Wisconsin volleyball great to be founding player for pro team in Madison (2024)

It’s official: Lauren Carlini is coming home.

Carlini, arguably the greatest player in University of Wisconsin volleyball program history, will be the founding player for the Madison team in the upstart League One Volleyball (LOVB, pronounced “love”) when it begins operating late next year.

Carlini committed to the new league in June, but it was not determined which of LOVB’s six teams she would be playing for, though Madison seemed like the logical location.

“It’s nice for it to be official,” said Carlini, 28. “Now it’s really good to have that peace of mind, where I’m going and where I can start figuring out where to settle. And also just promoting and getting really excited about it publicly.”

Carlini, who is playing her eighth and final season overseas for a team in Turkey, is committed to playing for the Madison team for at least two seasons. And whether she’s still playing or moving into another area of the sport, she hinted that she might be around Madison beyond that time frame.

She said Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield has got her thinking about moving into a coaching role at some point.

“Just the opportunity to play in Madison, it just might tempt me to keep playing a little bit longer,” she said. “Then I might have to go dabble there a little bit and see if that tickles my fancy on the coaching end of things.

“If you would’ve asked me three or four years ago I would’ve said absolutely not, that sounds like a terrible idea. After talking with Kelly quite a bit he’s kind of put the bug in my ear and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. So I think eventually I will start dabbling in coaching and seeing if I’m enjoying it.

“If anything it would definitely be at the collegiate level. I love working with youth volleyball players, but I think I could probably give the most to the next level, to the NCAA players.”

The team, which will be named LOVB Madison Volleyball, will begin training next November with a season starting in January 2025. Among the other cities in the league will be Atlanta, Houston, Omaha and Salt Lake City.

Carlini is the first player to be assigned to a team as part of a rollout that will continue throughout the other league cities this week. A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held Monday night at the new LOVB facility in Sun Prairie. The team also will reveal its logo and its light blue color scheme.

The facility will house the Madtown Juniors club and will have 10 courts where the club players will train along with the pro players. It also will have a cafe, pro shop, meeting and office space, as well as a locker room for the pros.

That inclusive structure of players from youth to pros is a big part of the draw for Carlini and she believes it will be a key to the success of the operation.

“I think that will be a huge market in and of itself and a great way to grow the game,” Carlini said. “With Madtown Juniors there, being able to interact on a day-to-day basis and have them be able to look across and peak behind the curtain and see the pros practicing, how cool and how unique is that?”

LOVB is one of three separate entitiestrying to establish pro volleyball in the United States. Athletes Unlimited recently completed its third season with its unique format where all the matches were held in the Phoenix area during its five-week season.

Training is set to begin for the Pro Volleyball Federation, which will start play on Jan. 24 with teams in seven cities. Three former Badgers players have been signed to play in the PVF— Sydney Hilley and Danielle Hart with Omaha and Grace Loberg with San Diego.

Coaches and rosters for the LOVB teams will be announced over the next few months. Carlini is one of eight U.S. National Team players who are the founding athletes for LOVB: outside hitter Kelsey Robinson Cook and libero Justine Wong-Orantes from Nebraska; middle blocker Haleigh Washington and setter Micha Hanco*ck from Penn State; setter Jordyn Poulter of Illinois; outside hitter Jordan Thompson of Cincinnati and setter Carli Lloyd of California.

Carlini won’t have an active role in building the Madison roster, but she has been actively recruiting US Team members as well as fielding requests from some foreign players who are interested.

“There’s a lot of momentum happeningwith LOVB,” she said. “I think we’re in this very selective space where LOVB can pick and choose. We’re going to get the cream of the crop players, not only from the United States but overseas. I’m dropping some names in the hat, seeing if any of them stick.”

Carlini, who was the No. 1 recruit in the country out of West Aurora, Illinois, played for the Badgers from 2013-16, leading them to the NCAA championship match her freshman season. She has seen the following of the program grow over the past decade and is confident the fan support will transfer over to the pro team, which might even play some of its matches at the UW Field House.

“Madison is very unique, along with Nebraska, in terms of how dedicated and amazing our fan base is,” Carlini said. “Knowing our fan base and the team we’re probably going to be building here in Madison, they’re going to come out and support us. Some people are going to be thinking, why is there no red in this logo, but I have zero doubt that our fans are going to be supportive and doing what they do with the Badgers. They’re going to be happy to come out and watch even better, stronger, more powerful volleyball.”

While Carlini is enthusiastically taking on her role as a spokesperson for the new league, her immediate concern is to get healthy enough to complete her current pro season and then compete for a spot on the U.S. Team for the Paris Olympics.

She has been plagued by back and hip injuries for several months and will fly to Los Angeles later this month for treatment on her back.

“It’s just been a constant battle with my health, most of it due to the fact that we have absolutely zero off time throughout the year if you’re a National Team player,” she said. “Right now it feels like it’s by sheer willpower that I’m able to continue to play.”

Even though she has plenty on her plate right now, she’s never too busy to follow her alma mater, though she frequently watches matches the following day because of the nine-hour time difference in Turkey.

“I’m so excited for the Badgers and what they can do in the tournament,” she said. “I always love tournament time.”