by Jamison Kruse
KANSAS CITY, MO -- Friday marked the opening night of the inaugural League One Volleyball Classic! This is where the best youth athletes of America meet the best athletes in the world. It's all in one city for the Triple Crown NIT and LOVB Classic. Night 1 of the LOVB Classic includes a doubleheader with matches between Houston Vs. Madison and Austin Vs. Salt Lake City. Winners advance to the semifinals of the Classic. The losers will go on to compete for a fifth-place position in the tournament.
GAME 1
Houston and Madison are coming to heads for only the second time this season. The previous battle saw Houston beat Madison in dominating fashion on Madison's home court. Houston is coming to Kansas City winning three of their last four matches. Meanwhile Madison is batting .000 in their last four matches.
In the opening match of the first-ever LOVB Classic, we saw a battle of a match throughout the early going. The two teams would trade blows up until 20-17 before Houston surged to the set victory.
Set 2 would look to be a similar game. Throughout the first 15 points, each team would trade streak for streak. One team would take a two, three-point lead and then the other would respond with one of their own. From 15-15 to the very end, neither team could seem to find a gap. It wasn't until 23 all, that we'd see Madison gift Houston two straight points via error.
Up two sets to none, it is go hard or go home. Houston went hard, and Madison couldn't quite seem to find the answer. Through severe passing woes, Madison tried just about the entire bench to find some spark. But alas, Houston's serve was too tough and that block was too stout.
Two-time Olympic Medalist Jordan Thompson served as the team’s driving force. In three sets, Thompson led the way for all teams with 20 points. Eighteen of those 20 points would come via kills where she hit on a raucous .421 clip.
Alongside Thompson, Finnish setter Kaisa Alanko was named the match MVP. In her first LOVB career start, Alanko propelled Houston on a 36 percent kill rate with 28 assists on the match.
For Madison, German National Team Outside Hitter Jennifer Janiska led the charge. Janiska ended Madison’sefforts with 11 points and a team-leading 70% in-system pass.
Moving forward, Houston will move on to the LOVB Classic Semifinals. There, they will take on Omaha, the league's current No. 2 team. For Madison, they will fight for their second win of the season and a fifth-place finish in the Classic.
GAME 2
Much like the opening match, these two teams have only met once before. The last time Austin and Salt Lake went head-to-head, it was a barnburner. Back and forth, blow for blow, it would ultimately be Salt Lake that would come from behind and win the match 3-2. Austin was without some crucial pieces to their offense. A full, healthy roster on both sides of the net could create quite the difference in match.
As to be expected, this show down was another slugfest. The opening set would see a battle of the opposites as both Austin’s Madisen Skinner and Salt Lake’s Skylar Fields would seemingly go blow for blow. Neither team could quite seem to find separation of each other until the very end when Austin would push ahead to a 26-24 decision.
In set 2, however, it would the LOVBHorn show. Salt Lake had no opportunity to catch their breath. The play of Austin’s middles would prove critical in the dominate set. 2x Olympic Medalist Chiaka Ogbogu and 2x National Champion Asjia O’Neal were finding success on every front. Austin would control the set, 25-14 to go up two sets to none.
With a different look to set three, SLC would opt for the veteran play of Heydi Castillo on the opposite and Tori Dixon in the middle. This was the right spark to ignite some fight in Salt Lake. Off of the bench, the two combined for 14 points in the match. SLC would make things interesting, winning the third 19-25.
Set four would be where Austin cemented their dominance on the game. They’d take the lead early and never let up, only allowing for one strong run from SLC late in the game.
Logan Eggleston was named game MVP after leading Austin in points with 20 and passing with a 46 percent in system rate. Leading on all fronts, this was a season best for the burgeoning professional star.
Roni Jones Perry led Salt Lake City with 11 points on the night.
A win for LOVB Austin gives them a ticket to the Classic Semifinal against the league’s leader, Atlanta. Salt Lake City will be battling for a fifth-place finish, going against Madison on Sunday.
