LOVB Salt Lake rallies for 3-1 win vs. Houston in home opener
- Former BYU All-American Roni Jones-Perry (second from right) celebrates with her LOVB Salt Lake teammates after a point in a match against Houston at Salt Lake Community College on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025.
- Fans react during a LOVB match between Salt Lake and Houston at Salt Lake Community College on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025.
- Skylar Fields of LOVB Salt Lake (5) takes a swing against Houston in a women’s professional volleyball match at Salt Lake Community College on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025.
- Jordyn Poulter of LOVB Salt Lake serves the ball in a professional volleyball match against LOVB Houston at Salt Lake Community College on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025.
TAYLORSVILLE — League One Volleyball (LOVB) is the newest women’s professional league and is attempting to create a holistic ecosystem, building from club to pro. It’s billed as the largest club volleyball community in the United States.
On Wednesday, Utah got an official glimpse of the pro side of things at Salt Lake Community College’s Bruin Arena, with the hometown Salt Lake franchise rallying for a 3-1 win against Houston in front of a capacity crowd of nearly 5,000 fans.
Houston won the first set 25-22 but Salt Lake roared back and won the next three 25-15, 26-24, 25-19. Former Utah All-American Dani Drews led Salt Lake with 20 points, including 13 kills and four blocks. Skylar Fields had 18 points (17 kills, .385) and former BYU All-American Roni Jones-Perry 15 (14 kills, one error, .429).
Salt Lake outhit Houston .321 to .198 and dominated at the net with a 17-7 blocks advantage.
“I think we upgraded our block defense, big time,” Jones-Perry said. “The first set, they were kind of having a heyday just hitting wherever they wanted. I think we kind of talked through some blocking adjustments that we wanted to make. And then also, our back row defenders, as a result of the block adjustments, were able to just kind of muscle some balls up and win some rallies and transition.”
Drews had back-to-back ace serves as Salt Lake took control of Set 2. The home team had a four-point lead in Set 3 but Houston rallied to tie the score at 19. Eventually, Jones-Perry got the game winner at 26-24 for a 2-1 lead in the match, settling up a strong performance by Salt Lake in the fourth set for the victory.
For Jones-Perry, who grew up in West Jordan and now owns a home there, the evening was particularly sweet after playing the past six years overseas.
“There were a couple moments today where I was like, Oh man, I’m feeling some big nerves just coming into the game,” she said. “But I think once we get on the court, our team does a good job just holding eye contact, really grounding and centering back on the court and focusing on what our job is. The beginning of any match, there’s always a little bit of those jitters, but I think that we did a good job, just kind of bringing the focus back onto what we wanted to get on the court. Then just looking over to the sideline and bench, Mary (her former BYU teammate, Mary Lake) dancing and doing all that. She’s the best teammate you’ll ever have.”
University of Utah women’s volleyball coach Beth Launiere and BYU women’s volleyball coach Heather Olmstead were both on hand, with Olmstead handling the ceremonial first serve.
“This new pro league, it means that all the little girls here can dream, and dream big,” Olmstead said.
After the match, the line to get autographs from the Salt Lake players snaked around the arena.
“It was awesome,” Jones-Perry said. “I think sometimes you get in a gym and there’s a big crowd, and it’s like the crowd is just kind of into it. But here tonight, it felt like the crowd was really, really into the volleyball. Big plays are happening, and you can hear the crowd reacting to it. It was hard to hear each other during the play. So I think the crowd here tonight was really special. They were so excited. I expected there to be some excitement around autographs, but they were really, really pumped. And it was cool to see.”
Salt Lake returns to action Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 with two matches at Atlanta’s Gateway Center Arena, then comes back to Utah for a pair of matches at Maverik Center against Atlanta and Omaha.