ATLANTA – This time both teams that had to play on back-to-back nights won in League One Volleyball.
In the first match Saturday in the Gateway Center Arena, LOVB Salt Lake won a fierce five-set battle with LOVB Austin. In the nightcap, LOVB Atlanta defeated LOVB Omaha in four sets to close out the fourth week of the inaugural season.
The next match is Wednesday, February 5 when LOVB Houston plays at LOVB Austin.
Skylar Fields leads Salt Lake's bounce-back with 25 kills
Skylar Fields had six of her 25 kills in the fifth set as Salt Lake rallied for a 22-25, 25-19, 20-25, 27-25, 15-12 victory over Austin.
Video Recap | Match Stats | LOVB Austin Roster | LOVB Salt Lake Roster
"The first thing that comes to mind is our team's intent to turn around from the match yesterday. We talked a lot about that. I challenged the girls to just take some ownership and make sure we recover, and you can clearly see it in their behavior and how they approached today," said Salt Lake coach Tama Miyashiro, whose team evened its record at 3-3. "So props them."
Skylar, an opposite, nonetheless got plenty of kills both on the left side and by coming out of the back row. She added six blocks, five digs and an assist as Salt Lake bounced back from getting swept by Atlanta the day before.
"It felt really good," Skylar admitted. "We wanted to come out there and fight and I think we did that."
Roni Jones-Perry added 16 kills, hit .364, and had an ace, an assist and 10 digs. Dani Drews, the other outside, had 11 kills, two blocks and nine digs, and middle Serena Gray had six kills, a block, two digs and an assist. Middle Haleigh Washington had eight kills and one error in 12 swings and added five digs, three blocks and an assist as she played her first complete match of the season.
Setter Jordyn Poulter had 57 assists, two aces, a block and 13 digs. Her team hit .231. Libero Mary Lake had 15 digs.
"I don't necessarily think we needed a win, but we needed to come out and fight the way that we did," Jones-Perry said. "I'm proud of us like Tama said for being able to turn around and come back out today and play with a lot of heart in a tough match against a really good team."
Austin got 17 kills apiece from outsides Leah Hardeman and Fields' former Texas teammate and friend Logan Eggleston. Leah, who had no errors in the first three sets, finished with three in 44 attacks to hit .318 and had an assist, four blocks and a match high of 19 digs. Logan added three blocks and 10 digs and smiled at the times she and Fields went against each other.
"There were a few laughs through the net," Logan said. "We grew up playing together and playing against each other, so I know her well. It's really fun to compete against your friends. That's a talented player right there. I'm excited for a lot more matches against her."
"It was super fun to be matched up against her after playing together for so many years and finally getting to compete against each other," Skylar said. "It was really fun. We were going back and forth against each other and having a blast. I love competition and we're both getting better from playing against each other."
Juliann Faucette had 13 kills – six in the fourth set – and hit .324 to go with two blocks, seven digs and two assists. Madisen Skinner had eight kills, hit .333, and a block and two digs. Chiaka Ogbogu had five kills, three blocks, six digs and an assist, and Molly McCage had five kills in eight errorless swings to go with two blocks, four digs and an assist.
Carli Lloyd had 38 assists, an ace, a block and five digs. Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres, the other setter in Austin’s 6-2 rotation, had 15 assists, an ace and four digs. Austin hit .277.
Austin pulled away late in the first set, going on a 5-0 run on Eggleston's kill that made it 21-15. Austin was up 24-18 before Salt Lake closed the gap to 24-22 but ended the set on a kill by Hardeman.
Salt Lake turned the table in the second, building on an 18-17 lead with a 5-1 run. The set ended on a block by Washington.
Austin never trailed in the third set after taking a 16-15 lead. But in the fourth, it was up 24-23 when Washington tied it and again 25-24 when Jones-Perry tied it again.
"That was our opportunity to win the match." said Austin coach Marco Bonitta, whose team dropped to 2-3.
In the fifth, Salt Lake bolted to a 4-1 lead and never trailed.
Cuttino, Atlanta top Omaha in four sets
Danielle Cuttino was named player of the match after having 16 kills, two blocks and a dig as LOVB Atlanta defeated visiting LOVB Omaha 21-25, 25-22, 25-22, 20-25. It exited its Weekend with LOVB 4-1 and atop the league standings as Omaha dropped to 3-2, tied for second with LOVB Houston.
Video Recap | Match Stats | LOVB Omaha Roster | LOVB Atlanta Roster
"Danielle has improved so much," said Atlanta coach Paulo Coko. "I knew her in Brazil and she improved so much. But I believe she has not hit her potential yet. The setters are starting to understand the best ball for her."
Kelsey Cook added 13 kills, an ace, an assist and a match-high 14 digs. Gia Day came off the bench to get 10 kills, an ace, a block and nine digs. Tia Jimerson had eight kills, two blocks, a dig and an assist. And middle Kayla Haneline, who had three kills, three blocks and an assist, had three aces, two of which were quite stunning: Her team led 9-7 in the fourth set when she aced two Olympians in back-to-back serves against libero Justine Wong-Orantes and then Jordan Larson.
Rachel Fairbanks had 21 assists, a kill and five digs, and the other setter, Madi Bugg, had 31 assists, an ace and seven digs. Their team hit .203.
Omaha's attack was extremely balanced. Larson led with nine kills, two aces, a block, seven digs and an assist. Kimberly Drewniok had eight kills, a block, three digs and an assist. Lauren Stivrins had seven kills in 15 errorless attacks to hit .467 and had two blocks, two digs and an assist. Candelaria Herrera had six kills with one error in 16 swings, six blocks and three digs.
Laura Dijkema had 25 assists, a kill in her only try, and eight digs. The other setter, Gabby Blossom, had 14 assists and five digs. Omaha hit .254.
That percentage should have kept her team in a better situation, Omaha coach Suzie Fritz said.
"I think we felt pretty good in the first set, like we were rolling pretty good. We did some nice things on both sides of the ball," Suzie said.
"I think we've got to keep some pretty consistent defensive pressure on. We're depending a little too much on our block."
