The Orlando Valkyries lost to the Dallas Pulse 3-0 on Saturday at Addition Financial Arena. The Valkyries did not win a set in Orlando for the first match this season and only the third time in club history.
“[The Pulse] are a very good team,” Orlando Valkyries coach Amy Pauly said. “Tonight was a night I wish our bench was a little bit healthier and we had some depth on the outside. I thought we were struggling to get going on that position and that’s kind of been our M.O. for these back-to-back games.”
Dallas’ 2026 No. 1 pick Mimi Coyler led the match with 18 kills, while three Valkyries (Charitie Luper, Kaz Brown and Natalie Foster) each had seven kills. Orlando’s 37 kills is the lowest in a match this season for the team.
“I like that our middles were productive over two matches,” Pauly said.
Orlando hit .152, while the Pulse more than doubled the home team’s efficiency at .319. When the Valkyries hit below .200, they are 1-7, with their lone win coming on opening night against the Grand Rapids Rise.
“I felt like we just couldn’t get ourselves in a rhythm as a whole,” Pauly said. “Dallas was really big tonight with their hands at the net, and it made it difficult for us to put the ball down on the other side. I felt like we had some good stretches, but it didn’t get us to where we needed to be. Kudos to them. We’ll regroup, learn from it, and get back to it.”
The Valkyries battled from behind for the entirety of set one, never holding a lead in the first frame. Despite hitting .292 in the set, Dallas’ .407 efficiency and 17 kills were too much for Orlando to handle.
“I think [Dallas’] block was really big tonight,” Foster said. “We were having trouble finding those edges. We have those nights and we have to find a way around that. We will definitely be focused on that this week.”
Over the next two sets, the Valkyries hit .080 and .162, with their largest lead only being three points. After scoring the first point of set three, Orlando never held the lead again.
“I think we were not a great unit tonight,” Pauly said. “One person would be good for five points and another person would be good for five points. We could never get it all to feel good at one time.”
Next up
The Valkyries head to Indiana to face the Ignite on Thursday. Indy has a 6-1 record at the Fishers Event Center, one of only two MLV teams with a winning record on their home court.
“We are in third place, so I do not think our morale is that low,” Pauly said. “Halfway through the season, 7-7 gets you in the playoffs. We don’t want to be 7-7 in the backhalf, we talked about picking up a few. We are still injured and missing a key player, so we have to find a way to split as much as we can but steal one here or there. We played better over two matches this weekend than the week before.”
First serve against the Ignite is set for 7 p.m. on March 12.