If nothing else, the Professional Volleyball Federation has turn into unpredictable on the finish of its first season, and Wednesday’s semifinals punctuated that.
And now the Grand Rapids Rise and Omaha Supernovas will play Saturday, not just for the inaugural league title, however for the $1 million prize that goes with it.
The fourth-seeded Rise knocked out the top-seeded Atlanta Vibe within the first semifinal in 5 units Omaha’s CHI Middle after which the second-seeded Supernovas pulled off a reverse sweep to beat the third-seeded San Diego Mojo.
Grand Rapids rises to title match
Claire Chaussee, as she has accomplished all season, led Grand Rapids with 22 kills to go along with 10 digs and 4 block assists in its 25-20, 19-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-8.
“This topped all of the birthdays I’ve ever had,” mentioned Chaussee, who turned 24 on Wednesday. “It was the perfect birthday and my want got here true.”
Emiliya Dimitrova had 19 kills, three assists, 12 digs and 4 block assists. Erika Pritchard added 15 kills, 9 digs and two blocks, one solo. Kayla Caffey had 10 kills with two errors in 21 assaults, 5 digs and 7 blocks, one solo. Marin Grote had 4 kills, three digs and 7 blocks, 4 solo.
Setter Ashley Evans had 54 assists, a kill, 16 digs and 6 blocks, two solo. Camila Gomez added 13 digs and three assists.
“I’m so pleased with how onerous we fought. We knew all of the strain was on them, having the perfect document within the league, and so they hadn’t had a recreation in two weeks,” Evans mentioned. “They had been extraordinarily rested, however all of the strain was on them to get the job accomplished andwe knew we might get the job accomplished if we performed freely and that’s precisely what we did.”
The Rise had no aces and 14 serving errors as they improved to 13-12. Grand Rapids is 4-4 in five-setters and have become the one group to have a profitable document in opposition to the Vibe (3-2).
“That was an incredible match and two nice groups needed to battle it out so as to advance,” Rise coach Cathy George mentioned. “I assumed our group did an ideal job with composure. There have been occasions we obtained a bit of out of that, however got here proper again into it and it actually paid off. And we caught collectively.”
Atlanta completed 19-6 after profitable the common season by three video games over Omaha.
Anna Lazerava led the Vibe with 17 kills, 9 digs, an help and 5 blocks, one solo. Leah Edmond added 13 kills, 13 digs and three blocks, two solo. Marlie Monserez had 42 assists, a kill, eight digs and 5 block assists. Morgan Hentz had 16 digs and 5 assists. Atlanta had one ace, by Member Leketor-Meneh, who had 5 kills, 9 digs and three blocks, two solo.
Omaha advances the onerous means
The Supernovas could also be 17-8, however they’re 1-0 in reverse sweeps after their 20-25, 16-25, 25-18, 25-8, 15-11 victory on their dwelling court docket.
“You can inform once we got here out within the third set we sort of forgot in regards to the first two,” Omaha setter Sydney Hilley mentioned. “We performed with much more freedom and pleasure.”
Stephanie Samedy tied the league greatest with 30 kills and hit .410. Samedy had an ace, 5 digs and 6 blocks, two solo. Bethania De La Cruz, who had the earlier Omaha greatest with 26 kills, had 11 kills, two aces, 19 digs and three block assists.
Brooke Nuneviller had 15 kills, an ace, an help, 20 digs and 4 blocks, one solo. Tori Dixon added seven kills, an ace, a dig and 6 blocks, three solo. Hristina Vuchkova had 4 kills, a dig and 7 blocks, three solo.
Hilley had 46 assists, 9 digs, a block help and a kill. Kendall White had 11 digs and three assists.
“I’m so pleased with this group and their resilience,” Omaha coach Fowl Kuhn mentioned. “I do know I’ve mentioned it rather a lot in the course of the press conferences, however they like wrote the definition of it tonight in the best way they fought, the adjustments they make and the way they’re seamless once they are available in for one another.”
San Diego (13-12) surprised the league the previous few weeks with its late-season surge to not solely make the playoffs, however get the No. 3 seed. Temi Thomas-Ailara and Lindsay Vander Weide had 11 kills apiece. Vander Weide, final week’s PVF participant of the week, had an help, 14 digs, an ace and a block help. Thomas-Ailara additionally had an ace to go along with 9 digs and eight blocks, three solo.
Setter Nootsara Tomkom had 39 assists, 18 digs and three block assists.
PVF season awards
The league will identify its participant of the yr and coach of the yr Thursday evening, however it has introduced its all-league group and winner of assorted awards. Among the many winners had been Edmond, Tomkom, Hentz, Dimitrova and De La Cruz.
Click on right here for the entire record.