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Salt Lake Volleyball brings professional game back to Utah

Jan 27, 2025 03:13PM ● By Tom Haraldsen

The new logo for Salt Lake Volleyball, which has begun play in the LOVB league and will host home matches at the Maverik Center and Salt Lake Community College. (Logo courtesy of LOVB)

Utahns have always been fans of volleyball, whether it’s through recreational play or their local church leagues. And boys’ volleyball became an officially sanctioned high school sport just last year.

Now professional women's volleyball returns to Salt Lake City as part of the League One Volleyball (LOVB, pronounced “Love”). The city has one of six franchises for the first-year league that kicked off on Jan. 8 in Atlanta. It was founded in 2020 as a “holistic volleyball ecosystem” that covered players from the beginner level through clubs and the pros. The plan was to start a pro league after the Paris Olympics, and now play is set to begin.

The teams don’t have names, other than the cities they play in. The six teams this year are in Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Madison, Omaha and Salt Lake. Utah’s team includes two-time Olympic medalists and 2020 gold medal winners Haleigh Washington and Jordyn Poulter, who lead a roster with 21 collective All-American honors. Several come from local colleges like former Brighton High and University of Utah player Dani Drews, and former BYU teammates Roni Jones-Perry and Mary Lake. Reigning VNL Best Libero Manami Kojima of the Japanese National Team will patrol the backcourt. U.S. National Team assistant Tama Miyashiro will instruct the squad, and she’ll be assisted by Bruno Chateau, who’s found success coaching internationally and in his native France.

Salt Lake played its first home match against Houston on Jan. 22 at Salt Lake Community College, where all of its home matches are scheduled except for the “Weekend with LOVB" on Feb. 7-8 at the Maverik Center in West Valley City. The team will play matches on both days that weekend.

Other home matches are set for March 20 against Madison, April 4 against Madison, April 5 against Austin. League finals will be held in mid-April in Louisville, Kentucky.

Members of the 15 player roster for Salt Lake Volleyball are as follows:

• Jordyn Poulter, S, Illinois

• Tamaki Matsui, S, Japan Women's College of Physical Education

• Morgan Miller, OH, Cal

• Maddie Haynes, OH, Cal

• Skylar Fields, OH, USC

• Tori Dixon, MB, Minnesota

• Sophie Fischer, MB, Georgia

• Serena Gray, MB, Pittsburgh

• Roni Jones-Perry, OH, BYU

• Haleigh Washington, MB, Penn State

• Manami Kojima, LIB, Aoyama Gakuin University

• Dani Drews, OH, Utah

• Mary Lake, LIB, BYU

• Claire Hoffman, OH, Washington

• Heidy Casanova, OPP

Every game will be broadcast through the ESPN family of networks, streamed on ESPN+ or broadcast through the league's website at LOVB Live. Ticket information available on line at www.lovb.com. λ