What a Year It's Been: 2025 Pro Season Recap
April 30, 2025 - League One Volleyball (LOVB) News Release
Stacy Sykora, she of the wildly colorful adidas sweatsuits, went through a lot this season as LOVB Austin assistant coach.
So about an hour after her team put the exclamation point on the inaugural League One Volleyball season as its most unlikely champion, she still couldn't hold back the tears.
"There were so many amazing things that happened. Hard, challenging things. But we just kept on keeping on. We did it."
She exhaled.
"It was fun."
And with that, as she went to find the rest of her contingent, she pretty much described the LOVB season in a nutshell.
There were triumphs, not the least of which was fifth-seeded LOVB Austin sweeping another unlikely LOVB Finals title-match participant, sixth-seeded Omaha.
All season throughout the six-team, four-month campaign there were setbacks, losing streaks, injuries, bounce backs and comebacks, capped with a thrilling three days of high-level pro volleyball inside the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, that will go down as a great chapter in American volleyball.
There were 10 U.S. silver medalists from the Paris Games and a handful of foreign Olympians leading the way. There were veteran Americans who finally got to shine in their home country. And there were the rookies just out of college who lit it up.
The season began January 8 at LOVB Atlanta, a four-set victory by LOVB Salt Lake before a sold-out crowd in Gateway Center Arena in which Salt Lake's Roni Jones-Perry got the first kill in league history. There were simply so many happy people in that building that night.
"It wasn't just another volleyball match," Salt Lake coach Tama Miyashiro said.
"It was an exciting moment for American volleyball and for world volleyball," said Brazilian Paulo Coco, the Atlanta coach.
His team won its next match and never looked back. Atlanta reeled off a seven-match winning streak, a run that ended with a four-set loss to LOVB Houston in the midseason LOVB Classic title match.
Atlanta only lost twice more - both times to Houston - as it finished the regular season 13-3. Founding Athlete and team captain Kelsey Cook was magnificent all season in every possible way to earn MVP honors. But Atlanta got big boosts from some of those Americans coming home in setter Madi Bugg, middle Tia Jimerson and LOVB's Outside Hitter of the Year McKenzie Adams. All three had toiled on foreign soil their entire pro careers.
Houston, which finished second at 11-5, made it clear at the LOVB Classic it was a force to be reckoned with. Houston won three matches in three days at that midseason tourney in Kansas City and showed that with a healthy Jordan Thompson, anything was possible. LOVB's Opposite of the Year was lights out when it mattered and rookie outside Jess Mruzik never missed a beat. Olympic setter Micha Hancock, who led LOVB in aces, unleashed her high-jumping lefty top-spin serve that turned teams upside down. And you can't overstate the fabulous seasons had by veteran outside Madi Kingdon Rishel (another veteran who returned from overseas) and middle Amber Igiede.
LOVB Madison became the poster child for bouncing back. The team, loaded with talent included Founding Athlete and setter Lauren Carlini, Olympic opposite Annie Drews Schumacher, and rookie outside hitter Sarah Franklin, at one point lost eight matches in a row.
And then, home for the first time in a month, Madison turned it around with a four-set win over Omaha at the end of February. A seven-match winning streak ensued and no team was playing better as Madison was nipping at Houston's second-place heels until the last match of the regular season. There were two huge keys to the change in fortunes: One was the steady play of libero Milica Medved, who played superbly in the back half of the season, and the return of Drews Schumacher from injury to incredible form. In Madison's last 10 matches, she averaged better than 19 kills an outing.
LOVB Salt Lake was another team that rode a roller coaster, finishing 7-9 and playing eight five-setters in 19 total matches. Olympic setter Jordyn Poulter was her usual great self, and so was Libero of the Year Manami Kojima. Jones-Perry led all outside hitters with 204 kills, and Olympic middle Haleigh Washington showed she was as good as ever. Many of their teammates made contributions at different times.
