The Orlando Valkyries lost to the Grand Rapids Rise 3-1 on Sunday at Addition Financial Arena. The Valkyries have not won in Orlando since opening night against the Rise.
“We looked like the team that played the latest game on Friday, and the second earliest game on Sunday,” Valkyries coach Amy Pauly said. “And we had to travel in between. And I don’t think that’s an excuse. I kept saying to us in the first two sets, we look like we have a dunk on us. We just couldn’t get moving. We weren’t very fluid. We looked a little stuck.”
Former Rise outside hitter and current Valkyrie Naya Shime led the match with 17 kills, while Paige Briggs-Romine led Grand Rapids with 16. Shime tied her career-high in kills, which she set in the win against the Dallas Pulse on Friday.
“I think [Shime’s] biggest growth is mentally,” Pauly said.”I know that she came in here as a role player to learn behind Brittany and be ready to be in the dub sub, and when her number is called. But she had to step into this starting role, and I think she’s owning it. I think she’s, if you ask her, she’s probably disappointed in how she’s playing, because she knows that she can still even play better.”
The Valkyries played their seventh-straight game without reigning MVP Brittany Abercrombie, who has missed time with a foot injury.
“I think both of our teams have had the injury bug over the course of the last couple weeks,” Rise coach Cathy George said. “And, you know, that’s hard. You’re finding you’re relying on depth, and people, in our case have played out-of-position.”
Game flow
The Rise led the Valkyries from the first point onward in the first set of the match. Orlando got within one point after a 5-0 run capped by back-to-back attack errors on Grand Rapids. The teams traded points until Valkyries blocker Natalie Foster had a service error and libero Teodara Pusic had a dig error to give the Rise the set.
Briggs-Romine led the set with five kills, while Shime and Courtney Schwan each had four for Orlando.
To start the second set, Charity Luper had a service ace, giving the Valkyries their first lead of the game. Rise middle blocker Leah Meyer collected three straight kills, but her service error sparked a 3-1 run to give Orlando the lead heading into the first timeout.
Out of the media break, Grand Rapids went on a 7-3 run to take the lead, with Meyer and outside hitter Elizabet Inneh each having two kills in the run. The teams traded points for the next few minutes until the Rise scored four-straight points and forced the Valkyries to take a timeout down four.
Orlando clawed its way back into the set on a 6-2 run to tie the match at 22. A service error by the Rise and service ace by the Valkyries gave them the lead at set point, but Grand Rapids scored three uncontested points to win the second set.
“[The service error] wasn’t one of our finer moments, but I did think that this service game improved as the game went on, and we did have some unfortunate errors at that time in key times, too,” George said. “We were trying to pull ahead, but I think the team settled down and really were very intentional about what they were doing.”
Shime would once again lead the Valkyries with four kills, with Meyers’ six leading the Rise and the set.
Coming out of halftime, Orlando needed to rally to avoid a sweep. The set started off with the teams trading points, with neither team holding more than a two point lead through 20 points.
The Valkyries went on a 4-0 run to take a three point lead, a lead which they held for the rest of the set. The Rise would never get within two points of tying the set, giving Orlando its first set win of the match.
Lindsey Vander Weide led the set in kills with five, with Grand Rapids’ Inneh and Briggs-Romine both having four kills.
“I didn’t play [on Friday], so I’m definitely fresher than some of them,” Vander Weide said. “I think it was smart for [Pauly] to put me in there.”
The fourth set opened with a 10-3 Rise run, putting Orlando down seven points early. Grand Rapids held at least a four point lead for the rest of the set, with the deficit growing to as many as eight for the Valkyries.
“I think that team out-defensed us,” Vander Weide said. “We tried to do crazy things to score because they were just picking up everything. It was difficult, but it’s not like we rolled over. They just played a really good game, in my opinion.”
Orlando has now lost six-straight home matches and hold the second-worst home record in the MLV at 1-6. However, they boast a league-best 6-1 record on the road this season and sit third in the league at 7-7.
“We’re talking a lot about how destiny is in our own hands and everybody’s kind of beaten each other up, but we’re still in third place,” Pauly said. “Omaha just dropped to fifth. Like, that’s crazy, you know? The middle of the pack is wild right now.”
Next up
The Valkyries will continue their three game homestand against the Columbus Fury on Thursday. Columbus won its last matchup in Orlando and the season series is tied at 1-1.
“We have to get better through matches, which we did on Friday [at Dallas],” Pauly said. “Friday was some of the best volleyball that we’ve played all year. We are still without [Brittany Abercrombie] on the floor with us and Hannah Maddux too. I think we have it in us. I think rest is gonna be huge, how we kind of load manage the next few days and practice and just kind of mentally get reset.”
First serve against the Fury is set for 7 p.m. on March 5.