LOVB: Salt Lake Looks to Rebound on the Road

LOVB PRO TEAMS

This week, LOVB Salt Lake – at 8-2, atop the League One Volleyball standings – will have to do something they haven’t done since early January:

Play two consecutive road matches.

“Shoutout to Misao,” setter Madi Bugg joked, referring to the team’s athletic trainer Misao Tanioka.

“Our trainer keeps us in check,” laughed middle blocker Tori Dixon.

She then continued. “Recovery, staying on top of it and getting ahead of it before something starts hurting. Making sure we’re doing the little things: foam rolling, hydrating, staying smart on these flights…”

Salt Lake hasn’t played consecutive road matches since January 8 and 10 when they opened the season with trips to LOVB Houston and LOVB Madison. They swept Houston, but Madison returned the favor two days later. Since, they’ve played five times within the state of Utah and made just two trips: back to Madison on February 5 and to Kansas City for the LOVB Classic February 13.

Another odd occurrence for Salt Lake this week will be recovering from a loss. Last Saturday at Bruin Arena, visiting Houston came from behind to win in four sets, snapping the league leaders’ seven-match win streak.

“Salt Lake is obviously a strong team,” Houston opposite hitter Jordan Thompson said after the win, “they’ve been at the top of the standings for most of the season. They have a lot of depth on their roster and a lot of experience. When they get in a pinch, they’re able to utilize those tools.”

Most of that roster played together last season, too. Only three members of this year’s squad weren’t on last year’s 7-9 Salt Lake team: Bugg, who’s filled in at setter for an injured Jordyn Poulter for a few matches; rookie Ifena Cos-Okpalla, a middle blocker who led Texas A&M to an NCAA title two months ago; and Canadian star outside hitter Alexa Gray, who’s second in LOVB with 4.32 kills per set and third with 4.90 points per set.

Together with a strong roster that includes Poulter – a two-time Olympic medalist – last season’s Libero of the Year Manami Kojima, and breakout middle Serena Gray, Salt Lake leads the league in most statistical categories.

“They’re a team that’s had some changes in their lineup and hasn’t missed a beat,” LOVB Austin assistant Rob Browning said about Salt Lake last Sunday. “They’re the top team, we’re fired up to play them always.”

Browning’s Austin squad hosts Salt Lake on Wednesday, February 25 at 7 p.m. Central/6 p.m. Mountain on USA Network. This will be the third meeting this season between the two: Salt Lake won the first in a reverse sweep at Bruin Arena before issuing a traditional sweep at the LOVB Classic.

Even with the past matches going Salt Lake’s way, Austin isn’t worried.

“No one in our locker room has any doubt that we can play well against any team with whatever we put out there,” Browning said. “Since [the LOVB Classic], we’ve figured some things out and we’ll be better prepared to play them again on Wednesday. It’s on us.”

Paulo Coco, whose LOVB Atlanta squad welcomes Salt Lake on Sunday, March 1, has a similar view. Atlanta was also swept in its lone previous meeting with Salt Lake earlier, but they pushed the league leaders to extra points in the final set.

“[The third set] is going to be great feedback for next Sunday,” he said, “but it’s more important to think about our growth as a team. We have a good balance in our team like we had in the third set of the game out there. That’s the way you need to fight with them.”

Atlanta’s season also has turned around after that match at Salt Lake. A few days later, they did drop a five-setter to Austin but have won four in a row since and snapped second-place Houston’s winning streak last week. Now, Atlanta enters the week as arguably the hottest team in the league and with seven days of rest, and Coco is looking forward to the opportunity.

“Now it’s time to process, to recover, to get better,” he said, “so let’s see if we can do that and show up on the same level as them.”