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LOVB Houston\u2019s Amber Igiede (3) celebrates after a point during a League One Volleyball match with Atlanta on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026 at OTE Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo courtesy of League One Volleyball)<\/p>\nFrom staff reports<\/p>\n
LOVB Houston\u2019s Amber Igiede (3) celebrates after a point during a League One Volleyball match with Atlanta on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026 at OTE Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo courtesy of League One Volleyball)<\/p>\n
Momentum is starting to build for LOVB Houston.<\/p>\n
Four days after sweeping Austin in San Antonio, Houston carried that momentum on the road Wednesday night, earning a four-set victory over Atlanta, 25-22, 26-28, 25-22, 25-23, at OTE Arena.<\/p>\n
The win marked Houston\u2019s second straight and continued an upward trend for a team beginning to find consistency after a challenging start to the early season.<\/p>\n
Jordan Thompson powered Houston throughout the night, delivering a dominant performance in key moments. Thompson finished with a match-high 26 points on 24 kills and two blocks, hitting .404 while adding five digs as Houston repeatedly leaned on her late in sets.<\/p>\n
Houston set the tone early in a tightly contested opening set. Thompson, along with outside hitters Madi Rishel and Jess Mruzik, applied steady pressure at the net as Houston built small but critical leads. <\/p>\n
Rookie setter Maddie Waak made her professional debut and delivered a key moment late in the frame, connecting with former Texas A&M teammate Logan Lednicky on a crucial kill to reach set point. Rishel followed with a block to close out the 25-22 opener.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/012826_ATL_HTX_TE_IMG_6630.jpg\")
Former Texas A&M teammates Logan Lednicky (18) and Maddie Waak (16) pose for a picture before LOVB Houston\u2019s match with Atlanta on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026 at OTE Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Waak was signed to LOVB Houston prior to Wednesday\u2019s match after being waived by the Atlanta Vibe in Major League Volleyball. (Photo courtesy of League One Volleyball)<\/p>\n
Atlanta responded in the second set, using strong passing and extended rallies to control the early stages. Houston rallied late to force extra points, but Atlanta held steady to take the set 28-26.<\/p>\n
Despite dropping the set, Houston quickly regrouped.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really proud of how we fought in the second set,\u201d said middle blocker Amber Igiede. \u201cI think we did a great job recovering quickly, making eye contact, tight huddles and executing the game plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Houston\u2019s response showed in the third set. A 9-3 start allowed Houston to dictate tempo and spacing, though Atlanta battled back to tie the set at 20-20. Houston answered down the stretch with timely swings from Thompson and strong net play from Igiede, who recorded three kills and a block in the set to secure another 25-22 win.<\/p>\n
The fourth set followed a similar script with physical and emotionally charged play. After a disputed challenge swung momentum briefly toward Atlanta, Houston found itself trailing late. Thompson took control, scoring four of Houston\u2019s final five points with a mix of transition kills and strong net play to close out the 25-23 set and seal the road victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to find that consistency and sense of urgency,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cHow do we come out each game with that urgency from the beginning? It\u2019s not just a light switch you can turn on. Every team in this league is so strong, and Atlanta really challenged us. They pushed us, and that\u2019s good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Igiede continued her strong two-way performance, finishing with 10 kills, four blocks, and seven digs, while Rishel added seven kills, four blocks, and eight digs. Setter Kaisa Alanko orchestrated the offense with 50 assists, two aces, and 10 digs as Houston finished with 63 kills and 14 blocks as a team <\/p>\n
The back-to-back wins signal growing confidence and cohesion for Houston as it turns the page toward the next stretch of the season.<\/p>\n
LOVB Houston returns home Sunday to face LOVB Madison at the Berry Center. First serve is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., with live coverage on ESPN2.<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From staff reports LOVB Houston\u2019s Amber Igiede (3) celebrates after a point during a League One Volleyball match…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59967,56,58,57,59968,52187,59969,46484,59970,23760,59971,57950,57697],"class_list":["post-142862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-amber-igiede","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-volleyball","tag-jordan-thompson","tag-kaisa-alanko","tag-league-one-volleyball","tag-lovb-atlanta","tag-lovb-houston","tag-lovb-match-recap","tag-professional-volleyball","tag-texas-volleyball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}