The inaugural League One Volleyball (LOVB) Finals are “taking place this week in Louisville” at the KFC Yum! Center, according to Prince Story of the LOUISVILLE COURIER JOURNAL. All six teams -- Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Madison, Omaha and Salt Lake -- will compete for the championship. The first round will be played today, and the championship will take place on Sunday (Louisville COURIER JOURNAL, 4/8).
START OF SOMETHING NEW: KSL.com’s Sean Walker wrote while the quality of play in LOVB “wasn’t always at the level of the Olympians,” it “wasn’t for any lack of excitement.” Walker: “Will that be enough to spur the league forward into Year 2 of its multiyear broadcast deal with ESPN?” The league “was pro in all the right ways -- from coaches to players to stats, communications and social media content.” ESPN initially picked up 28 matches to broadcast across ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN+, then added a few more “due to the league’s popularity.” LOVB Austin coach Chris McGown said, “The fans that showed up have been incredible, and I feel like, in terms of what the league has accomplished, if I’m looking at it from a big-picture perspective, it’s exceeded expectations on every front” (KSL.com, 4/6).
