'Novas gear up in clutch time
PVF: Coach Bird pushes all the right buttons as her first-place Omaha team wins road showdown against Valkyries

Bird Kuhn must have liked what she saw from her Omaha Supernovas substitutes two nights before because she stuck with them as starters in a crucial road match against the Orlando Valkyries.
Rookie outside hitter Ally Batenhorst, right-sider Kelsie Payne and setter Mac Podraza had been bench-warmers for much of the season, but all played key roles on Thursday night as the visiting 'Novas pulled off a reverse sweep of the Indy Ignite.
With first place in the Pro Volleyball Federation at stake against the Valks, Coach Kuhn had the courage to keep those three in the lineup, sitting OH Reagan Cooper, first-year opposite Emily Londot and setter Natalia Valentin-Anderson, all of whom have enjoyed numerous highlight moments for her Omaha squad.
Bird’s instinct paid off as the Supernovas (12-4) consolidated their top spot in the standings with a tense four-set victory on Saturday night over the Valkyries (11-6), who have dropped their last two after a nine-match winning streak. The red-hot 'Novas have won four in a row, eight of their last nine and are 8-2 on the road.
The Valks refused to go down quietly before a noisy-for-its-size crowd of 1,780 at Addition Financial Arena, even as their normally potent attack sputtered. Coach Amy Pauly’s squad pushed a nail-biting fourth set after winning the third by three points.
Back-to-back blocks by the Valks’ Natalie Foster and substitute Shannon Scully squared the fourth at 24. Then came a play that typified the Supernovas’ resilience. Lindsey Vander Weide’s flat float serve was shanked by Batenhorst, but Podraza ran it down from outside the left sideline and delivered a back-bump set.
Launching from behind the 10-foot line on the out-of-system high-ball offering, Brooke Nuneviller uncorked a sizzling deep spike that deflected off of libero Nalani Iosia. That spectacular winner from the 'Novas superstar put them at match point for a third time. A bang-bang rejection by Podraza on an in-system first-ball swing Scully clinched the “W.”
Nuneviller might have hit just .180 on 50 swings (18 kills against seven errors), but her overall contributions and consistency were crucial to the winning effort. Brooke made 18 digs, dished three assists and had one miscue on 20 serves. The Valks feared her in serve-receive so much that she was targeted only five times despite being a primary passer.

The top gun on the night for the Supernovas was the 6-foot-5 Batenhorst, who rang up 22 kills on .367 efficiency with an ace, a block and eight digs. A second-round draft pick (15th overall) out of USC, Ally notched 16 kills in the reverse sweep of the Vibe. Before those two matches, she had 27 kills on the season. Even with such gaudy attacking stats, what shouldn’t be overlooked is that Batenhorst stood tall under relentless serving pressure, passing “positive” on 48% of her 48 receptions with 28% rated “perfect.”
Podraza’s setting led to a solid .232 hitting percentage, 11 points off of the team’s average. The second-year pro contributed a kill, an ace, that timely block and 10 digs. Payne chipped in nine kills, an ace, two blocks and five digs. Middle blocker Kayla Caffey (a Mother McAuley product) enjoyed a strong night with six kills on .414 hitting and five blocks. Scrappy libero Camila Gomez logged 22 digs and five assists.
The Valkyries never could get superstar lefty opposite Brittany Abercrombie untracked. She went 13-for-44 against seven errors for a .136 efficiency, her lowest of the season. That contributed to the worst hitting night for her team (.167), 90 points below their PVF-leading number. Nine aces, four by rookie sensation Foster, helped keep the Valks in the hunt. Natalie extended her league-leading total to 38.
The Orlando team continues to be the most popular in the league in “live” views when its matches are streamed on the free PVF YouTube channel. I logged a peak of 26,445 watching the stream during the fourth set and the video of the match had more than 218,000 cumulative views after having been up for roughly seven hours.
Edmond looms large for Vibe
As legendary Chicago White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson frequently told us, “Big-time players make big-time plays.” Superstar Leah Edmond made the big-time plays in winning time that propelled the resurgent Atlanta Vibe (10-8) to a reverse sweep of the visiting San Diego Mojo (6-11) on Saturday night.
A crowd of 1,667 at Gas South Arena witnessed Edmond carry her team across the finish line in a 16-14 tiebreaker. Pia Timmer (17 kills, an ace, a block and five digs) scored the clinching point, but Leah’s three kills and a rejection lifted the Vibe out of a 12-10 hole and got them to match point.
Edmond totaled 14 kills, two blocks and 13 digs. Setter Marlie Monserez enjoyed a big night with five kills, an ace and 21 digs. Aiko Jones was subbed in for Merritt Beason on the right side during the second set and collected seven kills, two aces, five blocks and five digs. The Vibe have won four in a row and moved into third place in the PVF standings.
The Mojo allowed an 11-6 cushion in the tiebreaker slip away. Rookie Maya Tabron led their attack with 20 kills (five more than her previous high), adding two aces, three blocks and 12 digs. Setter Lee Da-yeong picked up three kills, an ace, two blocks and 16 digs. Earlier in the week, the Mojo sent MB Regan Pittman to the practice squad and activated rookie Devyn Robinson (Wisconsin), who didn’t play against the Vibe.
I logged a peak of 2,087 live views for the Vibe-Mojo match, coming during the fifth set.

