SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. — As interest continues to spike around women’s sports, the City of Madison is further defining itself as a volleyball town.
With League One Volleyball launching its inaugural season in January 2025, Madison is one of six cities nationwide with a professional volleyball team as part of the league.
The team is called LOVB Madison, pronounced "Love."
"Women’s volleyball is such a big sport, and it's just time for us to have a professional level," LOVB Madison head coach Matt Fuerbringer said.
For years, the pathway to professional volleyball always ended overseas.
However, players now have the chance to stay stateside.
Watch: LOVB Madison volleyball team ready to launch inaugural season:
“Just as I was going to say hang them up we're done and retire, it was—here's this opportunity why not grab onto it and grow this game that has given you so much and so many opportunities over the years,” LOVB Madison setter Lauren Carlini smiled.
Former Badger greatLauren Carlini is one of the 11 founding athletes for League One Volleyball.
While launching LOVB has been a five-plus-year journey, Carlini said she was approached in 2022 about becoming a founding athlete.
“If there's one thing the Madison people and Wisconsin people, they love their volleyball," Carlini laughed. "They love their volleyball. They love their sports, and so being able to bring a professional team to them is something they've earned."
LOVB Madison has three former Badgers on this year's squad: setter Lauren Carlini, outside hitter Temi Thomas-Ailara, and outside hitter Sarah Franklin.
As a whole, the Madison roster has a combined 16 All-American honors, 14 Final Four appearances, and four Olympic medals.
“We have Olympians," Fuerbringer added. "We have gold medalists on this team. We have just amazing athletes that know how to compete, so I think that's really going to be a fun thing I think for the younger generation to watch is how hard our team competes.”
As Franklin makes the transition from college to pro after just finishing her career with the Badgers last month, she hopes LOVB inspires the next generation of players.
“I think it means everything because as a little girl when I told my parents I wanted to play in college, I knew that professional was a thing but I knew it had to be overseas," Franklin shared. "To be able to have little girls see that (you can play) in the United States, I think it gives them a lot of hope and a lot of looking forward to what they can accomplish.”
LOVB Madison does not have an official team name or mascot at the moment.
They want to take a community approach to establishing that identity down the road, which starts with both the city and state rallying around them.
LOVB Madison's first match this season is Friday, Jan. 10 against LOVB Austin in Houston, Texas.
Their first home match at the UW-Field House is Saturday, Jan. 17 against Salt Lake.
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