- LOVB Salt Lake extended its winning streak to six with a victory over Nebraska.
- Skylar Fields led the team with 18 kills 12 digs and two aces Saturday.
- The league plans expansion by 2027 and has multi-year deals with ESPN USA Network.
PROVO — Almost everything went right with LOVB Salt Lake's first trip to BYU's Smith Fieldhouse, or what many consider to be the hub of Utah volleyball support in the state.
Well, except for a certain ceremonial first serve.
The group brought in Cosmo, the Cougars' fur-lined mascot, to dazzle the crowd with a spinning flip followed by a serve over the net, all while wearing a yellow LOVB Salt Lake towel around his head like a bandana.
But the first attempt, well ....
"I've never done a back flip while trying to serve a ball," Salt Lake setter Madi Bugg said. "I'd probably be a little dizzy."
After a mulligan, the mascot sent the ball straight over the net.
"The second serve was definitely better," Bugg said, with a laugh.
It's hard to complain much about anything when you're LOVB Salt Lake right now, including a mismanaged serve from the mascot of the club's adopted home Saturday at BYU's Smith Fieldhouse — with "style points," opposite hitter Skylar Fields quipped.
Bugg had her best match in a Salt Lake uniform, dishing out 22 assists in relief of starter Jordyn Poulter, and Fields kept up her stellar run of form with 18 kills, 12 digs and two aces as LOVB Salt Lake stretched its league-best winning streak to six straight with a 25-23, 25-22, 18-25, 25-15 win over LOVB Nebraska in front of an estimated crowd of close to 3,000 fans.
It was a happy homecoming for Salt Lake's hometown trio of BYU alums, including West Jordan native Roni Jones-Perry, the former BYU All-American who had 10 kills and seven digs; and Mary Lake, who had four successful serve receives playing alongside star libero Manami Kojima, the Japanese international who finished with 14 digs.
But with the way LOVB Salt Lake (7-1) is playing in its second season, there were a lot of happy campers — both fans, players and coaches alike.
The second-year franchise is 2.5 wins clear of second-place LOVB Houston atop the six-team league standings, with Fields as much to owe as anyone.
The former two-time All-American from Houston who played collegiately at Texas and USC sparked the side to a five-set, reverse-sweep win over LOVB Austin last week with 10 kills on 20 swings, three blocks and nine digs, and she led a quartet of double-digit hitters that also included Claire Hoffman (14 kills) and Serena Gray (13) Saturday afternoon.
Gray won League One offensive player of the week after the middle blocker totaled 22 kills and four blocks in wins over Madison and Nebraska, and Kojima was league defensive player of the week after averaging 3.5 digs per set for 28 digs in the two wins.
But for Fields, this season is personal. Salt Lake finished fourth in the league with a 7-9 record. Saturday's win clinched the same number of wins by the start of next week's midseason LOVB Classic in Kansas City, a neutral-site competition bringing the whole league to the site of one of the largest youth volleyball tournaments in the country at Triple Crown NIT.
"I still have a bitter taste at what happened to us last season," Fields said. "I'm really hungry and trying to put that fire to the team as well. Every time we come out here, just take advantage of it and attack."
That includes staying on attack the club's usual home at Bruin Arena in Taylorsville, and in Provo, where Salt Lake will return Thursday, March 5 to host Atlanta in front of a large Utah County-based volleyball supporter group as well as season-ticket regulars from the gym at Salt Lake Community College.
"It was really awesome," Fields said.
There's also another advantage to moving the venue, besides building a fanbase past the Point of the Mountain: recruiting. League One Volleyball is in the second season of a multi-year deal with ESPN, and added a multi-year agreement with USA Network this year.
The league will grow to at least nine teams in 2027 with announced expansion franchises in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Minnesota.
"I think it makes sense when we're trying to grow the game to be able to engage the university teams," said LOVB Nebraska coach Suzie Fritz, who previously coached at Kansas State. "That's our recruiting pool; a lot of our players come out of there, and hopefully the best of the best end up coming to League One.
"It's also kind of cool for our team," she added. "Our connections might not be to BYU, but a lot of our international players come to the U.S. to experience the culture of sport in the United States. A lot of that starts at the collegiate systems. We're brand-new as a pro league, and we want to try to engage that fan base."
