GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Grand Rapids Rise had an auspicious debut in the fledgling Pro Volleyball Federation last year: they made it all the way to the finals.
Head Coach Nancy George will lead the Rise into a new season Friday night on the road at the Vegas Thrill. And then, the Rise will play their home opener against the team that defeated them in the finals last season, the Omaha Supernovas, on Sunday at 6 p.m. That game will air on 96.1 The Game, starting with the talk-up at 5:45 p.m.
Here are more details in a Grand Rapids Rise news release:
RISE (0-0) at Vegas Thrill (0-0) // Fri., Jan. 10 // 10 p.m. ET // Lee's Family Forum
Watch: YouTube at 10 p.m.
Season Series: First of four meetings overall, first of two at Lee’s Family Forum
All-Time Regular Season Series: 3-1 Overall, 1-1 Home, 2-0 Away
Noteworthy: For the first time in franchise history, the Rise open the season on the road. Grand Rapids went 3-1 against Vegas during the inaugural 2024 season, with all four matches going at least four sets and two going five. Both teams won their season opener last season, as the Rise swept Columbus and Vegas topped Omaha in five sets.
RISE vs. Omaha Supernovas (0-0) // Sun., Jan. 12 // 6 p.m. ET // Van Andel Arena
Listen: 96.1 The Game at 6 p.m.
Watch: FS1 at 6 p.m.
Season Series: First of four meetings overall, first of two at Van Andel Arena
All-Time Regular Season Series: 1-3 Overall, 1-1 Home, 2-0 Away
Noteworthy: This is a rematch of the 2024 PVF championship, which the Supernovas won in straight sets in Omaha by set scores of 25-13, 26-24, 25-22. Prior to that, the Rise won the previous meeting against Omaha on May 12 at Van Andel Arena with a five-set victory to close out the regular season. Three former Rise players joined the Supernovas over the offseason (Kayla Caffey, Mac Podraza, and Camila Gómez), while outside hitter and Michigan native Paige Briggs-Romine switched from the Supernovas to the Rise.
Ready, Set, Go: Grand Rapids, Vegas, and Atlanta were the only three teams to win their season opener a season ago. Four out of the seven teams managed to pick up a victory in their first-ever home match (Grand Rapids, Atlanta, Columbus, and San Diego). No PVF team got off to an incredibly fast start last year, with all seven teams having at least three losses heading into their eighth match. The League has a more balanced scheduled this season with all eight teams (including new franchise Indy Ignite) starting the 2025 season on the same weekend (Jan. 9-12) and six teams playing twice: Grand Rapids, Omaha, San Diego, Orlando, Atlanta, and Vegas.
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 Marin Grote and Alyssa Jensen, and outside hitters Erika Pritchard and Symone Abbott. The four of them combined to play 231 sets last year, with 398 kills (26.8% of the team’s total), 274 digs (15.6%), 109 blocks (44.5%), and 27 aces (34.6%). Grote led the team with 64 blocks in the regular season — third-best in the League.
Return to the Mitten: Five Michigan-born players made the 14-player active roster. New to the team are Macomb native Carli Snyder, who played six pro seasons in France, Marysville native Ali Bastianelli, who led the PVF in blocks per set (1.07) last year with the San Diego Mojo, and Ortonville native and PVF champion 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 Sherridan Atkinson and Grote. The Rise also have a player each Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico
Photo: Photo by: Nicolas Carrillo/Rise