Volleyball fever is hitting hard, and whether it’s League One Volleyball or PVF, the court action is straight-fire! League One Volleyball (aka LOVB, pronounced “love”) is here, rewriting the playbook with a fresh, first-of-its-kind vision for the future of volleyball. And with the inaugural season now underway, it’s doing just that: illuminating the volleyball landscape like never before. Across the street, all the attention is focused on the battle between LOVB Austin and LOVB Houston in the Fort Bend County Epicenter. The match started with Austin on the front foot, and they took the first two sets, allowing Houston to feel the heat.

But Houston was not giving up, nor was Austin. Jess Mruzik scored her first professional kill while Madisen Skinner warmed up with her killer shot, Chiaka Ogbogu delivered a killer shot that sent Jordan Thompson to the shadow realm, and Micha Hancock brought the house down with back-to-back aces in the fourth set. Houston fought back to level the score and make the match go to the deciding fifth set! With this being League One Volleyball’s debut season, the stage is set for unforgettable moments, and guess what? History is already being written, one killer play at a time!

The Texas Derby was the ultimate showdown—Austin and Houston, two fierce teams from the Lone Star State, battling it out to claim Texas bragging rights. The challenge? Prove which squad reigns supreme. And while only one could walk away with the win, both teams made sure to serve up a slice of history that no one will forget.

League One Volleyball jumped onto X mid-match to stir the pot during this epic clash between LOVB Austin and LOVB Houston, dropping the mic with, “Our inaugural 5 setter. This match….. absolutely unreal!!” And let’s be real—they weren’t exaggerating one bit. Now, that’s how you kick off a season with major vibes and even bigger stakes!

We’re just two matches into the League One Volleyball inaugural season, and Texas has already provided us with a classic rivalry. Having such NCAA legends as Texas Longhorns’ Madisen Skinner and Nittany Lion’s Jess Mruzik in the mix, the hype was well deserved—but no one could have imagined just how crazy this clash would be. LOVB may have just witnessed their first instant classic. Houston, who lost the first two sets, bounced back to win the match and give the inaugural season its first-ever reverse sweep!

Mruzik and her squad slammed the brakes on Austin’s momentum, etching their names in history with this comeback thriller. Houston sealed the deal with a nail-biting fifth set, and their victory cry, “REVERSE SWEEP COMPLETE!!,” lit up the internet. Final scores? 27:25, 26:24, 22:25, 25:27, and a heartstopping 14:16. And while Madisen Skinner and Jess Mruzik were on opposite sides of the net, there was one time in the NCAA season when Madi was rooting for Mruzik!

From NCAA to League One Volleyball!

Last month—or let’s just call it last year now—the Texas Longhorns may have been knocked out of the NCAA tournament, but senior Madisen Skinner made sure that volleyball never died. She was the ultimate fan during the Final Four game between Nebraska and Penn State and took her energy to TikTok on December 20. Wrapped in a blanket, she laughed, screamed, and cheered, and her actions were filled with happiness. “Take it and run, go babe go! Yes, perfect, run it!” she shouted, adding, “I can scream right now, I’m so happy for them!” Her enthusiasm was electric as she rooted for Penn State, saying, “May the best team freaking win, go Penn State!”

Captioning her TikTok “In Jess Mruzik we trust,” she celebrated Mruzik’s incredible performance. Nebraska’s defense had to endure 70 of her powerful swings as she led Penn State to an epic reverse sweep. Mruzik had 26 kills, a .300 hitting percentage, and reached 2,000 career kills! Nebraska coach John Cook, who had to face her, said, “That was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen by an outside hitter.” And although League One Volleyball made them rivals at the moment, it is obvious that these two used to support each other in such amazing ways!