We'll get back to Austin, which, like LOVB Omaha, finished the regular season 5-11. At the end, Omaha rivaled Madison for hanging in there when things appeared to be at their worst. This was a team bitten hard by the injury bug. As the regular season wound down, Omaha had lost nine in a row before beating Austin in five at the end of March. A team with so many outstanding players - Founding Athletes Jordan Larson and Justine Wong-Orantes, German opposite Kimberly Drewniok and middle Emily Thater (another of those veterans back in the U.S.) - could seemingly not catch a break.
Which brings us back to Louisville and the LOVB Finals.
Reverse sweeps at the pro level are rare. For that matter, in the 48matches leading up to the LOVB Finals, there had been four.
And then what followed was truly jaw-dropping match play.
No. 5 Austin beat Salt Lake in a reverse sweep during the first quarterfinal for a chance to face top-seeded LOVB Atlanta in the semifinals. Then, No. 6 Omaha stunned Madison with a four-set win in the second quarterfinal for a date against No. 2 Houston. The bottom two seeds both grinded their way to victory.
The semifinals proved even wilder as both Austin and Omaha won reverse sweeps, making it three reverse sweeps in the first two playoff rounds.
"I think the league early on wanted to see some parity. They built the teams as such and we felt that all year long," said Omaha head coach Suzie Fritz. "Every match was gnarly."
Then, the championship match was set: LOVB Austin vs. LOVB Omaha.
Which makes now a good time to take a look at LOVB Austin.
When it beat Salt Lake, Madisen Skinner led Austin with 21 kills and had an ace, a block and 10 digs. Then in her team's second reverse sweep in as many nights, she exploded for a season-best 25 kills, hitting .364, to go with three aces, a block, seven digs and two assists.
All Madisen Skinner does is win. As a freshman at Kentucky, she won the NCAA Division I title. She transferred to Texas and won it all again in 2022 and 2023. And now, just four months removed from college, she was on the verge of winning her fourth championship in five years.
Austin was a team built around Texas exes. Many were veterans, like Middle Blocker of the Year Chiaka Ogbogu and fellow middle Molly McCage, and there the fresh faces:, outside hitter Logan Eggleston, star of the 2022 NCAA title team, setter Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres and libero Zoe Fleck. Swedish veteran outside Anna Haak and Cal setter Carli Lloyd played huge roles, too.
Austin won its next two matches but entered the Finals on a four-match losing streak - the last three in five sets.
"There was a period when things were pretty bleak," McGown recalled. "But there was this positivity."
Positivity well-founded as there was no need for even a fourth set in the championship match, a 25-19, 25-22, 25-23 victory over Omaha in which Madisen Skinner had 17 kills, hit .308 and had four blocks and five digs and player of the match Carli Lloyd had 45 assists while setting Austin to a .360 attack percentage.
"[Carli]'s amazing. That's why she's a Founding Athlete. She is so calm on the court and keeps us in check and makes sure we stay focused," outside hitter and fellow Austin Founding Athlete Logan Eggleston said. "Carli's awesome, she's a leader, she's our captain and that's why."
Skinner, meanwhile earned Finals MVP honors, "I thrive under pressure. I don't like feeling the pressure all the time but that brings out the best in me," she admitted with a laugh. "For the most part I'm battle-tested and I'm surrounded by incredible people who are with me every day and they give me the confidence to go out there and swing."
Eggleston, too, was fantastic with 17 kills - including the match-winner - and hit a whopping .469 after having just two errors in 32 attacks to go with five blocks and three digs.
"To be a part of the first LOVB Finals and then winning the first LOVB Finals is such an honor," she said. "It's been building for so many years and to be in this moment is so cool and I know there are more amazing moments to come in the future."
Carli, the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze-medalist, put this season and this victory right up there with her seasons abroad.
"I love this sport and have been playing for a long time and I feel really grateful that our season ended this way," Carli said. "Riley (her husband, former USC and pro player Riley McKibbin) says it's always darkest right before dawn.
"And we were going through some tough times."
She smiled.
"And now we're here and it's beautiful and I'm really grateful for it."
What an end to a season that gave us a little bit of everything.
"Man, look at us now," said Sykora, the three-time Olympian herself.
"The first champions."
• Discuss this story on the League One Volleyball message board...
League One Volleyball Stories from April 30, 2025
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
