Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
TAYLORSVILLE — As one of just two Utah natives on the roster, Roni Jones-Perry was thought to be an immediate guide to her home state for her LOVB Salt Lake teammates during the club's inaugural pro season.
Until, that is, her teammates realized one thing.
"They did initially, until they found out that I'm a pretty big homebody, that I don't go out that much and don't really have very good recommendations for them," said Jones-Perry, who grew up in West Jordan. "Then they turned to someone like Jordyn Pulter, who moved out here a little bit earlier in the summer and she's a go-and-do, recommendation guru. Dani Drews knows a bit more than I do, too."
As the players of the first-year club adapt to their new home, they're also trying to clinch a top-four seed in League One Volleyball's first playoff tournament.
They'll have one more chance Saturday night.
A bid for a top-three seed took a hit, when Jennifer Janiska had 13 kills, Annie Drews Schumacher added 12 kills, 13 digs, two blocks and two aces and LOVB Madison won its seventh straight, 26-24, 25-22, 21-25, 25-21, Friday night at Salt Lake Community College.
Jones-Perry had a team-high 16 points on 13 kills, three blocks and nine digs to lead LOVB Salt Lake (6-9). Heidy Casanova added 12 kills, and Tori Dixon supplied seven kills and five blocks for the hosts. Ahead of Saturday's regular-season finale against LOVB Austin (7 p.m. MDT, DAZN/YouTube), Jones-Perry ranks second in the six-team league with 231 points including 196 kills (third-most in the league).
For the first season of LOVB in Utah's capital city, the first-year league has been a lot of things for a lot of players.
For Jones-Perry and former four-time Utah All-American Dani Drews, it's been a homecoming. For former BYU libero Mary Lake Bennett, it was a chance to prove her athleticism after retiring from the sport and having a baby.
For U.S. setter Jordyn Poulter, it was a chance to fall in love with Utah's natural setting.
And on the court, LOVB Salt Lake battled to earn a spot in the six-team league's playoff, including a reverse sweep, 24-26, 31-33, 25-19, 25-15, 15-11, last week over LOVB Omaha.
And Salt Lake almost did it again Friday night, out-hitting Madison .241 to .208 to take the third set, 25-21 before Madison put the match away for good.
Sweeps a rarity in League One Volleyball; only 25% of matches finish in fewer than four sets in the league that features Olympians from all over the world, including Poulter and middle blocker Haleigh Washington who both represented Team USA in Paris last summer.
"It's cool to remember that this is high-level volleyball," said Dixon, the former three-time All-American middle blocker at Minnesota. "It's cool to show that in front of our fans, who go so hard for our Utah girls which is awesome. It's just really cool to see the support they have, and the network of people."
It has also provided an interesting style of play for LOVB, whose viewership ratings have also received positive reviews in the first season of a multi-year deal with ESPN.
That's led to some learning curves, as well, for veterans like Jones-Perry, who prepped at Copper Hills High School before an All-American career at BYU from 2015-18 and a pro career in Italy, Poland and Brazil before returning to her home state.
"The level has been incredibly high, with players from so many different nations who kind of bring their own style," she said. "We've got some Italians, some Japanese players, from Haiti, from Cuba; they all bring their own variety of volleyball. A lot of it is just a real scrappy, ball-control style of game that we aren't always as good at in the States. I think that's been a really big add, and it's made for some really long rallies.
"A lot of matches turn into who can outlast each other and these long rallies with their defense."
