International Standouts Come Stateside as Four More Athletes Sign with LOVB
May 29, 2025 - League One Volleyball (LOVB) News Release
Four more athletes - including a pair of international greats - have signed with League One Volleyball for the 2026 season. Olympians Ana Carolina da Silva and Anne Buijs will add global starpower while recent college graduates Julia Sangiacomo and Argentina Ung return to North America after starting pro careers overseas.
A storied middle blocker, Ana Carolina brings a host of international and professional success to LOVB. She led the Brazilian National Team to two Olympic medals - silver in 2020, bronze in 2024 - and two World Championship medals. Carol has also won two World Grand Prix titles, three VNL medals, and five South American Championships titles. In club play, she's found success both abroad and in her native Brazil, where she's claimed five Superliga titles, five South American Club Championship titles and two Brazilian Cups. The 6-0 middle has earned six Best Blocker or Best Middle Blocker awards during FIVB play since 2022 and was the Superliga's Best Middle Blocker four times from 2019-2023.
One of the Netherlands' all-time greats, Anne was on the Dutch National Team from 2008-24, serving as captain since 2021. She led the team to Olympic appearances in 2016 and 2024, finishing fourth in Rio. She won silver and was named Best Outside Hitter at both the 2015 and 2017 European Championships, Professionally, Anne has had tremendous success in both Europe and Brazil, winning nine league titles in her 19-year career. In 2016, she led VakıfBank to a Sultanlar Ligi title in Türkiye and has topped Brazil's Superliga with Rexona Sesc-RJ in 2018 and Dentil/Praia Clube in 2023.
An outside hitter from Sonoma, California, Julia's inaugural pro season took her to both Türkiye and Indonesia, where she helped Gresik Petrokimia (Indonesia) win the 2025 Livoli Divisi Utama title and earned the league's Best Outside Hitter award. Julia played collegiately at Santa Clara from 2019-22 and Northwestern in 2023. She earned All-Conference honors during each of her five collegiate seasons and picked up three AVCA All-Region honors. Julia also led her team in kills all five seasons and is ranked No. 3 on Santa Clara's all-time kills list.
Argentina is an emerging setter from Sonora, Mexico with collegiate, professional and international experience. During her collegiate career, Argentina earned AVCA All-American honors at Arizona State and previously played four seasons at Washington State. There, she helped the Cougars to four straight NCAA tournament appearances. Professionally, she began her career in Italy with Savino Del Bene Scandicci, earning third place in both the Italian Serie A1 and Italian Cup, and a second-place finish in the CEV Champions League. Argentina has been part of Mexico's national team since her youth, competing at the U18, U20 and U23 levels.She helped the U23 team win silver at the 2023 U23 Pan-American Cup and the U18 team take bronze in 2019, earning Best Setter and Best Server in that tournament.
Full team rosters for the 2026 LOVB Pro season will be announced later this summer.
League One Volleyball Stories from May 29, 2025
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