Ignite get a lift from Skojt
Veteran OH Carly Skojt made the most of a rare starting opportunity, notching 15 kills, including the match-winner, to spark the Indy Ignite (9-8) during a four-set victory over the host Grand Rapids Rise (7-10).
Before a Saturday matinee gathering of 3,441 at Van Andel Arena, the former Michigan Wolverine got the starting nod from Coach George Padgen ahead of rookie Nina Cajic. Padgen told the media he rewarded Skojt for her work in recent practices.
“Carly does a good job every day and you're cutting hairs when you talk about players at this level,” Padgen said. “They all are very talented and her day-to-day work in the gym has paid off. It's been really strong the past couple of weeks. We saw an opportunity to get someone in with some great playing experience.
“She definitely had a hell of a day today. I was incredibly happy for her that she got the opportunity and took advantage of it.”
Carly also had two blocks (one coming down the stretch in the fourth set), an ace and eight digs. She recorded 52% positive passes on 33 targets with a single error.
“It was so much fun,” Skjodt said. “This group is super fun to compete with every day in practice. Grand Rapids runs a super-quick offense, so we were just were trying to get our bearings that first set,” which the Ignite lost 25-22.
After setting the PVF record with 31 kills during a reverse-sweep loss to the Supernovas, opposite Azhani Tealer came back to earth with 11. Prized first-year OH Ann DeBeer was solid with 13 kills, two aces, three blocks and 11 digs. Rookie libero Elena Scott had 13 digs and three assists.
The Rise’s “Great Wall of GR” continued to put up excellent blocking numbers, getting 15 rejections, four by middle blocker Alyssa Jensen and three by fellow MB Ali Bastianelli. The Ignite nearly matched that total with 14 and the hosts were limited to .184 effectiveness.
LOVB: Atlanta, Houston are twinbill victors
First-place Atlanta and second-place Houston neither gained nor lost ground in the standings after winning their League One Volleyball matches on Saturday at the Fort Bend County Epicenter.
In the see-saw neutral-court contest, Atlanta (10-3) stepped up in the 15-11 tiebreaker to down Salt Lake (5-7). Leading the way was Bartlett’s Kelsey Cook (nee Robinson) with 18 kills and 21 digs, both season highs.
Host Houston (8-5) took the nightcap from Austin (4-7) in four sets. Opposite Jordan Thompson tallied 19 kills, three blocks and 11 digs.
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