Goin' to Kansas City
Kansas City, here I come ...
Wilbert Harrison surely wasn't thinking about volleyball when he wrote Kansas City, the song made famous by Fats Domino. But Kansas City is where it's at this week for League One Volleyball.
It's the LOVB Classic, a midseason tournament in the historic Municipal Arena, coinciding with the prestigious girls club tournament Triple Crown NIT. All six LOVB teams will be there.
"I'm excited that all six of the teams will be in the same city," said LOVB Salt Lake setter Jordyn Poulter, who, along with middle Haleigh Washington, has eight of her Olympic teammates on other teams in the league.
"And it's one of the biggest recruiting tournaments. All the college coaches will be there. The volleyball world is so small with the webs of people who have come in and out of your career will make for more full-circle moments. Hopefully the youth girls can watch some high-level professional volleyball while they're also competing and trying to do cool things. It's a really special weekend and I'm super-stoked that we get to be a part of it."
LOVB Atlanta (6-1) and LOVB Omaha (4-2) earned byes directly to the semifinal.
Friday's quarterfinal action pits LOVB Madison (1-6) and LOVB Houston (4-2) at 4:30 p.m. Central on ESPN+. It's followed by LOVB Austin (2-4) vs. LOVB Salt Lake (3-5), a 7 p.m. Central start also on ESPN+.
The two winners advance to Saturday and all six teams play Sunday. View the entire schedule.
There are still seven more weeks of the regular season before April’s LOVB Finals. This week's tournament represents a chance for coaches to tinker, learn more about their teams, gain momentum or snap out of a funk.
"It's a good opportunity to see the players in a different situation than the regular season," said Atlanta coach Paulo Coco. "It's a short tournament. We play one game and can jump to the final or can lose and you can't play for the championship. It's different, but you get to know your players better in those situations. And the opportunity to fight for a championship.
"I'm very excited and very motivated to see how it goes in Kansas City because it's going to be similar to the LOVB Finals. It's good preparation."
And, he noted:
"Another thing is the Super Point."
A coach will be able to designate beforehand that the next point is a Super Point, worth two points. Of course, if you lose, you lose two points.
Coco admitted that's a new wrinkle and he's tried to prepare for it, "but it's a new situation and it will be interesting."
Salt Lake coach Tama Miyashiro said she's told her team, "It's another opportunity to compete and another opportunity to be with each other and play. And see how good we can be."
Salt Lake is coming off a tough homestand in which it lost in four on Friday to Atlanta and then in five Saturday to Omaha.
"You have a different format and you're in a place with a lot going on. It's huge for our sport for us to be there. I hope the girls are really excited because we can make a really big impact on some club players and that's part of the goal. That will be fun."
Omaha is located 185 miles north of Kansas City, and the LOVB Omaha roster has plenty of players who played for Nebraska in Lincoln (Jordan Larson, Lauren Stivrins, Madi Kubik-Banks, Justine Wong-Orantes, Lexi Rodriguez). Jaali Winters, who played at Creighton in Omaha, is from Iowa. Coach Suzie Fritz, who is from northeast Kansas, was the longtime head coach at Kansas State in Manhattan.
But no one has family closer than Omaha opposite Audriana Fitzmorris, who won three NCAA titles at Stanford. She's from just across the Kansas state line in Overland Park.
"I think we all have a ton of friends and family coming to Kansas City," Jaali said. "We have a lot of players from the Midwest, so it will be a lot of fun to play in front of people we love and get to interact with a ton of youth volleyball players, which will be really cool for them but really cool for us."
Madison, coming off a loss to Atlanta, is having a tough time.
"I'm excited that we don't have to wait two weeks to play," said Madison coach Matt Feurbringer, whose team has lost five in a row. "I remain optimistic about our team, I believe in our team and we've just gotta work harder."
Post-Classic action resumes Wednesday, February 19, when Houston plays at Austin. There's a doubleheader the next day when Omaha plays Houston and Salt Lake plays Austin. On February 21, Madison plays at Atlanta.
