Atlanta’s newest professional sports team, the Atlanta Vibe won its first-ever home game on Thursday. The team defeated San Diego Mojo in three straight sets (25-17, 25-15, 25-16) at Gas South Arena in Duluth.
The Vibe, part of the Pro Volleyball Federation, is now 3-0, having defeated teams from Omaha and Orlando last week.
For Kacie Evans, the creation of the league came at a perfect time.
The 22-year-old Wadsworth, Ohio, native put up incredible numbers playing for the University of Georgia. She holds the record for most sets played at Georgia and is a member of the 2,000-point club, the 1,000-kill club, and the 1,000-dig club.
But with college behind her, her future in volleyball was uncertain.
“I came to the realization it might be it for me,” she said. “And then I got a couple phone calls from a few organizations for the PVF.”
Suddenly a path forward opened. She entered the draft and wasn’t selected, but the disappointment didn’t last long. Within an hour of learning she wasn’t drafted, Vibe head coach Todd Dagenais called.
“And said, ‘Hey, like, we want to have you as an undrafted free agent,'” Evans said. “And I took the opportunity right up. I was like, ‘Let’s do this.’”
She’d play for the Atlanta Vibe, just 50 miles from where she’d gone to school.
Evans says the other Vibe players and coaches are great.
“(It’s) crazy for me to adjust with all of these great players,” she said. “And I think that’s what also makes it like so fun, because it’s like, holy crap. Like, I really have to develop a lot more stuff about me now. So like, what more can I do to develop myself?”
Evans will have two dozen regular season games to possibly compete and grow as a player.
Colleen Craig is the founder and owner of the Atlanta Vibe. She played at Cornell University. She went on to have a successful business career in finance and sports management.
“When I got to a point in my career where I wanted to start giving back, I took a look at the landscape, and volleyball jumped out,” she said. “When you start looking at the numbers and the information, it kind of became a no-brainer.”
A no-brainer, she says, because among women’s high school team sports, volleyball has more players than either soccer or basketball.
“Most people would say it’s probably soccer,” she said. “If you kind of do a poll, they would say it’s soccer. And that’s not the case. And we’re growing.”
In addition to the seven teams competing this year, three expansion teams are in the works.
Craig says all of them will provide an opportunity for talented volleyball players to continue high-level competition after college without having to travel overseas.
“So it is a tremendous opportunity for the athletes to compete and for us, to showcase what all the youth already know as a chosen sport amongst girls in the country,” she said.
This article comes to Now Habersham in partnership with GPB News
