Sunday, October 13, 2024

Matchup Set: Atlanta Vibe to face Grand Rapids Rise in Pro Volleyball Federation Semifinals

ATLANTA, Ga. – The Atlanta Vibe (19-5) have concluded their first regular season of the Pro Volleyball Federation, finishing as the Regular Season Champions and subsequently the No. 1 overall seed in the 2024 PVF Championship. The No. 1 Vibe will now face the No. 4 Grand Rapids Rise in the postseason semifinals on Wednesday, May 15 at 7:00 p.m. ET (6:00 p.m. CT), airing nationally on CBS Sports Network.

The full postseason will be held at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Neb. for the league’s inaugural season. Four teams will be competing for a $1 million bonus and the title of the inaugural Pro Volleyball Federation Champions. The No. 2 Omaha Supernovas will take on the No. 3 San Diego Mojo in the second semifinal match on Wednesday evening, and the winners of those matches will meet in the Championship match on Saturday, May 18 at 4:30 p.m. ET (3:30 p.m. CT). All three postseason matches will air live on CBS Sports Network.

Media Note: Photos, b-roll, and press conference recordings will all be updated on the Championship Central page linked above and will be sent to you via regularly throughout the championship week. If someone else in your organization would like to receive postseason communications, please send their contact information to Kelsey@atlantavibe.com.

The Vibe head into the 2024 Pro Volleyball Federation Championship looking to bring home Atlanta’s fifth pro sports championship trophy. Winning the event in 2024 would make the Vibe Atlanta’s first team to accomplish the feat in their first year, and only the fourth fully professional team to bring a trophy to the city of Atlanta (the Atlanta Braves won the World Series in 1995 and 2021, Atlanta United won the MLS Cup in 2018, and the Georgia Swarm won the National Lacrosse League Championship in 2017). 

Atlanta split the four-match series against the 11-12 Grand Rapids Rise 2-2 in the 2024 regular season. The Rise were only one of two teams to tie the Vibe in a series this season (along with Columbus) – Grand Rapids took the first two matches in February, and Atlanta came back for two four-set wins against the Rise in April. 

Atlanta’s dominant regular season saw them win 10 of their final 11 matches of the season, finishing with back-to-back 3-0 wins in their last two matches to cap off their league-record 10 sweeps. The Vibe are led by outside hitter Leah Edmond, who currently leads the league with 381 kills, and libero Morgan Hentz, who leads the leagues with 373 digs and is still the only player averaging more than four per set in the PVF (4.19). The Vibe are the only team with three players hitting at a clip above .400 this season, led by middle blocker Magdalena Jehlářová’s .459 hitting percentage (second-highest in the league), and followed closely behind by opposite hitter Anna Lazareva’s .426 average (fourth-highest) and middle Shelly Fanning’s .414 (fifth-highest).

Mikey Balhan Sports

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