By Annie Walker

1 26 2025

This Week’s Match

RISE (1-3) at Columbus Fury (0-3) // Sun., Jan. 26 // 2 p.m. ET // Nationwide Arena

Watch: YouTube at 2 p.m.

Season Series: First of four meetings overall, first of two at Nationwide Arena

All-Time Regular Season Series: 3-1 Overall, 2-0 Home, 1-1 Away

Noteworthy: This is the first matchup of the season between the Rise and the Fury. Last year, Grand Rapids won the first three meetings between the two franchises, including a 3-0 win during the Rise’s inaugural match on Jan. 25, 2024. After starting this season with three consecutive losses, Grand Rapids secured its first win on Jan. 19, defeating the Atlanta Vibe on the road in straight sets. The Fury remain winless at 0-3 and are set to host the Omaha Supernovas (2-2) on Friday before facing the Rise on Sunday.

How Sweep It Is: The Rise earned their first win of the season on Sunday, Jan. 19, with a road sweep against the Atlanta Vibe by set scores of 25-23, 25-23, 25-21. The win gave Grand Rapids a 4-2 all-time series lead over Atlanta (including playoffs). The Vibe, now 21-8 overall in franchise history, have suffered four of those losses against the Rise. Grand Rapids played in five three-set matches last season (winning three, losing two). So far this year, three of its first four matches have been decided in three sets.

Offense by Committee: Four matches into the season, the Rise have embraced a balanced offensive approach, with a different player leading the team in points scored in each match: Sherridan Atkinson and Carli Snyder (21 points) against Vegas, Atkinson and Erika Pritchard (13) versus Omaha, Naya Shime (12) at Indy, and Pritchard (11) in Atlanta.

Of the 226 total points scored by Rise players this season, here’s the breakdown of the top five contributors: Snyder (41, 18.1%), Pritchard (35, 15.5%), Atkinson (34, 15.0%), Marin Grote (32, 14.2%), and Shime (20, 8.8%).

Shime Shines: Second-round draft pick Shime out of Southern Methodist has stepped in right away and filled in for an injured Atkinson as the team’s opposite hitter. Shime started and played all six sets over the last two matches, racking up 19 kills (.182) on 55 swings. She also had 10 digs in the team’s most recent match against Atlanta. Atkinson led the team with 34 points (29 kills, four blocks, and an ace) before being sidelined for the last two matches.

Setting the Middles: The Rise made a concerted effort to get their middle blockers involved in the offensive attack against the Vibe. Grote recorded a season-high 20 attack attempts, finishing with eight kills and two attack errors for a .300 hitting percentage. Ali Bastianelli added six more attacks, bringing the total for the middle blockers to 26 out of 110 team attempts (23.6%). In the first three matches of the season, the Rise utilized the middles at the following rates: 12.2% at Vegas, 9.3% against Omaha, and 19.0% at Indy.

Building Block-by-Block: Grand Rapids enters the third week of PVF play as the league’s top blocking team, averaging 2.64 blocks per set. The Columbus Fury ranks second with 2.21 blocks per set. However, the Rise’s blocking numbers have steadily declined since setting a franchise record with 16 blocks in their season opener against Vegas. Grote leads the team this season with 10 blocks and has averaged 2.6 blocks per match across 30 appearances for the Rise over the past two seasons.

Life as a Libero: The Rise made a libero change against the Vibe, giving fourth-round draft pick Elena Oglivie from Stanford her first professional start. Oglivie recorded a team-high 44% perfect reception rate (61% positive), helping to stabilize the Rise’s passing game. While she only finished with four digs and four assists, her presence played a significant role in helping the Rise get their first win of the season.

Welcome Back: The Rise roster underwent a handful of changes over the offseason, given the nature of players being signed to one-year contracts for the 2024 season. As such, player movement and turnover across the League was high. Rise Head Coach and Vice President of Volleyball Operations Cathy George re-signed four players who played for Grand Rapids last season: middle blockers Grote and Alyssa Jensen, and outside hitters Pritchard and Symone Abbott. The four of them combined to play 231 sets last season, with 398 kills (26.8% of the team’s total), 274 digs (15.6%), 109 blocks (44.5%), and 27 aces (34.6%).

Return to the Mitten: Five Michigan-born players made the 14-player active roster. New to the team are Macomb native Snyder, who played six pro seasons in France, Marysville native Bastianelli, who led the PVF in blocks per set (1.07) last year with the San Diego Mojo, and Ortonville native and PVF champion Paige Briggs-Romine. They join two Michigander returnees in Abbott from Northville and Jensen from Holland. The only other state to have multiple representatives on the Rise roster is California, with Atkinson and Grote. The Rise also have a player each from Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico.

Rise – Fury Connections: Familiar faces meet again:

• Rise libero Valeria León, currently on the practice squad, returns to Columbus for the first time after playing for the Fury in PVF’s inaugural season.
• Western Kentucky graduate Kaylee Cox played a season with Rise outside hitter Briggs-Romine in 2023 and was coached by Rise libero Jena Otec for two seasons (2023-24) with the Hilltoppers.
• Rise middle blocker Bastianelli and setter August Raskie played with Fury opposite hitter Morgan Lewis with the San Diego Mojo last season.

COURTESY GRAND RAPIDS RISE COMMUNICATIONS