The new professional volleyball league LOVB started in the USA. Finnish passer Kaisa Alangon Houston faced Austin in her opening match.
Passari Kaisa Alanko is witnessing the first steps of the newly launched US women’s professional volleyball league. In their opening match, Alan’s Houston faced Austin.
Houston was down 0–2, but rallied to win 3–2 (25–27, 24–26, 25–22, 27–25, 16–14).
According to Alango, the six-team League One Volleyball, or LOVB, is the expected stimulus for the sport in the United States, where the university leagues are of a high standard, and there are plenty of good players.
– Houston also has many volleyball clubs and a lot of teams in different age groups. There is a lot of investment in volleyball here, but now also young people have the opportunity to see professional players and thus also dream of becoming a professional, says Alanko.
Alanko, who played 104 matches in the Finnish national team and played as captain in recent years, moved to the United States from the ranks of the French Les Mariannes Paris Saint-Cloud. In addition to Finland and France, Alanko has previously played in Germany, Italy and Poland.
An exceptionally short season
Alanko, who moved to the United States at the beginning of November, has adapted to the country game-wise. The matches of the new professional series are shown on one of the largest TV channels in the United States, and the games are played in large arenas, where the capacity of the stands is in some places more than 10,000 pairs of eyes.
Salt Lake’s 3–1 win over Atlanta was witnessed by 5,000 spectators in the first game in league history to be sold out.
The series system differs from the double series used in Europe. Houston faces its closer opening opponent Austin more often than, for example, Omaha and Atlanta, which are further away.
The final tournament is scheduled to start on April 10, so it is expected to be a short season in European terms.
– It was really nice when team practice only started in November. After all, the season is really short, but this 5-6 month season actually brings a nice change from the 9 month season that we are used to. At least this is really good for me, that I got some time off after the national team season.
In great company
During the longer Christmas break, Alanko made a record of visiting Europe when he visited his partner in Barcelona. Alanko, who turned 32 at the beginning of January, celebrated his birthday across the Atlantic.
– A teammate had made me a cake and it was a really nice surprise. A basic training day and a birthday on top of that, but nothing more, Alanko says.
Houston’s team consists of half European and half American players. Among other things, ten of the 13 players from the USA Paris Olympics silver team will play in the new series. The high level can also be seen in training.
Houston’s other passer is a two-time Olympic medalist from the United States Micha Hancockso in advance Alanko is fighting hard for playing time. In the new series, however, it is possible to make player substitutions more freely and only the total number of substitutions is limited.
– The coach is allowed to make an unlimited number of substitutions during the game and the set, while in European leagues the substitutions are limited to one per player per set, Alanko opens.
“I hope it takes off”
Alanko hopes that other Finns will be seen on LOVB’s playing floor in the future. The competitive salary was also one of the factors that attracted Alango far from home.
– This has been different just as an experience. I hope the league will take off from this, because I’m sure other Finns have a chance to come here as well, if they have the desire and enthusiasm. However, this is further from home than, say, Italy, France or Germany.
At the moment, Alango has a contract covering two seasons in the LOVB series. The goal of the league organizers is to keep the series as even as possible.
Basically, the idea is that Alanko will play both seasons in Houston, but there is no certainty about that. A seventh team is also planned for the series, which may help determine Alango’s address for the second season.