Pro Volleyball Federation notebook: Regular season heads into home stretch

The Pro Volleyball Federation inaugural regular season is nearly finished for the first-place Atlanta Vibe, who hold a five-game lead in the win column and one in the loss column over the Omaha Supernovas. 

Atlanta has two matches left, but the San Diego Mojo still have eight matches remaining to the 24-match season. 

Here’s how they all stand:

The top four teams make the league semifinals, set for May 15 in Omaha. The championship match is three days later, also at the CHI Center, on May 18. 

There were two matches Saturday, when Omaha beat San Diego in five sets and Grand Rapids beat Vegas in four. Sunday, Atlanta won in four at Orlando. Recaps follow.

What’s ahead

Here is the schedule for the next week:

Tuesday — Omaha at San Diego

Friday — Orlando at Columbus, Grand Rapids at Omaha, Vegas at San Diego

Sunday — Vegas at Atlana, Grand Rapids at Columbus

Monday — Orlando at San Diego

Stat leaders

Claire Chaussee of Grand Rapids leads the league with 920 kills, 13 ahead of Atlanta’s Leah Edmond (907). Emiliya Dimitrova of Grand Rapids is third with 884, followed by Orlando’s Adora Anae (818) and Brooke Nuneville of Omaha (690). 

Atlanta’s Morgan Hentz had the most digs, 350. Orlando’s Georgia Murphy is second with 312, followed by Kylie Murr of Vegas (280), Anae (262) and Edmond (246).

Orlando’s Kaz Brown leads with 58 solo blocks. Marin Grote of Grand Rapids is second with 56, followed by Hristina Vuchkova of Omaha (53), Tori Dixon of Omaha (49) and Maga Jehlarova of Atlanta (45). 

Ashley Evans of Grand Rapids has the most assists, 844. Alisha Glass Childress has 790, Atlanta’s Marlie Monserez 717, Nootsara Tomkom of San Diego 666 and Orlando’s Wilma Rivera 609.

Omaha’s Bethania De La Cruz leads with 25 aces. Rivera and Anae have 20 each, Atlanta’s Shelly Fanning has 18 and Grote 14.

Volleyball Nations League rostered

The USA and coach Karch Kiraly submitted its list of 30 players from which it will field a team for each of the rounds of the Volleyball Nations League this summer.

The roster includes Atlanta libero Morgan Hentz, Grand Rapids setter Ashley Evans, opposite Kendall Kipp of the Columbus Fury, libero Kendall White of the Omaha Supernovas and Asjia O’Neal, the middle who was with the Columbus Fury but was called upon to train in the USA gym earlier this month.

Recaps

OMAHA 3, SAN DIEGO 2: Bethania De La Cruz had 20 kills, an ace, 14 digs and three blocks, one solo, as the Supernovas won 25-23, 21-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-12. 

Jess Schaben-Lansman had 16 kills, ana ce, 11 digs and four blocks, three solo. Paige Briggs, who came in at outside hitter in the third set, had 12 kills, 14 digs and five blocks, two solo. Hristina Vuchkova had 10 kills with one error in 19 attacks, three digs and 12 blocks, six solo. Sydney Hilley had 61 assists, an ace, 19 digs, two kills and six blocks, two solo.

San Diego’s Temi Thomas-Ailara led with 24 kills and had just five errors in 54 swings. She added 10 digs and four blocks, on solo. Four of her teammates had nine kills each, Kendra Dahlke, Ronika Stone, Morgan Lewis and the new acquired Willow Johnson. Johnson was originally with the team but left before the start of the season to play in Korea. She had seven digs and seven blocks, one solo. Ali Bastianelli had eight kills, two digs and 17 blocks, seven solo. 

GRAND RAPIDS 3, VEGAS 1: The Fury won 25-23, 25-20, 25-22 behind 13 kills each from Claire Chaussee and Emiliya Dimitrova. 

Chausee added 11 digs and two block assists. Dimitrova had 18 digs and two block assists. Morgahn Fingall had 11 kills, three digs and two blocks, one solo. Camila Gomez had 20 digs and five assists. Setter Ashley Evans had 51 assists, 12 digs, a kill, two aces and five blocks, one solo.

Khat Bell led Vegas with 14 kills, an ace, 14 digs and two blocks, one solo. Hannah Maddux and Gabby Gonzales had 11 kills each. Kylie Murr had 15 digs and four assist. Alisha Childress Glass had 42 assists, 14 digs, three kills and seven blocks, three solo.

ATLANTA 3, ORLANDO 1: Anna Lazareva had 27 kills as the Vibe closed out its road schedule with a 25-22, 25-20, 23-25, 25-17 victory. 

Lazareva hit .420 and had 13 digs and seven blocks, three solo. Leah Edmond had 14 kills, 13 digs and three blocks, two solo. Morgan Hentz had 23 digs and six assists. Marlie Monserez had 55 assists, 13 digs, five block assists and three kills.

Orlando got 15 kills from Monserez’s former Florida teammate Shainha Joseph, who had an ace, nine digs and two block assists. Adora Anae had seven kills and M’Kaela White and Kaz Brown had six each. White had six blocks, three solo, and Brown seven, four solo.

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