As Aury Cruz steps off the practice court, she looks ahead to the volleyball fans she will soon play for.
“I feel like we’re going to have a really good crowd,” Cruz said. “We’re going to involve them a lot in our game. It feels great.”
She is a part of the inaugural season of the Professional Volleyball Federation, the first-of-its-kind professional volleyball league in the United States.
“It brings out a lot of joy,” she said, “A little bit of anxiety, but it is a good anxiety, I guess.”
The first season of the PVF will include seven teams. One is the Orlando Valkyries, the team that brought Cruz back to the United States.
Cruz was an All-American outside hitter at the University of Florida in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Originally from Puerto Rico, this new opportunity allows her to play high-level volleyball close to home and puts some familiar faces into the crowd.
“Both my parents are retired,” Cruz said, “So they have more opportunities to come, and they really enjoy it. They used to take us to every practice, to every game when we were little. So why not give a high performance for them, so they could keep having fun.”
Cruz has played professionally in six different countries including Italy, Spain, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Turkey and Puerto Rico. The U.S. will be her seventh and the first in North America (excluding her home country of Puerto Rico).
The overseas migration of volleyball players is an experience Florida Gators head volleyball coach Mary Wise has seen many of her players go through. After coaching at the University of Florida for over 30 years, she has sent many of her players overseas.
Now, she sees a chance for them to stay right at home.
“I think throughout the volleyball world, there's an excitement and awe and a sense of hope that that this will be the league or one of the leagues that will thrive and survive,” Wise said.
Fresh off the back of record-breaking attendance and viewership of NCAA women’s volleyball, the PVF is hoping to capitalize.
“Women's volleyball is the one sport in the country that does not take a backseat to the men's game,” said Rob Carolla, PVF Vice President of Public Media Relations, “Women's volleyball is the premier volleyball.”
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, volleyball is right behind track and field as the most popular team sport for high school girls with over 470,000 participants.
And the numbers aren’t just in the participation. Over 92,000 people were in attendance as the University of Nebraska hosted a match at its football stadium in 2023. That number is a record for any women’s sport. That same season, 30 other D-1 schools broke attendance records.
Additionally, TV viewership was at an all-time high as over 1.7 million people tuned into the NCAA championship game.
It’s why broadcasting partners like CBS and Bally have partnered with the PVF to stream these professional matches.
“It allows people to see our matches,” Carolla said, “The streaming that we're doing through Bally and Stadium is all free. It's not a subscription service. Any fans of volleyball, fans of sports in the US who are interested in following our league can do so without having to subscribe to or get one more subscription service.”
In the PVF’s debut match, 11,624 people showed up to the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska to watch the Supernovas host the Atlanta Vibe. That attendance number broke the record for a women’s professional volleyball match in the United States.
“Playing in the first match in Pro Volleyball Federation history is a testament to the work both of our organizations have done to build a platform that allows our top-level athletes to shine,” said Colleen Craig, owner of the Atlanta Vibe. “The volleyball community showed out here for this monumental moment in volleyball history and we feel so grateful to be a part of it.”
The CBS Sports Network is set to host seven regular season matches. Two former volleyball Olympians, Paul Sunderland and Holly McPeak, will do the commentary for the matches.
The first CBS match was on April 6 between Orlando and Grand Rapids.
“For them to be able to invest in these athletes means the world,” Valkyries head coach Amy Pauly said. “Just to have that opportunity for them in the league to invest in the players is the most important thing.”
The league now sits just beyond the halfway point of the opening season. Orlando sits in third place with nine games remaining.
Cruz hopes that by the end of the season, many young girls know there is an opportunity for them.
“We're showing them that there's something,” she said, “There's space for everybody. I hope we inspire those little girls and those young women to keep working hard. There's nothing to be afraid of.”
