The Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF), the organization that the Omaha Supernovas belong to, is no longer the only professional volleyball league in the country. League One Volleyball (LOVB) pronounced “Love,” is the new kid in town, which officially kicked off in January and features Omaha’s second pro volleyball team, LOVB Omaha.
Nearly half of LOVB Omaha consists who played collegiately at Creighton or Nebraska and is headlined by two-time Olympic medalist Justine Wong-Orantes and the most decorated American indoor Olympian ever, Jordan Larson. So far, they are ranked second in the six-team league with wins over LOVB Houston (3-0), LOVB Madison (3-1, 3-1) and losses to LOVB Austin (3-0) and LOVB Atlanta (3-1).
The team calls Ralston’s Liberty First Credit Union Arena home, but besides bringing a new pro team to the area, the organization has broken ground and started building a 66,000-square-foot volleyball training facility and professional performance center in Gretna.
The facility, which is projected to be complete in the fall and will offer opportunities for both youth and their professional athletes as part of the organization’s mission: “LOVB champions every stage of an athlete’s journey: nurturing youthful passion into action, celebrating fierce and unbridled professional talent, and developing coaches to lead future generations.”
“The facility is designed for both youth and pro players to train together, serving as the future home of its pro team LOVB Omaha,” LOVB’s Chief Marketing Officer Stephanie Martin said.
LOVB Omaha has partnered with Premier Nebraska Volleyball, a local youth club-volleyball organization that 11 Gretna East volleyball players are members of. After the building is complete, Premier will leave their current facility, The Courts, and make it their new headquarters.
“LOVB is partnering with clubs across the nation and is dedicated to growing the game and creating the best environment for our volleyball community, an ecosystem, to advance our Premier athletes’ skills and help them make their dreams a reality,” Premier Nebraska’s Director of Communications Michelle Lund said.
The facility will feature a training room, ten volleyball courts, a pro-locker room, a cafe, a weight room and a team store with LOVB merchandise.
“It’s starting to blow up a lot, it’s a new thing,” Premier Volleyball and Gretna East player, sophomore Avery Kelsey said. “Having a league, and especially one out of Omaha, since you don’t have an NBA or an NFL team it’s just cool to see all of it blow up and then them partnering with us and them interacting with us–it’s cool.”
To encourage youth players to learn, grow and find role models within the LOVB community, they will train alongside the professional LOVB Omaha athletes and be allowed to watch their practices.
To foster this idea, Premier and LOVB hosted a workshop on Jan. 10, for 10 to 18-year-old girls.
“The LOVB pro athletes were paired up with our Premier Nebraska athletes,” Lund said. “They were able to sit down with those pro players and learn from them and their experiences.”
In addition to providing opportunities for youth players, the league has also impacted women’s sports as a whole by providing another pro-sports avenue for females.
“Both organizations [LOVB and PVF] are providing these opportunities for women to continue to play,” Lund said, “and to be able to have the opportunity to now do that in the United States after their collegiate career is amazing.”
While youth volleyball players wait for the facility’s opening day, they can cheer on LOVB Omaha throughout their inaugural season. They will take on LOVB Salt Lake again, in an away game, on Saturday at 8 p.m. Unfortunately for those hoping to go to a game locally, their next home game is not until March 6. However, they can stream both home and away LOVB matches on LOVB LIVE or the Women’s Sports Network (WSN).
