LOVB names coaches, assigns players; PVF adds 2025 franchise
A bevy of news items from the upstart domestic League One Volleyball and Pro Volleyball Federation groups crossed my desk over the last few days. The most significant ones came from LOVB, which is scheduled to begin its season in November of 2024. The PVF revealed an Indianapolis team would come aboard in 2025.
Barbolini, Miyashiro join LOVB
League One Volleyball disclosed on Thursday that Massimo Barbolini and Tama Miyashiro will coach.
Barbolini, 59, is an international coaching legend, sporting a vast resume with the Turkish and Italian women’s national teams.
Under his guidance, those squads have earned more than 30 medals in international competitions. Barbolini coached the Italian team to a fifth-place finish in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a sixth-place finish in the 2012 London Games. He will be an assistant coach for the Italian women’s squad in the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Barbolini coached for the Turkish women from 2013-2015. Overall, his trophy case numbers two World Cups, two European Championships, one Grand Champions Cup and, in 2023, the CEV Cup Championship. He also has extensive coaching experience in European pro leagues.
Tama Miyashiro
Miyashiro, 36, moved into an assistant-coaching role with the USA women’s national team under Karch Kiraly in the spring of 2017 after a playing career that included earning an Olympic silver medal with our squad in 2012.
The league did not announce which teams Barbolini and Miyashiro would coach.
“This opportunity truly is an honor and I am excited to coach in the inaugural season of LOVB,” Miyashiro said. “One of the things I am most excited about is continuing to push our sport forward at a pro and club level in the U.S. I look forward to working with elite athletes and the youth community, and most of all just seeing how far we can go.”
During her coaching tenure with Team USA, it has won the gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, taken FIVB Volleyball Nations League titles in 2018 and ‘19 and picked up a bronze medal at the 2017 FIVB World Grand Champions Cup. Miyashiro has been responsible for coaching serve-receive and floor defense.
She was a two-time VBM national defensive player of the year (2007 and ‘08) as the record-smashing libero for the Washington Huskies.
“Tama is a fantastic coach with incredibly high character,” Kiraly said when she was hired as a full-time assistant with the national team in 2021. “I don’t know that I have met anyone more selfless than Tama, both as a player and as a coach.
“She has been the driving force when it comes to training and teaching our passers. It is not a coincidence that our passing performance was off the charts in Tokyo.”
Justine Wong-Orantes during the Tokyo Olympics/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
More LOVB happenings
“Founding athletes” were named for the LOVB franchises in Madison, Salt Lake City and Omaha, which also revealed logos and team “branding,” although none got the nicknames that are commonly found in American pro leagues
LOVB Omaha Volleyball’s initial key cog will be sensational libero Justine Wong-Orantes, the former Nebraska All-American and one of the stars of the USA team that won Tokyo Olympic gold.
“I feel like I’m returning to a home that I’m very familiar with and my career basically started there,” Wong-Orantes told VBM contributor Lincoln Arneal during a phone interview from Germany. “Returning to Nebraska really has a special place in my heart. It feels like it’s coming full circle.
“(Omaha is) going to be a huge market for us. We already see that with the college volleyball there, so I’m so excited for pro volleyball to be there as well.” …
LOVB Madison Volleyball will have setter Lauren Carlini, a legend as a Wisconsin Badger, as its anchor player. A three-time first-team AVCA All-American, Carlini has been in the USA national team’s gym since 2017.
“To be back home not only on home soil, but home in a state that has brought me so much joy and happiness over the years and great memories and relationships is incredible,” Carlini told the media, adding she is excited to return to Madison “on a professional level and building something from the ground up.” …
LOVB Salt Lake Volleyball (are we seeing the common theme?) named two founding athletes with Western roots, middle hitter Haleigh Washington and setter Jordyn Poulter, both of whom earned gold medals in the 2021 Olympics.
Former Penn State All-American Washington was named the Best Middle Blocker in the 2021 Games. Poulter, an All-American at Illinois, earned the Best Setter award in Tokyo. Both grew up in Colorado.
“I feel like Colorado and Utah are similar in a lot of ways, but I think the views in Salt Lake City are better than Denver,” Poulter told the media. “The proximity to the mountains is really cool.” …
PVF adds Indy
Indianapolis was announced on Thursday as the Pro Volleyball Federation’s 10th market. The team’s first season will be 2025.
In a release from PVF, Jim Schumacher and Don Hutchinson were named as the founding owners for Indianapolis Pro Volleyball. Schumacher is a principal with the Indianapolis private equity firm GRE Capital. Hutchinson is a principal at Goelzer Investment Management and heads the Institutional Advisory Group. Both have volleyball ties in their private lives.
The franchise’s name and logo, executive staff, coaching staff and playing venue will be disclosed at a later date.
According to the release, the prominent MaxPreps site that covers high-school sports rated Indiana as one of the top five states for volleyball. The Hoosier State has 56 colleges with volleyball programs.
More PVF doings
The San Diego Mojo hired veteran Dietre Collins-Parker as an assistant coach to aid Tayyiba Haneef-Park.
Collins-Parker, 61, was an assistant at Arizona during the 2023 college season and in 2022 coached for the pro Athletes Unlimited group. She has won conference coach of the year honors at San Diego State (Mountain West, 2012) and Nevada-Las Vegas (Western Athletic, 1998) and led her teams at Cornell to three Ivy League titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances.
Dietre Collins-Parker
During a highly decorated playing career, Collins-Parker was a member of the U.S. Olympic women’s team at the 1998 Seoul Games and was the national collegiate player of the year competing for Hawaii in 1983 and ‘84.
In a quote posted on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter, Collins-Parker said, “I can’t ask for a better way to be involved than getting the opportunity to coach with Tayyiba. I believe in her vision for our program and her ability to build a competitive team.” …
In other Mojo news, the team will play its home matches at Viejas Arena, a 12,000-seat venue on the campus of San Diego State. The Mojo started accepting deposits for season tickets on December 1, with $50 needed per seat. Their first home match will be on February 23 (a Friday) against the Grand Rapids Rise. Players will report to training camp on January 7. …
The Rise will offer some fan-friendly prices on concessions throughout their 12-match slate at Van Andel Arena. Matches on Thursday and Saturday evenings will have $2 hot dogs and $2 domestic draft beer from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Their four Sunday afternoon events will feature $1 small Pepsi drinks and $1 small ice cream cups from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Rise held a free two-hour “Meet the Team Showcase” on Thursday night at Van Andel. And the franchise began selling single-match tickets, priced from $19 to $38. Walkups on game nights can buy tickets without a service charge at the arena box office. …
The PVF’s official volleyball will be made by the Franklin Sports manufacturer and has been branded the Franklin REAL Pro Volleyball. The league and Franklin Sports have entered into a multiyear partnership. A release said that the ball’s “cutting-edge” features include “a distinctive cover material, a 12-panel design, and an innovative wave surface texture.” …
The league will hold a five-round college draft for its seven franchises competing in the inaugural 2024 season on Monday in Atlanta. The first-round draft order: 1. Columbus Fury; 2. San Diego Mojo; 3. Vegas Thrill; 4. Grand Rapids Rise; 5. Orlando Valkyries; 6. Atlanta Vibe; 7. Omaha Supernovas. Teams in subsequent rounds will pick in a snake format.
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