KANSAS CITY, Missouri – The first time LOVB Atlanta and LOVB Houston will meet this inaugural League One Volleyball season will be in the last match of the LOVB Classic.
Both teams won Saturday in Municipal Arena to advance to Sunday's in-season tournament championship match.
"We are very grateful to be in the first finals for the first Classic," Atlanta coach Paulo Coco said.
His team defeated LOVB Austin in four sets after LOVB Houston did the same to LOVB Omaha.
It sets up a busy Sunday that starts with LOVB Madison facing LOVB Salt Lake at 1:30 p.m. Central on ESPN+.
At 4:30, Austin plays Omaha for third place on ESPNU and ESPN+. The title match is at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
JT goes off to lead Houston
Jordan Thompson, coming off an 18-kill performance Friday, exploded for 25 kills to lead Houston to its 25-20, 17-25, 25-18, 25-21 victory over Omaha. She hit .438 and had just four errors in 43 attacks to go with six digs and an assist. Nine of her kills came in the first set, four in Houston's final 10 points. She didn't have an error until getting blocked early in the second set.
Match Stats | Video Recap | LOVB Houston Roster | LOVB Omaha Roster
"I feel good," Jordan said with a laugh. "It's nice to be in a rhythm as an attacker. Sometimes you struggle to get there and I was not playing well at the beginning of the season. It was kind of a struggle for me and I felt like I was setting a career high for the amount of times I was getting blocked.
"I was just trying to figure out how to get back to what I know what to do and what I'm capable of and just try to stay consistent and build match by match."
Jess Mruzik added 14 kills, hit .314, and had a block and nine digs.
Houston hit .293 and had five aces and six serving errors.
Omaha hit .230 and had two aces and five errors. Kimberly Drewniok led with 16 kills, hitting .400, and had an ace and six digs. Jordan Larson had 10 kills, an ace, 10 digs and three assists.
"We are playing well enough to win a lot of matches but we are having way too many ebbs and flows and consistency is a fight you're always in," Omaha coach Suzie Fritz said. " ... We play so clean and don't hurt ourselves too terribly much. I love that about us. But we have to be able to put more defensive pressure on physical teams like that. I thought Houston played extremely well and JT is peaking at the right time. She's a monster right now."
Balanced Atlanta too much for Austin
No doubt the hottest team in LOVB is Atlanta, which has won seven in a row after its 25-15, 22-25, 25-23, 25-20 victory over Austin.
Match Stats | Video Recap | LOVB Austin Roster | LOVB Atlanta Roster
Danielle Cuttino led a balanced attack with 17 kills, hitting .359, and had a block and 11 digs. Kelsey Cook had 15 kills, an ace, a block, nine digs and an assist. Tia Jimerson had 11 kills with one error in 15 attacks to hit .667 and added two aces, two blocks and two digs.
"It's super exciting to be in the final and play in front of these young girls at the Triple Crown," Tia said, referring to the prestigious girls club tournament being played in the adjacent convention center. "My cousin was here and it's been a while since she's been able to see me play in person, and it was fun to get out there and get after it."
Atlanta was without its leading attacker of late, Tessa Grubbs, whom coach Paolo Coco said in his post-match news conference sprained her ankle last week in practice. But he rotated in a handful of players throughout the match, including the return of middle Magdalena Jehlárová, who missed a couple of weeks with a knee injury. She had a couple of timely kills, three blocks and two digs.
Atlanta hit .288 and overcame a tough time at the service line, finishing with five aces and 17 errors.
"The Atlanta team deserved to win," Austin coach Marco Bonitta said.
Austin, which hit .189, also struggled on serve, finishing with one ace and 11 errors.
Madisen Skinner and Logan Eggleston led Austin with 12 kills apiece. Madi added eight digs, while Logan hit .333 and had one error in 40 swings to go with eight digs of her own.
The match had an interesting twist when, with his team trailing 21-17 in the third set, Bonitta called for the Super Point with a two-point swing on the line. Jehlarova missed her serve and it was suddenly 21-19, and then Skinner got a kill to make it 21-20. The set was tied at 22 and then 23 before a kill by Cuttino and a blast from Cook ended it.
"We had our opportunity in the third set after a lucky Super Point," Bonitta said.
