Texas Teams Step Up in LOVB Week 7
Following the excitement of the inaugural League One Volleyball Classic, Week 7 marked a return to business as usual for the six LOVB teams as they resumed league play.
Atlanta bounced back from that LOVB Classic finals loss versus Houston, and may still be cemented on top of the League One Volleyball standings after Week 7, but below, the Texas teams are shaking things up.
Austin Seizes the Moment
The two Lone Star state squads went head-to-head for a third time on Wednesday, and after two losses to Houston this season, it was finally Austin’s turn to come out on top. After a three-game schedule in Week 6, Houston opted to rest a handful of its key contributors, and Austin took full advantage of that opportunity.
Austin came out firing in the first set, claiming the 25-20 win before dropping the second. But the team claimed the next two, making it a 4-1 (25-20, 19-25, 25-18, 26-24) win, and the squad’s first-ever victory over Houston.
Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball’s Molly McCage was among the supporting cast that added to Madisen Skinner’s dominant 23-kill performance in the mid-week contest. McCage contributed four kills, a team-high four blocks, one dig, and a pair of assists in the win.
With that win, Austin entered its second matchup of the week versus Salt Lake with a 3-4 regular season record.
In that Thursday contest, AU Pro Volleyball’s Khat Bell was explosive on the right side with a team-leading 11 kills – nine of which came in the first two sets. She added six digs, while McCage improved on her Wednesday outing with seven kills, five blocks, and one dig.
Austin managed to go up two sets to none before Salt Lake claimed the third set 25-21.
The talent of AU athletes on both sides of the net was on full display as LOVB digs leader Manami Kojima recorded a team-high 18 digs and was nearly unshakable on serve receive with 72.7% of her passing attempts resulting in an in-system play.
Meanwhile, on offense, Heydi Casanova paced the team with 17 kills while adding nine digs to the defensive effort.
Even so, Austin didn’t break its stride entering the fourth set and outscored Salt Lake 25-21 to claim the 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 25-21) victory.
Houston Climbs the Leaderboard
Despite its Wednesday loss to Austin, Houston was back on top form in its meeting with the second-ranked Omaha on Thursday.
Madi Kingdon Rishel jumped back into the action after resting most of the match versus Austin and tallied seven kills and nine digs behind a stellar showing by Jordan Thompson, who led the team with 20 kills, two aces, one block, and four digs.
Houston took the match in three successive sets (26-24, 25-23, 25-16), in an effort that was enough to surpass Omaha on the LOVB leaderboard.
The current league standings after Week 7 are as follows:
- Atlanta (7-1)
- Houston (5-3)
- Omaha (4-3)
- Austin (4-40
- Salt Lake (3-6)
- Madison (1-7)
Next Up In LOVB
Salt Lake will go on the road to face the now second-ranked Houston, while the rest of the squads will gather for the Weekend with LOVB at Madison. Omaha will be the first to face the home team on Friday, before squaring up with Atlanta on Saturday.
Madison will close the week of play by taking on Austin on Saturday night.
Siera Jones is the digital media reporter at Athletes Unlimited. You can follow her on Instagram and X @sieraajones.
