation Player of the Week after helping the Rise defeat the Atlanta Vibe on Feb. 18. 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. She also added two blocks and an ace for a total of 29 points.
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
- Week 5: Reagan Cooper, OH, Columbus Fury
Photo by Craig Kerstetter/San Diego Mojo