Kansas City, Mo. - February 15, 2026 - In a rematch from two weeks ago, LOVB Houston defeated LOVB Madison (25-20, 26-24, 25-19) with a sweep on Sunday afternoon at Municipal Arena.
“I felt like we were really prepared, and we talked about coming in the match and stacking those good points together, and we just couldn't quite do it enough. We could do it on a few streaks, and we just made more unforced errors today than our normal selves. We had some positives to take into our next game,” said head coach Matt Fuerbringer.
Houston set the tone early, taking the first set 25-20 and stalling any Madison momentum. The second set brought more fight from Madison as veteran outside hitters Indrė Sorokaitė and Anna Haak sparked the offense. The push fell just short, with Houston edging out a 26-24 win in extra points. Madison battled again in the third, but uncharacteristic errors proved costly as Houston secured the sweep. Despite the result, the night featured several individual milestones and encouraging returns.
Anna Hall made her season debut, tallying two kills, two blocks, one assist and one dig. Indrė Sorokaitė added eight kills and one block in her LOVB debut, hitting .240. Rookie Gillian Grimes earned her first start of the season and recorded 12 digs.
“We are getting better and better,” stated outside hitter Indrė Sorokaitė. “I felt great energy and I was proud of my team because at important moments, we thought even if it was not our ball, we would go for till the last moment. So it seems that we are fighters and we are ready to want to have more.”
LOVB Madison stays on the road and heads south to Austin, Texas to face LOVB Austin at the H-E-B Center on Friday, February 20. First serve is at 7:00 p.m. Central. Tickets are available for purchase and fans can stream the game on ESPN+.
