MADISON, Wisconsin (January 17, 2025) — LOVB Madison rallied late to get its first win of the League One Volleyball season Friday night, a 26-24, 19-25, 25-19, 16-25, 15-13 victory over LOVB Salt Lake that was punctuated by spectacular defense by both teams and marked a successful homecoming for a couple of the best athletes in Wisconsin history.
Setter Lauren Carlini was magnificent in her first match at the Wisconsin Field House since 2016 as the Olympian had 55 assists, 17 digs, two blocks, two kills and an ace.
Video Recap | Match Stats | LOVB Madison Roster | LOVB Salt Lake Roster
Outside hitter Sarah Franklin, the 2023 Big Ten player of the year who just finished her Wisconsin career, had 19 kills, hitting .311, including the match winner. She added 12 digs and a block. Another former Badger, Temi Thomas-Ailara, also took the floor.
Local standout Claire Chaussee was named player of the match after posting 18 kills, a .308 attack efficiency, 10 digs and a block. The Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, native helped her team clinch its first victory after getting swept by LOVB Austin a week earlier.
"All week, (coach Matt Fuerbringer) told us to work on more shots, like swing off the hands down the line," said Claire, the 2022 ACC player of the year at Louisville. "We executed that and tipped more."
Annie Schumacher, who played at Purdue, and Taylor Sandbothe, who played at Ohio State, were returning to the Field House for the first time since playing there as Big Ten opponents. Annie had 12 kills, five digs, a block and an ace. Taylor added seven kills, six digs, two aces and two blocks. Anna Beatriz Correa, the 2020 Brazilian Olympic middle, tallied seven kills, six digs and a team-high four blocks in her LOVB debut, and libero Simin Wang made 17 digs and five assists.
You could certainly argue that the five-setter was the most exciting and best-competed match of this inaugural LOVB season.
"What a special game to open up our home schedule here in Madison," Matt said after the match. "Our team has worked really hard this week, and I'm of how we came out and competed. We played a lot better volleyball and showed what we can do."
"Tonight was a fun challenge to be problem-solving," Salt Lake outside hitter Roni Jones-Perry said. "They were playing some tough defense, and we had to work hard to find where we could score."
Madison trailed 4-7 in the fifth set but stayed close and finally tied it at 12-12 on a Sandbothe ace. Madison took its first lead of the set on a hitting error and made it 14-12 on a kill by Franklin. After taking a timeout, Salt Lake turned aside one match point when opposite Skylar Fields made it 14-13 on a back-row attack, but Franklin ended the next play — another long rally — with the kill that won it.
Roni Jones-Perry led Salt Lake with 19 kills and had two blocks, six digs and an assist. Fields, hitting .393, had 14 kills, an ace, three digs and two blocks. Serena Gray had seven kills on a .357 average, three aces, three blocks and a dig. Tori Dixon and Claire Hoffman both had six kills, Claire hitting .400 and Tori adding three blocks. .
Setter Jordyn Poulter had 46 assists, 11 digs and two kills on three errorless tries. Poulter, who played at Illinois and was making her first trip back to Wisconsin, and Carlini were the Olympic setters last summer when the U.S. won silver.
And Manami Kojima, the Japanese Olympic libero, put on the defensive show of the young LOVB season, coming up with 28 digs — some simply spectacular — and six assists.
Salt Lake, also playing its second match after opening with a victory at Atlanta January 8, had a 23-21 first-set lead. The set was tied at 24-24 when Chaussee and Franklin had back-to-back kills to give Madison the frame. Salt Lake bounced back behind Jones-Perry, who had seven kills in the second set.
The third set was tied before Madison took a lead it would never lose when Sandbothe's put-back made it 10-9. Madison led 22-19 when it scored the last three points of the set. But Salt Lake bounced back again, totally controlling the fourth set with a big lift from Fields.
“It was a fun match, it was fun to be a part of it, and it was fun to watch,” Salt Lake head coach Tama Miyashiro said. “Hats off to Madison, but our girls stuck in there, too. They do a good job of staying ready because you never know when they’re gonna be called upon.”
League One Volleyball will be back in the Wisconsin Field House on Saturday for a doubleheader. In the first match, at 6 p.m. Central, LOVB Houston plays LOVB Salt Lake, followed by LOVB Omaha vs. LOVB Madison at 9 p.m.
