The last couple of weeks have shown that anything can – and likely will – happen in League One Volleyball.
"The talent in this league all across the board is very close," Austin's Chiaka Ogbogu said. "I don't feel like there's any team that has a huge advantage over the others. We have to come in with that mentality every single game that this is anyone's game.
"I doesn't matter what they did the last match, every single team in this league has the capability of beating one another."
But teams are running out of time to catch LOVB Atlanta, which holds a three-game lead atop the standings with five matches left in the regular season. At stake are the top two seeds in April’s LOVB Finals and the quarterfinal byes that go with them.
LOVB Houston, which pulled off a reverse sweep at Atlanta last Friday but stumbled against LOVB Madison Saturday, gets another shot at closing the gap this week.
"It's a good challenge. They're challenging us to get better, push harder and find solutions to win," Atlanta coach Paulo Coco said.
The first match of Week 10 is Thursday, March 13 when LOVB Madison, riding a three-match winning streak, hosts LOVB Omaha. That 7 p.m. Central start can be seen on LOVB Live, DAZN and the LOVB YouTube channel.
Then Friday, the top two teams in the standings go at it when LOVB Atlanta plays at LOVB Houston. It's a 7 p.m. Central start that can be seen on ESPN+.
Saturday's doubleheader means another week of back-to-backs for Atlanta and Houston as Atlanta faces LOVB Salt Lake at 4:30 Central, then Houston and LOVB Austin play at 7 p.m. Both matches may be seen on LOVB Live, YouTube or the Women's Sports Network via Samsung TV Plus.
Clearly, those are four matches that could make a big difference in the standings:
- LOVB Atlanta (9-2)
- LOVB Houston (6-5)
- LOVB Salt Lake (5-6)
- LOVB Austin (4-6)
- LOVB Omaha (4-6)
- LOVB Madison (4-7)
"These will be difficult matches against Atlanta and against Austin," Houston coach Massimo Barbolini said.
He noted that his team also defeated Atlanta in the LOVB Classic title match, and "now we think about the Finals. Step by step."
This will be the third meeting, second of the regular season, between Atlanta and Houston. They meet one more time, on March 27 in Houston.
"We know each other really well," Houston setter Micha Hancock understated.
Thursday's match is obviously a big chance for Madison to leap over Omaha into fifth place.
"We're just getting started," Madison's Claire Chaussee said. "We're really excited for the rest of the season."
Austin has dropped two in a row after winning twice. The team not only has a new head coach in Chris McGown, last week it added Nicole Fawcett to its staff. A longtime pro who played on the U.S. National Team, Nicole served as an assistant at Ohio State the past four seasons. She and "new teammate" Austin veteran setter Carli Lloyd played together in Brazil in 2018/19. Their coach at Praia Clube?
Paolo Coco.
His Atlanta team finishes the regular season on the road.
"The league is so close and it will be like that until the end," Paolo said. "And at the end, it's a zero and everyone can play for the title."
In the meantime, it starts this week with Houston and Atlanta.
"This last time we played Houston the first two sets it seemed like we had it all together," Atlanta veteran McKenzie Adams said about Friday's 21-25, 18-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-10 outcome. "They fought back and that's where we have to get better and keeping resilient and keeping that fight and not letting their game affect our game.
"That's a big one. Salt Lake, you're never sure what you're going to get. We have to make sure our minds are right and we're being consistent."
