From the first serve to the final whistle, it was a historic showdown for a historic pro title in The Ville.
On April 10-13, League One Pro Volleyball (LOVB, pronounced as “LOVE”) had their inaugural season finals at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. This marked the end of a historic season, filled with high energy matches along with powerhouse legends in the volleyball community (Olympians, National + International Champions, All Americans, and more). It also featured all 6 teams from this season across the country: Atlanta, Houston, Salt Lake, Austin, Omaha, and Madison. The championship match was a tight battle between 5 seed Austin and 6 seed Omaha, and when it was all said and done, Austin won in a sweep (25-19, 25-22, 25-23) and were crowned the first ever LOVB champions.
For two star players, Logan Eggleston and Madisen Skinner, this was a full circle moment and just like old times. The dynamic duo had 34 of the team’s 49 kills. Logan, star of the 2022 Texas NCAA title team, had 17 kills and hit a whopping .469 percentage after having just two errors in 32 attacks to go with five blocks and three digs. Madisen continued to light it up, not only in this tournament but in championship matches. She won the 2020 NCAA title with Kentucky, the 2022 and 2023 crowns with Texas, and now has her fourth championship in five years. Against Omaha, she had 17 kills, hit .308 and had four blocks and five digs. It came on the heels of notching 21 kills against Salt Lake and then 25 kills while hitting .364 against Atlanta. To add to her stacked roster of accolades, she was named the finals MVP.
“I thrive under pressure. I don’t like feeling the pressure all the time but that brings out the best in me,” she admitted with a laugh. “I’m glad that I don’t crack. For the most part I’m battle-tested and I’m surrounded by incredible people who are with me every day and they give me the confidence to go out there and swing.”
The finals not only brought a ton of exciting and intense matchups, it marked the beginning of growth in women’s volleyball with so many factors–media, partnerships, fan bases, and more.
LOVB partners with various club volleyball teams across the country to provide the strong youth to pro connection. In the past year alone, they have raised $100 million from marquee investors, doubling the size of its youth programs – expanding to 58 clubs with more than 17,000 athletes across 26 states and 66 locations.
In addition to this, they’ve targeted huge volleyball and overall sport hotbeds, which allows the fan pool to be broadened and expanded a lot more.
Four of LOVB’s initial cities, Omaha, Austin, Madison, and Salt Lake City, are home to decorated college volleyball programs such as Nebraska, Texas, Wisconsin, and BYU respectively. These programs have done extraordinary things, such as establishing meaningful fan bases and media coverage, to help push pro volleyball forward.
To this day, LOVB has raised $160 million dollars from investors including Lindsey Vonn (Olympic Skiing Gold Medalist), Candace Parker (WNBA champion and two time MVP and her daughter Lailaa, Amy Schumer, G9 Ventures, Linda Henry (Partner in Fenway Sports Group), Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s Boardroom Sports Holdings and Chelsea Handler. LOVB is also backed by prominent sports-dedicated investment funds, including David Blitzer’s Bolt Ventures and Verance Capital. These organizations and individuals all believe in the power of LOVB’s unique community-up model, as it sets the pace for the future of major league volleyball in the U.S.
In addition to this, LOVB doubled the size of its youth programs – expanding to around 60 clubs with more than 16,000 athletes across 26 states and 66 locations– LOVB has continued to see tremendous success both on and off the court. This year, 15 LOVB junior clubs ranked in the Top 100 nationally, with three in the Top 10—led by Houston Skyline (#1), A5 (#2), and Premier Nebraska (#10). Off the court, nearly 600 athletes from the LOVB Class of 2024 are competing in collegiate volleyball this fall, underscoring LOVB’s role in creating pathways for young athletes to continue their volleyball journeys.
With brand collaboration, LOVB’s partnerships are driven by a desire to build a modern league from the ground up, which means reexamining everything all the way down to the player uniforms. For example, adidas not only outfits the league’s pro athletes for every season, but collaborates with LOVB to redesign volleyball uniforms that meet the needs of female athletes, setting a new standard for performance and fit.
REVOLVE, the premier fashion retailer for Millennial and Gen Z consumers, will not only become the official online fashion retail partner for LOVB, but will position LOVB’s volleyball players as influential voices at the intersection of sports and fashion. By curating looks from REVOLVE’s extensive portfolio of brands, LOVB’s athletes will bring their authentic style personalities, and powerful presence to a fashion-forward tunnel walk experience.
With viewership, the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris generated an average of 30.6 million viewers, which is an 82% increase from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, which had 16.9 million viewers. Also, LOVB has locked in an exclusive media rights deal with ESPN, before even playing its first professional match this past January. ESPN aired LOVB’s matches across its linear networks and digital platforms, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN+.
With the finals being in Louisville, this marked the potential start of something new as far as growth in volleyball and women’s sports in general.
“We love our women’s sports here in Louisville,” mayor Craig Greenberg said during the game when he was brought out onto the court. “We’d love to have an expansion team for League One Volleyball right here in Louisville”.
This would be monumental since Louisville is already the home to Racing Louisville FC, part of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), and they hold the record for most people to ever watch the NCAA Women’s College Volleyball Final Four + Championship (16.4 million average for the Final Four and 1.3 million for the Championship). The only pro volleyball team that’s closest to Louisville is the Indy Ignite, but they play for the Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF), which is a different league. If Louisville ends up becoming a LOVB pro team, it would allow for tons of Louisville legends and current pro players (such as Anna DeBeer, Elena Scott, Tori Dilfer, Anna Hall, Claire Chaussee, Charitie Luper, and Wilma Rivera) to come back and play for The Ville.
LOVB didn’t just crown a champion in Louisville — it sparked a movement. From elite athletes rewriting their legacies to young girls looking up to their heroes, this first season was more than a competition; it was a cultural shift. With record investment, media deals, youth-to-pro connections, and visionary partnerships that blend sport, fashion, and identity, LOVB has laid the foundation for something far greater than just another league. It’s a rallying cry, a statement of intent, and a glimpse into the future. Volleyball is no longer on the rise — it has arrived. As the world watches, one truth speaks louder than ever: Volleyball is the next major league.
