Meet the women bringing pro volleyball to Grand Rapids

Phil Pinarski
·6 min read

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Thursday marks the start of a new league and team for Grand Rapidians to cheer for.

The Grand Rapids Rise, a professional volleyball team part of the Pro Volleyball Federation, will take the floor at Van Andel Arena against the Columbus Fury at 7 p.m. Not only is the team brand new, but the sport of volleyball may also be new to many fans across West Michigan in general.

‘Be part of history’: What to know about the Grand Rapids Rise inaugural game

For those who don’t follow volleyball, the names on the Rise’s roster may not look familiar. But rest assured, this team is good and the players have the resumes to back that up.

Here’s a look at who will be suiting up for the Rise this season and the accolades they bring with them to Grand Rapids:

  • Sarah Sponcil, libero: Sponcil has spent the last five years as a member of the USA Beach Volleyball Team and competed in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She won two national championships while at UCLA and was an All-American honorable mention in 2018. As a sophomore playing for Loyola Marymount, she helped defeat then-No. 6 Standford to make it to the Sweet 16.

  • Camila Gómez, libero: Gomez won back-to-back NJCAA national titles with Miami Dade College before transferring to Texas A&M. The Columbia native has played on the Columbia national team for 15 years, collecting 11 medals during her time there. She has also played professionally in Brazil.

  • Ashley Evans, setter: Evans was an All-American honorable mention during her time at Purdue, where she became the first Boilermaker to record 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs. Since then, she has played professionally overseas in Spain and Germany and recently helped Team USA qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

  • Mac Podraza, setter: This will be Podraza’s first year as a professional player. She was a three-time All-American at Ohio State before playing a fifth season at Penn State in 2023. She tallied about 36 assists per match during her career and accumulated 998 digs, 325 kills, 283 blocks and 56 aces in her 140 career games.

  • Shannon Scully, outside hitter: A professional player in France since 2022, Scully was a beach volleyball player at USC, where she won a national championship in 2022. That was after a prolific career at Pepperdine, where she served as the captain. She also was named an All-American honorable mention and received her master’s degree from USC in communication management.

  • Erika Pritchard, outside hitter: Pritchard was a two-time All-Big Ten selection while at the University of Maryland and is the all-time leader in points for the Terrapins. She made the 2020 USA Volleyball Collegiate National Team-Gold roster. Since her time in school, she has played professionally in Switzerland and France.

  • Kenna Sauer, outside hitter: Sauer was the 18th overall pick in the inaugural Pro Volleyball Federation draft. She spent five years at the college level at Houston, Texas Tech and Missouri, where she was named to the All-American third team in her final year. She also earned two All-Big 12 honors during her years at Texas Tech.

  • Claire Chaussee, outside hitter: A former pro in Italy, Chaussee returned to the U.S. as a former All-American her senior year at Louisville in 2022, where she was also named the ACC Player of the Year. She also played in the national championship game that season.

  • Symone Abbott, outside hitter: Abbott totaled 1,613 kills in her four years at Northwestern University, was named first-team All-Big Ten her senior year and has had an impressive international pro career in France, Greece and Italy.

  • Emiliya Dimitrova, opposite hitter: Dimitrova comes to the Rise with 17 years of experience at the professional level. She made her pro debut in 2007 as a 16-year-old in Bulgaria. She has won championships in multiple countries playing for over 13 different teams and the Bulgarian national team.

  • Morgahn Fingall, opposite hitter: Fingall was the fourth overall pick in the inaugural Pro Volleyball Federation draft. She was a two-time first-team All-American, two-time All-SEC selection and was the SEC Scholar of the Year during her time at the University of Tennessee.

  • Marin Grote, middle blocker: As a professional the past two years, Grote has played in the U.S. and in Turkey. before that, she was an All-Pac-12 selection during her time at the University of Washington and was named to the All-American second team in 2021. She also made it to the Final Four in 2019 and 2020.

  • Kayla Caffey, middle blocker: Before making her pro debut this past season in Puerto Rico, Caffey won a national title with the University of Texas, was named to the All-American second team and made it to another national championship game when she was a member of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

  • Sydney Bolding, middle blocker: Bolding was a two-time All-Big 12 second-team selection in her time at Kansas State, where she recorded 812 kills and 489 blocks during her college career. This will be her first year as a professional.

  • Nia Grant, middle blocker: Grant won two national championships in 2013 and 2014 as a Penn State Nittany Lion and accumulated a 129-15 record during her collegiate career. She was an All-American and a unanimous All-Big Ten selection in 2014. Since then, she has won seven medals overseas in Germany and has been raising a family throughout her career.

  • Alyssa Jensen, middle blocker: Jensen’s first year as a pro will be this season with the Rise. She had previously played for Michigan State and was a two-time All-American second-teamer in 2016 and 2017. She was named the team MVP her senior year and has accounted for 1,002 kills and 521 blocks in her career.

The head coach for the Rise isn’t bad, either. The team is led by Cathy George, who previously coached the Michigan State Spartans for 17 years and Western Michigan Broncos for 11. In those 17 years with the Spartans, the team made it to the NCAA Tournament 10 times, even advancing to the Elite Eight in 2017.

On top of that, George broke barriers by becoming the first woman to coach a team in the Division 1 Final Four in 1989 while she was a first-year head coach for the University of Texas-Arlington.

The Rise is set and ready to make history of its own Thursday in the first season of the Pro Volleyball Federation. The team will face off against six others in the league in hopes of winning the first championship, which is scheduled for this summer.

Tickets for the inaugural Rise game at Van Andel Arena can be found by clicking here.

The Rise’s first game will also air on WXSP starting at 7 p.m. Thursday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.