LOVB: League One Volleyball Releases Inaugural Season Schedule

The newest era of professional volleyball in the United States has an official start date: January 8, 2025.

The inaugural League One Volleyball (LOVB) regular season features 56 matches, plus the LOVB Classic – our in-season tournament February 14-16 in conjunction with Triple Crown NIT – and the LOVB Finals in mid-April. Each week of LOVB’s first season will have four matches: one head-to-head contest and a Weekend with LOVB, where four teams meet in one market for a trio of matches. Each Weekend with LOVB will contain two matches for the host team and a neutral-site match featuring two out-of-town teams, allowing fans to both cheer on their local squad and see more of the world’s top volleyball players compete on U.S. soil.

On January 8, LOVB Atlanta will host LOVB Salt Lake in League One Volleyball’s inaugural pro match. Week One continues as LOVB Houston serves as host city and welcomes LOVB Austin, LOVB Omaha and LOVB Madison to the first Weekend with LOVB, where LOVB Houston faces LOVB Austin in an all-Texas affair Thursday, January 9, followed by taking on LOVB Omaha Friday on January 10. That same day, LOVB Austin and LOVB Madison will square off in a neutral-site match that pits U.S. National Team athletes Lauren Carlini (LOVB Madison) and Chiaka Ogbogu (LOVB Austin) against each other, reminiscent of the 2013 NCAA Semifinals, where Carlini’s University of Wisconsin upset Ogbogu’s top-seeded Texas in four sets during each athlete’s freshman season.

LOVB Austin’s home debut comes January 15 when it hosts LOVB Atlanta at home in a head-to-head match. Continuing Week 2, LOVB Madison takes center stage when they welcome LOVB Salt Lake, LOVB Omaha and LOVB Houston during their Weekend with LOVB, January 17-18. That neutral site match – LOVB Salt Lake and LOVB Houston – reunites U.S. National Team athletes and former Penn State teammates Haleigh Washington (LOVB Salt Lake) and Micah Hancock (LOVB Houston), who will play against each other. The two combined to win the 2014 NCAA Division I title with the Nittany Lions, not to mention gold at the 2020 Olympics with Team USA.

The final pair of home market debuts come in Week 3 with LOVB Salt Lake hosting LOVB Houston January 22, and LOVB Omaha welcoming LOVB Madison, LOVB Austin and LOVB Atlanta January 24-25. LOVB Omaha features five athletes who played college volleyball nearby – Jordan Larson, Justine Wong-Orantes, Madi Kubik and Lauren Stivrins all represented the University of Nebraska (Lincoln) while Ja’ali Winters attended Creighton (Omaha). This moment also marks the return of Kelsey Robinson Cook to Nebraska where she played in college, while she and LOVB Atlanta take on Carlini and LOVB Madison.

All six teams will gather in Kansas City, Missouri, February 14-16, for the LOVB Classic, an in-season tournament hosted alongside Triple Crown NIT, the premier junior tournament in the country. The two pro teams with the best records at that point will receive byes to the LOVB Classic semifinals, while the other four teams will compete in the quarterfinal round on Friday, February 14. The semifinals take place Saturday, February 15 and the championship, third-place and fifth-place matches are on Sunday, February 16.

After the LOVB Classic, the regular season resumes with a head-to-head match and Weekend with LOVB each week through early April. LOVB Omaha hosts LOVB Atlanta during the final head-to-head match of the year, and LOVB Salt Lake welcomes LOVB Madison, LOVB Austin and LOVB Houston in the last Weekend with LOVB of the year.

Additionally, League One Volleyball is announcing the following venues for each host market: