This Week’s Matches
RISE (3-8) vs. San Diego Mojo (5-7) // Thu., Feb. 26 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
Watch: MLV YouTube Channel and Samsung TV Plus at 7 p.m.
Listen: 96.1 The Game at 6:45 p.m.
Season Series: 1-1 Overall, 0-1 Home. Third of four meetings overall, second of two at Van Andel Arena
All-Time Regular Season Series: 5-5 Overall, 3-2 Home
Noteworthy: The first two meetings between the Rise and Mojo this season were evenly split, with each team winning on the road. The Rise claimed a 3-1 victory on Jan. 23, before the Mojo answered with a reverse sweep on Feb. 12. The all-time series sits even at 5-5, with all five of the Rise wins coming in three or four sets. San Diego has won four of its last five contests, including a five-set victory over the Omaha Supernovas on Feb. 22.
RISE at Orlando Valkyries (6-6) // Sun., March 1 // 3 p.m. // Addition Financial Arena
Watch: VICE TV at 3 p.m.
Season Series: 0-2 Overall, 0-1 Away. Third of four meetings overall, second of two at Addition Financial Arena
All-Time Regular Season Series: 3-7 Overall, 1-4 Away
Noteworthy: The defending league champion Valkyries have taken the first two meetings against the Rise this season, winning 3-2 in the season opener on Jan. 9 in Orlando and 3-0 on Jan. 29 in Grand Rapids. Orlando has won five straight in the all-time series. However, the Valkyries have dropped four of their last five matches while playing without 2025 league MVP Brittany Abercrombie.
MLV All-Star Voting: The second MLV All-Star Match is set for Saturday, March 28 at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando and will air on CBS at Noon ET. Fans can vote daily (once every 24 hours) over the next three weeks at ProVolleyball.com/vote, selecting two players per position — outside hitter, opposite, middle blocker, libero and setter.
All players on team rosters are eligible, with the top vote-getters earning automatic spots on the 12-player All-Star teams. Additional selections will be made by coaches and the league office.
Championship Venue: Major League Volleyball announced on Feb. 19 that Comerica Center, home of the league’s newest team, the Dallas Pulse, will host the 2026 Major League Volleyball Championship. The event is scheduled for Thursday, May 7, and Saturday, May 9.
Close Sets Beware: The Rise dropped a pair of two-point sets to close out Sunday’s match against the Dallas Pulse on Feb. 22. In sets decided by the minimum margin this season, Grand Rapids is 2-10. Those close decisions have come at every stage of the match: 1-3 in first sets, 1-3 in second sets, 0-3 in third sets and 0-1 in fourth sets.
Top of the Leaderboard: With 444 career kills, Rise team captain Carli Snyder surpassed Claire Chaussee’s franchise record for the most career kills. She moved past Chaussee’s previous mark of 429 in the first set against the Atlanta Vibe on Saturday, Feb. 14. Snyder also owns the franchise career records in points (536), aces (42), and attack attempts (1,455). She is four sets shy of the team’s all-time mark for sets played, currently held by former player Marin Grote at 154.
On Feb. 12, against the San Diego Mojo, Snyder totaled a match-high 28 points, the most by a Rise player this season and tied for the third-highest single-match total in franchise history. Her 22 kills came on a team-record 72 attack attempts, and she added a career-high four blocks along with two aces. The performance marked her third career 20-plus kill outing and her first of the season.
Double-Double Counter: The Rise have two active players tied for the franchise record in double-doubles, as Snyder and Paige Briggs-Romine share the mark with 16 alongside former first season standout Claire Chaussee. This season, setter Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres and Briggs-Romine paced the team with six double-doubles apiece.
Blockbuster Trade: The Rise completed the first trade in franchise history on Feb. 13, acquiring two-time MLV Libero of the Year Morgan Hentz from the Omaha Supernovas in exchange for Elena Oglivie and the Rise’s 2026 first-round draft pick. Hentz, the 2024 and 2025 MLV Libero of the Year, has played 46 sets this season with a league-leading 157 digs and 26 assists and previously set the league single-season record in 2025 with 508 digs. Hentz had a season-high 23 digs against the Rise on Feb. 1.
Oglivie departs as the Rise’s all-time digs leader with 527, including 135 digs in 35 sets this season. In her 2025 rookie season, Oglivie appeared in all 28 matches (104 sets) for the Rise, recording a team-record 392 digs and 82 assists, with 15 or more digs in 13 matches.
Both liberos previously attended Stanford University, with Oglivie playing from 2020 to 2024 and Hentz from 2016 to 2019.
While at Stanford, Hentz won three NCAA national titles in 2016, 2018, and 2019, and three Pac-12 Championships in 2017, 2018, and 2019. She was a three-time AVCA and VolleyballMag.com First Team All-American from 2017-2019, earned 2019 ESPNW All-America First Team honors, and was a three-time All-Pac-12 and Pac-12 Libero of the Year.
Hentz made her Rise debut on Saturday, Feb. 14, against the Atlanta Vibe, recording eight digs and three assists. On Sunday, Feb. 22, Hentz had 10 digs and six assists against the Dallas Pulse.
Largest Set Win in Team History: With the home crowd buzzing inside Van Andel Arena for Hentz’s debut, Grand Rapids delivered the largest set win in franchise history with a 25-12 opening-set victory over the Vibe on Saturday. The 13-point margin surpassed the previous 12-point record, a 25-13 fourth-set win over the Orlando Valkyries on April 18, 2024.
The Rise hit .481 in the frame, their highest single-set hitting percentage of the season, while holding Atlanta to a .077 mark.
Righting the Ship: The Rise have had to make do with a rotating cast on the right side after losing opposite hitters Lauren Jardine-Clark and Elizabet Inneh earlier this month. While the team hopes to have Inneh back soon, Jardine-Clark was placed on season-ending injured reserve. In their absence, first-round draft pick Alexis Shelton has stepped into the role. Over the past five matches, she has averaged 8.6 kills and nine digs.
Rise-Mojo Connections: Notable shared history between the two teams:
· A trio of Mojo players previously played for the Rise: Grote (2024-25), Shannon Scully (2024), and Kayla Caffey (2024). Grote holds the Rise franchise record for most sets played (154) and blocks (95). Scully won the league's championship last season with the Orlando Valkyries;
· Rise setter Ka'aha'aina-Torres and Caffey won the 2022 NCAA National Championship with Texas;
· Rise opposite hitter Jardine-Clark and Mojo outside hitter Grace Loberg won the 2021 NCAA National Championship with Wisconsin. They also played together last year with the Vegas Thrill, alongside Rise players Allison Mayfield and Berkeley Oblad and Vegas first-year head coach Alisha Childress and setter Carly Graham.
Rise-Valkyries Connections: Notable shared history between the two teams:
· Former Rise opposite hitter Naya Shime plays her former team. Shime left Grand Rapids in mid-March of the 2025 season after playing in 10 matches (34 sets), recording 92 kills, 67 digs, and 15 blocks in her rookie campaign;
· Former 2025 Vegas Thrill teammates face each other with Rise's Mayfield, Jardine-Clark, and Oblad taking on Orlando's Charitie Luper and Hannah Maddux. Oblad and Orlando setter Hannah Pukis also played for the Thrill during the 2024 season;
· Ka'aha'aina-Torres and Orlando outside hitter Lindsey Vander Weide played for Changas de Naranjito in Puerto Rico during the 2022-23 season.
Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Rise