It's early, but League One Volleyball's top team is in Salt Lake after thrilling 5-set win

TAYLORSVILLE — Five games into their second season, LOVB Salt Lake stands alone atop the six-team League One Volleyball.

They had to battle to get there Thursday night.

Alexa Gray had 24 kills and nine digs, and fellow BYU alum Roni Jones-Perry added 18 kills as LOVB Salt Lake rallied to reverse sweep second-place LOVB Austin, 20-25, 23-25, 25-19, 25-19, 15-10 at Bruin Arena on the campus of Salt Lake Community College.

Skylar Fields added 10 kills and three blocks for Salt Lake (4-1), and Sophie Fischer supplied five kills and six blocks for a home side that was powered by two-time Olympic medalist Jordyn Poulter's eye-popping 58 assists to guide LOVB Salt Lake's third consecutive win and second-straight in five sets.

"I think it starts with what they do day-to-day," LOVB Salt Lake coach Tamari Miyashiro said. "What we ask is when we are in practice, we go hard. We also try to put the girls in some pretty stressful situations for the times we do have practice.

"They just love it; they love battling. For us, it's just about making adjustments. But they're always up for a pretty solid, competitive match."

Salt Lake struggled from the service line early, and Asjia O'Neal, who had 12 kills, six blocks and two aces, helped Austin (3-3) take advantage with a 2-0 lead that threatened to upend Salt Lake's two-game winning streak.

But Salt Lake doesn't quit; they didn't Saturday night after falling behind 2-1 at home against LOVB Madison, and they didn't Thursday, either.

Fischer helped Salt Lake jump out to a 12-9 advantage in the third set, and Fields came off the bench to stretch the lead to 17-11 as the hosts pulled one back, 25-19.

That was all the momentum Salt Lake needed.

Gray helped Salt Lake carry the momentum into the fourth set with an 11-7 start, and Jones-Perry finished off an extended rally with a kill just inside the back corner to go up 14-11 en route to a 25-19 equalizing victory.

"I think we're used to that. In practice, we have really long rallies as well," Gray said. "We have some big hitters, and great liberos. I think it's just about being ready for that type of volleyball, and focusing on the little things."

That set up a winner-take-all fifth set, when Fields finished off a dime from Poulter to give Salt Lake an 8-4 advantage early, and Fischer notched her sixth block to go up 11-8 and help Poulter serve out the match for the reverse sweep.

But credit where credit is due, and Gray knew exactly where credit was deserved: libero Manami Kojima, the 5-foot-2 defensive specialist who won Best Libero honors in the Japanese domestic league in 2024, the 2023 Asian championships, the 2024 Volleyball Nations League, and the 2025 League One Volleyball season.

Kojima, who played professionally for NEC Red Rockets in her home country from 2016-24 before joining LOVB Salt Lake for their inaugural season, has been called the best libero in the world.

"She's actually the best player in this league," Fields quipped.

With performances like Thursday night's comeback, it's hard to argue.

"She's incredible," Gray added. "Her size and how quick she plays; it's crazy."

Fields jumped back in: "Manami has great vision, and reads the court really well. It allows us to play defense next to her. We know she's going to cover a huge area, and she does a great job of just encouraging us to play great volleyball and play great defense.

"Defense is the driving force of our team."

LOVB Salt Lake is back home Saturday night at Bruin Arena to host LOVB Atlanta. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. MST on Victory+.

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