Pro Volleyball Federation camps to open; O’Neal to Columbus; USAV partnership
Volleyball fans should brace themselves for culture shock as the startup Pro Volleyball Federation embraces the cutthroat dynamic of American professional sports.
Training camps across the PVF crank up this week and they will operate similarly to those in pro football, basketball and baseball:
Not everybody signed will suit up for the seven teams when final rosters are set.
So be prepared to perhaps see your favorite player hit the waiver wire. Expect trades and players changing uniforms.
Several of the teams will open camp with 20 players. Only 14 will make the travel squads. Two more will stick as “practice players,” but those have to be rookies. Volleyball in the United States has entered a brave new world of “hard choices” for coaches and even potentially bruised egos for players.
We’ve already seen one signee placed on waivers (setter Morgan Bergren by the Grand Rapids Rise) before training camps begin.
The franchise with the most stacked roster, and thus the one likely to be on rival coaches’ radar, is the Omaha Supernovas.
In a wide-ranging interview last week with VolleyballMag, Supernovas coach Shelton Collier pointed out that the new league’s competitive training camps present a vastly different scenario to American volleyball fans.
“It’s unique in that pro volleyball is being modeled after American sports, where we have training camps, people get selected to teams and people get cut,” said Collier, a coaching veteran of more than 40 years who is in the AVCA Hall of Fame. “Our fans aren’t really used to that. Players coming into college programs on scholarships are going to be there. Overseas volleyball, when you sign a contract, you know you’re going to be one of a couple of American players on a team.
“Now here comes the PVF with a traditional American sports model. It’s truly like the NFL or major-league baseball where players try out in training camp, the roster gets whittled down and tough decisions are made.”
That process figures to spark conversation, speculation, and (who knows?) even a few arguments among fans, all of which should be viewed as positive as the league strives to carve a niche on a crowded sports menu.
Let’s look at the nuts and bolts of the PVF’s waiver system. Claims will be made in the reverse order of the college draft, so that order is as follows: 1. Supernovas, 2. Atlanta Vibe, 2. Orlando Valkyries, 4. Rise, 5. Vegas Thrill, 6. San Diego Mojo, 7. Columbus Fury.
Forty-eight hours before a team’s season opener, it must declare a 14-player regular roster and its two rookie practice-squad members.
The Supernovas and Vibe vie in the league’s debut on January 24, with the Fury and the Rise playing the next day, and the Valkyries making their bow on January 26. But the Mojo (February 1) and the Thrill (February 7) don’t open until the second and third weeks, giving them more time to potentially tweak their rosters with players let go by the other teams.
Once rosters are set, if a player who has been placed on waivers is claimed, that team must immediately cut a signed player to keep the roster at the limit of 14.
The Supernovas, who have sold in excess of 4,000 season tickets in the volleyball-crazy Omaha market, have assembled an embarrassment of riches that provides Collier with enviable depth and flexibility.
Their outside hitters include former Oregon star Brooke Nuneviller, who was a libero as a freshman and also during her time in the USA gym, and Baylor great Yossiana Pressley, who is equally at home as an opposite. Dominican dandy Bethania De La Cruz, 36, projects as one of the league’s top pin hitters and Oregon’s Lindsey Vander Weide is coming off of a seventh-place finish in the 2023 Athletes Unlimited season. Rookie Paige Briggs of Western Kentucky, the fifth pick in the college draft, has to be considered, too. The Supernovas swung a draft-day deal with the Valkyries to acquire her.
Collier can pick from two setters with fabulous credentials in Wisconsin All-American Sidney Hilley and Puerto Rican veteran Natalia Valentin-Anderson. Either could be the starter, arguably for any team in the PVF. The middle blockers include Hilley’s former Wisconsin teammate Danielle Hart, 31-year-old veteran Tory Dixon of Minnesota (who brings a wealth of experience with Team USA). Hristina Vuchkova (a member of the Bulgarian national team) and 6-foot-3 rookie Amber Igiede of Hawai’i, the seventh overall pick in the draft. At opposite are Penn State’s Nia Reed and Jazz Schmidt, a star out of Creighton with hometown appeal. Penn State’s Kendall White should be one of the best liberos in the league.
“We worked really hard to recruit these players when they were essentially free agents,” Collier said. “Coaches were aggressively recruiting and we had to win players such as Betty De La Cruz over to come to Omaha. But when you look at the other rosters — and this isn’t just coachspeak — they’re filled with great players, too. Star international players. Former Olympians. First-team All-Americans. With only seven teams, the matches are going to be highly competitive.
“It’s comforting for us to have a mix of experienced players in their 30s who have played many years of professional volleyball, as well as younger women who are more fresh out of college such as Nuneviller, Hart and Hilley. I am thrilled to have two setters who complement each other in Sidney and Nattie. It’s a great problem for a coach to have and, no, I’m not going to trade either of them.”
