January 2025 Monthly Adventure
A new professional sports team is in Austin and I had to check it out for myself because I needed to be part of the hype! If you follow Kimi's Travel Thoughts on Instagram, then you know I enjoy supporting women's sports and that's what LOVB Austin First Serve was all about for me.
Background
I patiently waited several months for the first home game of LOVB Austin (pronounced "love") -- the newest professional sports team in Austin, Texas. League One Volleyball (LOVB) recently expanded to include a professional league which means, across the United States, fans of women's indoor volleyball have another way* watch their favorite pros without having to travel to another country or wait another four years for the Summer Olympic Games. I wasn't sure what my schedule would look like knowing that the first home game for the LOVB Austin team would be on a Wednesday night, but two days before the first serve set for January 15, 2025, I decided that this was an event I could not miss out on. Joined by childhood best friend, we got to experience a true once-in-a-lifetime sporting event!
*Note: The Professional Volleyball Federation also exists in the United States and they also have media partners in case you're interested in finding additional opportunities to support women's sports.
Tickets
LOVB Austin is playing at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas which is a suburb just north of Austin. This venue is a bit smaller and uses Ticketmaster as their ticket sales partner. I ordered the tickets via the Ticketmaster app on my phone and selected tickets that were $35 each and these were the cheapest ones available at the time of my purchase. Cheaper tickets were available in the days and months prior.
Of course, Ticketmaster is known for their fees which is something to keep in mind when considering how much money you are willing to spend on tickets to watch LOVB Austin. Also, I discovered that not all H-E-B Center events have free parking. When my friend and I went to a hockey game last year, we didn't have to pay for parking. However, we did have to pay for parking for the LOVB Austin game. It's about $2 cheaper to pay for parking online while purchasing your tickets for the game via Ticketmaster rather than once you arrive to the parking lot.
LOVB Austin First Serve
After finding a good parking spot, we walked towards the entrance of the H-E-B Center. We arrived at 6:30 PM which gave us thirty minutes to explore the concourse, get a snack (I got a pretzel), and find our seats. With LOVB Austin being a new professional sports team in a new professional league, there weren't too many people with team merch yet. However, there were plenty of people in burnt orange Texas Longhorns gear. It's no surprise when half of the LOVB Austin roster is made up of former Longhorns including well-known names such as:
Chiaka Ogbogu
Madisen Skinner
Asjia O'Neal
Logan Eggleston
and more Longhorns!
In fact, the current Texas Volleyball team was present for the LOVB Austin First Serve. They signed autographs in the concourse prior to the game and were active audience participants for some of the fan activities during timeouts. I imagine they enjoyed getting to be spectators and experience some of what their fans typically do at volleyball games. The national anthem was being sung as my friend and I got to our seats and that was followed by Jerritt Elliott, head coach of Texas Volleyball, completing the official first serve to start things off for the first ever LOVB Austin home matchday!
LOVB Austin's starting rotation against LOVB Atlanta was made up entirely of former Longhorns. They were locked in, quick, decisive, and largely dominant as they took the first set. Fans throughout the arena included Texas Volleyball faithfuls and preteens who were there with teammates from junior club volleyball teams throughout the Austin area. Unlike being at a college volleyball game, it was rather quiet without the typical DJ and crowd chants. I think these things will develop over time as a culture and identity continue to shape for what the LOVB Austin home game experience should be like. To keep things simple, they could just do their own variation of what fans chant at Texas Volleyball games. Fans could yell "We Are Austin" on each LOVB Austin touch and "Point Austin" when LOVB Austin scores. It's familiar to both the fans and the players, and it would add some great fan interaction to the game!
The LOVB Austin team is setup to have a very intense, dedicated fanbase from the young girls who can see what a potential career as a pro volleyball player can look like to people who just love volleyball and have signs for all their favorite players. Although LOVB Atlanta took the following three sets for a 3-1 win, the LOVB Austin fans were still so excited to be able to witness this event and cheer on their favorite players and new favorite pro sports team. My friend and I, like many other fans, went to check out the LOVB Austin merch in the concourse before leaving the H-E-B Center.
Wrap-Up
We had a fun time at the LOVB Austin First Serve! There will never be another day where we can say we were at the first LOVB Austin home game -- this was it. My friend and I both played volleyball in our youth and continue to enjoy the sport to this day. We're definitely keeping the schedule for the rest of this first season in mind because we want to watch LOVB Austin play again.
Women's sports have seen so much growth in recent years and I'm so happy to be able to contribute to this by attending women's professional and college sporting events. If you enjoy sports or just want to participate in new experiences, check out a LOVB professional volleyball game this season. Can't make it to a game in person? No problem because you can stream the games all season or watch via a LOVB media partner. Remember, everyone watches women's sports!
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