If nothing else, the Pro Volleyball Federation has become unpredictable at the end of its first season, and Wednesday’s semifinals punctuated that.
And now the Grand Rapids Rise and Omaha Supernovas will play Saturday, not only for the inaugural league title, but for the $1 million prize that goes with it.
The fourth-seeded Rise knocked out the top-seeded Atlanta Vibe in the first semifinal in five sets Omaha’s CHI Center and then the second-seeded Supernovas pulled off a reverse sweep to beat the third-seeded San Diego Mojo.
Grand Rapids rises to title match
Claire Chaussee, as she has done all season, led Grand Rapids with 22 kills to go with 10 digs and four block assists in its 25-20, 19-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-8.
“This topped all the birthdays I’ve ever had,” said Chaussee, who turned 24 on Wednesday. “It was the best birthday and my wish came true.”
Emiliya Dimitrova had 19 kills, three assists, 12 digs and four block assists. Erika Pritchard added 15 kills, nine digs and two blocks, one solo. Kayla Caffey had 10 kills with two errors in 21 attacks, five digs and seven blocks, one solo. Marin Grote had four kills, three digs and seven blocks, four solo.
Setter Ashley Evans had 54 assists, a kill, 16 digs and six blocks, two solo. Camila Gomez added 13 digs and three assists.
“I’m so proud of how hard we fought. We knew all the pressure was on them, having the best record in the league, and they hadn’t had a game in two weeks,” Evans said. “They were extremely rested, but all the pressure was on them to get the job done andwe knew we could get the job done if we played freely and that’s exactly what we did.”
The Rise had no aces and 14 serving errors as they improved to 13-12. Grand Rapids is 4-4 in five-setters and became the only team to have a winning record against the Vibe (3-2).
“That was a tremendous match and two great teams had to battle it out in order to advance,” Rise coach Cathy George said. “I thought our team did a great job with composure. There were times we got a little out of that, but came right back into it and it really paid off. And we stuck together.”
Atlanta finished 19-6 after winning the regular season by three games over Omaha.
Anna Lazerava led the Vibe with 17 kills, nine digs, an assist and five blocks, one solo. Leah Edmond added 13 kills, 13 digs and three blocks, two solo. Marlie Monserez had 42 assists, a…
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