February 16, 2025
by Jamison Kruse
KANSAS CITY, MO -- With the Triple Crown NIT commencing and The League One Volleyball Classic in full swing, no matter where you turned there was high level volleyball being played. Just across the street from the NIT, the LOVB Classic semifinals were bringing the house down. It was the pair of Texas teams against the league's current top two. Houston managed to keep their hot streak alive in the tournament, while Atlanta proved once again why they are atop the standings.
In the semifinal opener, Houston and Omaha would go head-to-head. This was the second time each other would square off. The two would go at it in the opening weekend of the season and it would be all Omaha with a sweep on Houston's home court. HTX was looking to get there in front of the youthful audience.
Set 1 looked to be going a similar way to that of the first matchup between these two. Throughout the early going, it was all Omaha. Emily Thater was electric at the net. Between her blocking presence to her offense, it was intense to slow. However, at the media break at 13-16, the tides would shift and we'd see Houston come to full form. Match MVP, Jordan Thompson would secure the victory, knocking down five of her nine points in set 1. Houston takes this one, 25-20.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming, Set 2 was ALL Omaha. This is what we were expecting, given the history between these two. It was until the 15-16 mark where we'd see this separation take place, however. From there on, it was all Omaha with a fairly balanced attack and defense. Thater continued her net domination with four block points in this set alone. Omaha would rip this one quick by a score of 17-25.
Not to be deterred, from Set 3 on, it was all Houston. Taking the latter two sets by scores of 25-18, 25-21, the combination of Thompson and Jess Mruzik was just all too much to handle. Thompson would nod up 10 more points throughout these two sets after an insane opening nine points in Set 1. Mruzik would match Thompson in the scoring department, logging 10 of her 15 points in these last two sets.
The step up in play from middle blocker, Amber Igiede, proved critical to the two's success. Of Igiede's 9 points on the night, five of those came in the second half of the match and truly allowed the offense to spread wide open.
After taking the match, 3-1, Jordan Thompson was named MVP after an electric 25 kill outing. Mruzik and Igiede would both follow Thompson with 15 and 9 points respectively. Houston now puts their sights on the first ever LOVB Classic Championship. Here, $100,000 is on the line for the winning team. They will wait to see their opponent in the following match.
Omaha was led by German National Team opposite, Kimberly Drewniok with 17 points in the match. Thater followed close behind with 13. They will move on to battle for the third-place position and a $20,000 bonus for the team.
The second semifinal match would see Austin and Atlanta take each other on for only the second time this season. In the first outing, Atlanta would battle it out and win in four sets. Atlanta is coming off a bye in match 1, while Austin looked red hot in the Classic's opener.
Set 1 looked to be all Atlanta. With a bit of back and forth in the early goings, Atlanta would break away from the LOVBHorns and completely take over the game. It was a total pin to pin game for the women in pink and Austin had no answers. Makenzie Adams, Danielle Cuttino and Kelsey Robinson-Cook would all throw up three points or more in the opener at an alarming rate. Atlanta would take the first set in flying colors, 25-15.
Time to reboot and regroup for Set 2 and that is exactly what ATX did. With a more back and forth affair, something that was much more predicted coming into the match, Austin finally found their footing. Leading the charge was the rookie out of Texas, Madisen Skinner. At the opposite position, Skinner knocked down seven of her eight points throughout the match thus far. She was also joined by Logan Eggleston and Chiaka Ogbogu who would add a combined six points.
In the latter two games, things would go blow for blow. Each team looked to their bench to give an extra spark or two. Atlanta called upon Washington State standout and PVF Regular Season Champion, Magda Jehlárová. She'd contribute a much stronger blocking presence with three in the latter parts of the game. Austin would call on Leah Hardemann as well; she would contribute four points.
Alas, Atlanta would continue their dominant reign among the league, taking Sets 3 and 4 by scores of 25-23 and 25-20. Middle blocker, Tia Jimerson, was awarded the games' MVP after a stellar 15-point performance and a semifinal leading .667 hit percentage. Jimerson will look to lead her team to a Classic Championship and a $100,000 victory against Houston today.
On Austin's side, both Skinner and Eggleston would lead the scoring with 13 and 12 respectively. Austin now will face off against Omaha to battle for the third place standing as well as $20,000 prize money.
