If you walked into Salt Lake Community College’s Bruin Arena on Wednesday night, you wouldn’t have known a brand new professional sports team was playing its first-ever home match.
LOVB Salt Lake made its Utah debut four games into its inaugural season in the new women’s professional volleyball league: League One Volleyball, or LOVB for short (pronounced “love”).
And Salt Lake did it in style, beating LOVB Houston 3-1, snapping its two-game losing streak and improving to a 2-2 record.
How Salt Lake embraced Utah and won over its fans
Olympian and LOVB Salt Lake star Jordyn Poulter made a bold statement last month.
Poulter told the Deseret News that LOVB had the ambition of to becoming “the next major league in the United States.” If Wednesday’s home opener was any indication, the league might just actually be on track to do so.
LOVB Salt Lake played in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,006.
While that number may seem small compared to other sports leagues, the cheers were deafening, often louder than the PA, and they only got louder deeper into the game.
“I think Salt Lake showed up and showed out, and we really appreciate them coming out, and hopefully we can continue this crowd into our falling home matches,” Salt Lake opposite hitter Skylar Fields said post-game.
With several roofs — a block that’s so hard the ball hits the ground — early in the game, fans quickly embraced the “roof” chant, imitating Salt Lake’s blocks.
The fans have already established their favorite players: former BYU Cougar Roni Jones-Perry and former Utah Ute Dani Drews, who elicited cheers anytime she touched the ball whether it was an attack, block or serve.
“I got goosebumps at one time, just because it feels so full circle and just to feel the support and the love from the community. Having my family there, I got to see my niece and nephew when we started hitting lines, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is really happening.’ So, it was an amazing feeling,” Drews said afterwards.
The crowd even gained praise from Houston’s Jess Mruzik and Amber Igeide after the game.
“We knew that their crowd was going to be fired up and the girls are going to be fired up because this is their home opener. But I thought the fans were loud and they were into it, and that’s really all you can ask for,” Mruzik said.
Even if the fans weren’t cheering for her, Igeide appreciated the power of a good crowd.
“No matter if it’s your own home crowd or the opposing team, I feel like a good crowd is always a great environment for both sides, so I’m grateful for that,” Igeide said.
LOVB Salt Lake made sure to highlight why Salt Lake was the perfect market for the new league.
The BYU women’s volleyball team signed autographs for a half hour before the game. Their head coach Heather Olmstead had the honor of doing the ceremonial first serve. The announcers pointed out every time a local college product had touched the ball or entered the game.
In addition to Jones-Perry and Drews, former BYU libero Mary Lake is a member of the Salt Lake squad. Though she didn’t play, she made sure to hype up her teammates on the sideline throughout the game.
How LOVB Salt Lake inspired and empowered young girls
LOVB Salt Lake wanted to make sure all of the young girls in attendance left knowing there is power in being a girl. After all, LOVB is originally a network of 58 youth volleyball clubs and over 1,500 teams.
Once inside the arena, fans were greeted with activities that embraced the feminine power of the team and its fans.
Stations for making friendship bracelets, writing LOVB letters to players and a setting competition were sprinkled throughout the lobby next to the team shop.
Young girls huddled around the tables with their moms or dads by their sides. Some were already sporting the team’s jerseys, and others were wearing their club volleyball gear.
The fun even delayed fans with several still trickling in during the first set of the game.
But even more than giving fans a fun night, LOVB Salt Lake gave young girls a glimpse of the volleyball pathways now available to them.
Until recently, women wanting to pursue professional volleyball careers had to play overseas.
“I remember when I was in club, like, the thought of playing pro volleyball — there was so many questions of, can you even do that?" Drews said. “I hope (tonight) can inspire young girls and young players to go after their dreams, and if they want to have a future in volleyball, to know that they can do it and to just go for it.”
New leagues have emerged in the U.S. in recent years, including LOVB, hoping to capitalize on the growing popularity of the sport and finally allow women the opportunity to play in the states.
“This is my second year playing professionally, so I think having that experience of going overseas and then having the opportunity to come back and play high level volleyball in the United States has been an amazing opportunity, and I’m so glad to be a part of it,” Fields said.
What happened in the home opener
This was the team’s fourth game. The team won the league’s first-ever match on Jan. 8 but were on a two losing streak headed into this match.
On Wednesday, Salt Lake fell to Houston in set one 25-22 despite stellar blocks and attacks from Jones-Perry and Drews.
But Salt Lake rebounded winning sets two, three and four 25-15, 26-24 and 25-19 to win the game.
Next up, Salt Lake heads to Atlanta to play LOVB Atlanta on Jan. 31 in a rematch of LOVB’s first-ever game, which Salt Lake won.