Players’ versatility likely will be at a premium and figure into the teams’ decision-making.
“Some of the women who can play multiple positions become extremely high-valued in a league like this,” Collier predicted. “That will be played out in training camp when coaches will see which players have the ability to contribute at a couple of spots.”
Asjia O’Neal hit against Thailand during Volleyball Nations League last summer/Volleyball World photo
Top pick O’Neal PVF-bound
In a highly significant news item that the PVF inexplicably allowed to fly under the radar, Texas superstar middle Asjia O’Neal will join the training camp of the Columbus Fury. The 6-foot-3 O’Neal was the first player chosen in the league’s initial college draft after a distinguished career at Texas, capped by back-to-back NCAA titles and her spectacular performance in the recent championship match.
She also played for the USA ast summer in the Volleyball Nations League. O’Neal, 24, should be considered a foundational player for the PVF, yet the release distributed last week by the Fury carried this headline: “Columbus Fury Preseason Training Camp Schedule Announced.” Talk about burying the lead.
The Supernovas’ Collier put O’Neal’s signing into a more proper perspective.
“That’s a statement,’ he said. “A player of that caliber chose to stay and play in the PVF, as opposed to going to (high-profile pro leagues in) Italy or Türkiye.
“That’s a pretty significant statement for our league that other college players in the future will take note of. If the No. 1 player coming out (of college) chooses to play in the league, then certainly that’s a model for other players to follow. If they have dreams of playing professional volleyball, they don’t have to go overseas.”
Collier also noted the significance of O’Neal’s position on our national team and the proximity of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Asjia is a candidate to make the U.S. Olympic team and instead of heading overseas, she chose to stay in the United States as a route to try to make the national team’s roster,” he said. “She’s right on the cusp of being selected to go to Paris, and she has opted to play in the PVF as a way to prepare. That speaks volumes.”
Other middles among the Fury’s 16 players in camp are Jenna Rosenthal (Marquette), Rainelle Jones (Maryland) and Kaitlyn Hord (Penn State, Nebraska). Coach Angel Perez’s team will have two other drafted rookies in the mix, outside hitter/opposite Reagan Cooper of Kansas and OH Jenaisya Moore of Tennessee.
Six of the seven collegians selected in the first round of the draft are confirmed for PVF camps: O’Neal with the Fury, Briggs and Igiede with the Supernovas, middles Magda Jehlarova (Washington State) and Chia Nwokolo (Pittsburgh) with the Vibe and opposite Morghan Fingall (Tennessee) with the Rise. Setter Hannah Pukis (Oregon) is expected to be in the Thrill’s camp.
Valkyries Coach Amy Pauly — who will welcome Arkansas dynamo Jill Gillen (the first player selected in the second round, acquired in the deal that sent Briggs to the Supernovas) to her camp — told us that she was “not surprised” to see PVF teams corral their top picks.
“The coaches all did a lot of work in having conversations prior to the draft about who was interested in playing for our league,” Pauly said.
USA Volleyball, PVF form an alliance
The Pro Volleyball Federation has landed USA Volleyball in its corner. Our national governing body announced last week that it will support (in unspecified ways) the new league.
USAV earlier had entered into a partnership with League One Volleyball, which begins its season in November. When news broke that USA Volleyball had partnered with LOVB, the question was posed as to why it would work with one of the start-up pro leagues and apparently not with the other. Now the PVF and LOVB have received USAV’s seal of approval.
“Pro Volleyball Federation has created a buzz not only in the United States, but throughout the world of volleyball,” Jamie Davis, president and CEO of USA Volleyball, said in a release. “We are thrilled to partner with the PVF and see it as a great platform where so many outstanding American players can continue their careers as professional athletes and US National Team members.”
Rise to air on local TV and radio
The Rise are the first PVF franchise to formalize local media exposure. A minimum of six of the Rise’s home matches will be televised in Grand Rapids by WXSP “The X” (Channel 15), a low-power Class A station that is a member of the Nexstar Media Group and also is the TV home of the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapid Griffins.
Across West Michigan’s markets, the Rise will be shown on affiliated stations WOKZ (Channel 50) in Kalamazoo, WOMS (Channel 29) in Muskegon, WOBC (Channel 14) in Battle Creek and WOHO (Channel 33) in Holland.
On the radio, WMAX-FM (96.1 The Game) will carry the Rise’s matches, with the scope of the coverage still up in the air. Billing itself “West Michigan’s Home for Sports,” WMAX-FM features a wide range of locally produced play-by-play and sports-talk programming, and is a member of the Fox Sports Radio Network.
The post Pro Volleyball Federation camps to open; O’Neal to Columbus; USAV partnership appeared first on Volleyballmag.com.
Read More Volleyballmag.com Pro Women