The excitement of League One Volleyball's inaugural season is palpable for LOVB’s pro players with so many thrilled to be playing at home in the U.S. for the first time or for international stars exploring a new frontier.
But that excitement also applies to coaches, especially LOVB Omaha Volleyball's Suzie Fritz.
"This has been this amazing opportunity for me to almost reinvent," she said. "It's been amazing to have a chance to do that, relatively later in your career to have it be the same but different. It's been such an opportunity to work with these women and to work within the League One Volleyball organization and I'm just really impressed with the wonderful work that they're doing.
"And the long term, what I believe is the long-term vision and longevity of the league. It's got a tremendous amount of potential."
We'll get to her team in a second, but you should know that Susie was the head coach for 22 years at Kansas State, taking the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament 18 times. She was understandably upset and taken aback when she was fired after the 2022 season. But if you had ever watched any of her K-State teams, gnarly and defensive-minded, you knew that she was hardly done with volleyball.
Even if she didn't.
"The roots (in Manhattan, Kansas) were deep. I'd been there since '97. I started with Jim McLaughlin and was fortunate enough to talk myself into a job in 2001 and I'd been there 25 years. I'd raised my family there (Suzie and Steve have two grown sons, T.J. and Jake) and really wasn't sure what to do next. So I took a minute."
But Arkansas coach Jason Watson, "who is a dear friend," was having none of it. He, too, was an assistant under McLaughlin with Suzie in the 1990s.
"He called and said, 'What are you doing this spring?' and I said 'Right now I'm getting ready to mow my lawn.' That's where I was, trying to figure out where I was at with a career in coaching and what I wanted to do next."
Watson convinced her to be a part of spring practice.
"And that's how I ended up at Arkansas."
Not coincidentally, Watson needed an assistant.
"It was good to be with my friend and coach an Arkansas team that was super talented and really special in how they operated culturally. So I stayed and was able to be part of a great run for them.
"(But) I knew for some time I would transition into the League One job, I just didn't know what city I was going to be in."
And what a volleyball city she's in.
Back to that LOVB Omaha team, one that against which opponents will earn every kill. Start with Justine Wong-Orantes, among the best liberos in the world, the 2017 Nebraska NCAA champion and two-time Olympic gold-medalist. Throw in newly acquired, just-finished-at- Nebraska libero Lexi Rodriguez, one of the best to ever play the college game, and German national team libero Annie Cesar, and, well, Omaha's got the floor covered.
"You like our chances there?" Suzie asked with a laugh.
She raved about Cesar, who is a German Bundesliga champion.
"First, she's just this incredibly vibrant human. She brings a ton of energy and enthusiasm and joy to practice. She's this extraordinary teammate who's got special energy. She's been great and is executing well. It's a tough gig, essentially matched up with the best 'bro every day. She has exceeded expectations."
The LOVB rules allow Fritz and assistant Remi Pourat to utilize all their "littles." LOVB will have eight free substitutions with no limits to entries in the same position.
"They're not FIVB substitutions and they're not collegiate rules, either, but the eight subs allow for a little bit of flexibility," Suzie said. "Maybe you can sub in a defensive specialist or go to a 6-2 with a double sub. I like how they have adapted the rules to have some mix of what the U.S. fanbase is accustomed to compared to what the players have been doing internationally for years."
Nebraska might shudder at the thought, but imagine Lexi Rodriguez as a defensive specialist.
"I think it keeps us in rallies. We see ourselves as high-skilled and early indications show that's the kind of team we want to be and want to be. Out-team and out-skill are two of the objectives."
Not that Omaha won't have firepower, but ask any coach at any level the key to the next match and they say simply, "Win serve and pass."
One outside hitter is four-time Olympian Jordan Larson, and the others include Creighton product Jaali Winters, Amber Stivrins (who played at Louisville, Georgia and San Diego), another former Husker in Madi Kubik-Banks and Canadian veteran national teamer Vicky Savard.
"We have two of the best passers in the world in Larson and Wong-Orantes. They jump off the page. But what's terrific for our team is there are more of them," the coach said. "We have a really nice outside hitting corps and 'bros.
"There are a lot of teams that are really physical in our league. And then there's a team like us, where we see ourselves as maybe highly skilled, including our ability to ballhandle, stay in long rallies and manage first contact. Those are strengths for us right now."
It will all be on display when LOVB Omaha opens its season on Friday, January 10, at LOVB Houston.
