MADISON, Wisconsin – In the second League One Volleyball match on January 9, LOVB Houston pulled off a reverse sweep against LOVB Austin. Since, there were just five more five-setters but none when a team rallied from a two-set deficit.
Until first-place LOVB Atlanta did it on Saturday afternoon, stunning LOVB Omaha 21-25, 25-27, 25-19, 25-23, 15-12.
Already buzzing from the five-set thriller, the Alliant Energy Center’s crowd had more to cheer about later when home team LOVB Madison won for the second time in as many nights, sweeping visiting LOVB Austin 25-22, 25-21, 25-17.
"We've been working our butts off to gain momentum" Madison setter Lauren Carlini said. "And it's showing here on the court."
The next LOVB match is Thursday when LOVB Salt Lake goes to Omaha.
Jehlarova, Day lead Atlanta to reverse sweep
The big comeback left Atlanta 8-1 with a two-game lead over idle LOVB Houston.
Atlanta hit .303 against Omaha, had five aces compared to nine serving errors and held a 13-9 blocks advantage.
Match Stats | LOVB Atlanta Roster | LOVB Omaha Roster
"It was very nice coming back after losing two sets," Atlanta coach Paulo Coco said. "The most important thing about this team is all the players we have that can come off the bench and change situations."
Magda Jehlarova, who was a blocking machine during her NCAA career at Washington State, had just four for Atlanta this season. Against Omaha, Magda had nine blocks to go with a season-high 12 kills while hitting .474.
"We have a great game plan and that's very helpful,," said Magda, who missed time last month with an injury. "And Paulo keeps talking to me during the games and that's very helpful."
Gia Day came off the bench and led Atlanta 15 kills, 13 in the final three sets. She hit .324 and had 13 digs.
"If we can keep our confidence we're really hard to stop," Gia said.
Tia Jimerson had 13 kills with one error in 24 attacks to hit .500 and had two blocks and two digs.
Kesey Cook had 12 kills, two blocks, 16 digs and an assist. McKenzie Adams, who had four of her five kills in the first set, had an ace and nine digs. And Jessica Rivero Marin, who played more Saturday than she had all season, had six kills, two aces and four digs. Entering the match she had a total of two kills as her only recordable stats.
Atlanta, using two setters, got a kill each from Madi Bugg, who had 34 assists, and Rachel Fairbanks, who had 26 assists. Piyanut Pannoy had 12 digs.
Omaha, which was coming off a four-set defeat Friday to Madison, fell to 4-5 in the regular season. The team hit .213 and had six aces and just two errors.
"If I'm being honest, I'm tired of saying the same thing," a frustrated Omaha coach Suzie Fritz said. "And I want to not talk about it anymore … we are seeking action and fighting for outcomes and it's a frustrating process.
"We are clawing and scratching. We were right there, and at times played exceptionally well. Clean, low-error and winning the serve-and-pass battle and putting a lot of pressure on them and making good decisions. And then we weren't. Sincerely, I have to coach them better. I have to prepare them better."
Kimberly Drewniok led with 18 kills, six in the final three sets. She had two aces, a block and 11 digs. Madi Kubik-Banks had 16 kills, an ace, three assists and seven digs. Jordan Larson had 13 kills, three blocks, 16 digs and two assists. Emily Thater added seven kills and three blocks to go with three digs and an assist.
Setter Laura Dijkema had 51 assists, a kill and 15 digs, and libero Justine Wong-Orantes had 12 digs and three assists.
"I have full confidence that we'll get there," Larson said. "We're learning a lot and we still have a lot of season left. We just have to trust in what we're doing. One extra movement and I think we'll get there."
Suddenly Madison is the hot team
After losing the first set Friday, LOVB Madison has won six sets in a row as it improved to 3-7 in the regular season.
"That was impressive," Madison coach Matt Fuerbringer said.
Match Stats | LOVB Austin Roster | LOVB Madison Roster
"They're at home and this crowd was awesome and it's great to see for the league that every team can play at a really high level every single night," Austin's Juliann Faucette said. "Although the loss stinks, I think it's really good for the sport and what this league is doing."
Annie Drews-Schumacher led Madison again, this time with 17 kills – seven in the first set – an ace, a block and five digs.
"Annie came out and set the tone and got us on fire while everyone else followed suit," Matt said.
Claire Chaussee got the start at outside hitter and had nine kills – five in the first set – a block and 10 digs.
Ana Beatriz Correa had six kills in 12 errorless attacks to hit .500 and had an ace and a block. Fellow middle blocker Anna Hall had six kills with one error in 14 swings, three blocks, a dig and an assist.
Jennifer Janiska had five kills, two aces, nine digs and three blocks, two back-to-back in the middle of the third set.
"I'm super happy," Jennifer said. "Honestly, I expected a tougher game today so I'm really, really proud of this group and how we handled this weekend."
Setter Lauren Carlini had one kill on a play that showed how Madison's fortunes have obviously changed. She turned away from the play and got hit square on the top of her head on a blast by Austin's Madisen Skinner. The ball ricocheted off her noggin, knocking Lauren down, and the ball went past the Austin defense to the other side of the court for a point.
"Any part of my body can be used for defense," she said with a laugh, "and that one I chose the dome."
Lauren totaled 40 assists and had an ace and nine digs while earning player of the match honors. Libero Milica Medved had 11 digs and three assists.
Madison hit .255 and had five aces and five errors.
Austin (4-5), which hit .168, had no aces and five errors.
Chiaka Ogobugu led with 11 kills and hit .611 after 18 errorless attacks. She added two blocks and a dig. Skinner had seven kills and Logan Eggleston six to go with a block and a dig. Asjia O'Neal had four kills, two blocks, two digs and an assist.
"Congratulations to Madison. I thought they played as well as I've seen them play in virtually every phase of the game," Austin interim head coach Chris McGown said. "We took one on the chin tonight."
This was just his third match coaching the team.
"I'm so proud of our group. We've thrown so much at them in the last week and a half and they've gone through a lot and we're still kind of experimenting with lineups and trying to learn certain things about our team and everybody that's taken the court has played hard, they've been there for each other as teammates, so I'm really proud of our group."
