GRAND RAPIDS RISE 3 at San Diego Mojo 1
Jan. 23, 2026
SAN DIEGO — Off the block and down, 5-foot-10 outside hitter Paige Briggs-Romine capped a memorable night with her career-high 22nd kill on match point, leading the Grand Rapids Rise to a 3-1 victory Friday night over the San Diego Mojo inside Viejas Arena. The Rise won by set scores of 31-29, 25-22, 16-25, 25-19.
Setter Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres ran the Rise offense to a season-best .277 hitting percentage, finishing with a four-set team record of 57 assists.
The late-night road win moved Grand Rapids to 2-2 overall and into fourth place in the league standings. The four teams below them already have three or more losses midway through Week 3 of the regular season: Omaha Supernovas (2-3), Columbus Fury (2-3), Atlanta Vibe (2-3), and San Diego (1-4). The Rise also earned their first road win of the year, leaving the Mojo as the only MLV team still winless away from home.
The opening set was tightly contested throughout, with the score tied at 10-10, 11-11 and 12-12 before San Diego pulled ahead 16-14 and later 20-18. Grand Rapids responded each time, fending off seven set points down the stretch. Briggs-Romine and Carli Snyder delivered key kills to extend the frame, and after the teams were deadlocked at 29-29, Snyder earned set point with a kill before Briggs-Romine finished it off with a shot down the line for a 31-29 win.
Snyder and Briggs-Romine each recorded eight kills on 18 swings with just one attack error in the first set, posting matching .389 hitting percentages. Setter Ka’aha’aina-Torres handed out a league single-set record 24 assists in the frame as Grand Rapids totaled 25 kills in the set.
The opening frame win marked the Rise’s first opening-set victory of the season, their first set win decided by two points, and their longest set of the year. Extended sets are nothing new between the Rise and Mojo, dating back to San Diego’s 36-34 first-set win in their inaugural meeting on Feb. 23, 2024.
Grand Rapids opened the second set scoring the first three points, but San Diego responded to even the score at 4-4. The set remained tight, last tied at 18-18, before the Rise pulled ahead with a four-point run fueled by three Mojo errors and a kill from Snyder. Middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan ended the second stanza, 25-22, with her second block of the match.
Unwilling to be swept for a second time this season, the Mojo controlled the third set from start to finish. San Diego hit .400 as a team to claim a 25-16 third set win. Through three sets, Grace Loberg had a match-high 17 kills and 13 digs.
Rookie serving substitute Hattie Bray notched her third ace of the match to give the Rise a 19-15 lead in the fourth set. The four-point advantage proved enough as Grand Rapids hit .406 in the frame to close out the match, 25-19. Briggs-Romine had eight kills (.533) in the fourth set alone.
Four Rise players finished with double-digit points: Paige Briggs-Romine (23), Carli Snyder (19), Elizabet Inneh (11), and Leah Meyer (11). Inneh added 14 digs for her first double-double of the season. Meyer had a team-high four blocks.
Briggs-Romine also led the team with 18 digs, posting an 86% positive reception rate, including 46% perfect. Former high school teammates Elena Oglivie (17) and Ka’aha’aina-Torres (10) also recorded double-digit digs.
Notes
· The four-set win gave Grand Rapids a 5-4 edge in the all-time series. Three of the Rise’s five victories have been sweeps — the most against any MLV team. It was also the Rise’s third straight win over the Mojo.
· Snyder, who had 56 attack attempts in the match, surpassed Claire Chaussee for the most attack attempts in franchise history with 1,216.
· Former Rise players Marin Grote (two kills, two digs in two sets) and Shannon Scully (one dig in one set) saw action, while Kayla Caffey did not play.
· The Rise will not return to the West Coast to face the Mojo again until the regular-season finale on April 30.
GR 31 25 16 25 — 3
SD 29 22 25 19 — 1
Team Leaders
GR: Kills — Paige Briggs-Romine 22, Carli Snyder 18, Elizabet Inneh 11; Assists — Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres 57, Elena Oglivie 3, Camryn Turner 2; Aces — Hattie Bray 3, Briggs-Romine 1, Ka’aha’aina-Torres 1; Blocks — Leah Meyer 4, Rhamat Alhassan 2, Snyder 1; Digs — Briggs-Romine 18, Oglivie 17, Inneh 14, Ka’aha’aina-Torres 10.
SD: Kills — Grace Loberg 20, Maya Tabron 16, McKenna Vicini 7; Assists — Marlie Monserez 49, Tabron 2; Aces — Taylor Sandbothe 1, Morgan Lewis 1, Tabron 1; Blocks — Loberg 3, Monserez 3; Digs — Tabron 16, Loberg 15, Monserez 11.
A — 1,336
Record / Next Match
Grand Rapids: 2-2 / Thu., Jan. 29 vs. Orlando Valkyries, 7 p.m.
San Diego: 1-4 / Fri., Jan. 30 at Omaha Supernovas, 8 p.m. EST
Photo by Ryan Young/San Diego Mojo