Published for LOVB Madison fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 24, 2026
🏐 LOVB Madison Fans — Your Mad Town Pride Is Waiting!
Pro volleyball in Madison runs through one hometown hero. Lauren Carlini came home to help found this team, then set a league record with 64 assists and led LOVB in assists two years running. A new era under head coach Fernando Morales starts when the 2026-27 season opens on December 16 — wear the deep navy and get loud, Mad Town.
The Club
LOVB Madison is Wisconsin’s team in League One Volleyball — and it was built around a homecoming. Madison was announced on April 27, 2023 as LOVB’s third team location, with former Wisconsin Badgers setter Lauren Carlini unveiled as the founding athlete, and the club began play as one of the six original LOVB Pro teams in the inaugural 2025 season. Home is the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, and LOVB also built a dedicated training facility in nearby Sun Prairie for the pro team and area youth clubs. The look is unmistakable: a deep navy jersey with the aqua looped-M crest, MADISON across the chest and the WOXER sponsor beneath the number. Searching for a LOVB Madison jersey, the latest Madison schedule or Madison tickets? Start with the question the Badger State asks all winter: when do LOVB Madison play?
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Lauren Carlini’s deep navy Madison home jersey look — fan-inspired apparel made for Badger State fans.
Last Season (2026): Growing Pains and a Record-Setting Setter
Madison’s second season was a grind: a 6-14 record and sixth place meant the club missed the four-team LOVB Finals field — yet the year still produced the franchise’s defining night. On February 22, 2026, on the road at LOVB Nebraska, Madison stormed back to win 3-2 (25-23, 16-25, 26-24, 23-26, 15-11) and snap an eight-match losing streak, with Lauren Carlini setting a new league record of 64 assists on her way to player of the match honors. Temi Thomas-Ailara added a career-high 24 kills that night. The highs kept coming in flashes: a 3-1 home win over eventual two-time champions LOVB Austin on March 15, a 3-1 win at Atlanta on March 7, and a five-set home finale against Atlanta at Alliant Energy Center on April 2, where Carlini dished out 50 more assists. Carlini led the league in assists for the second consecutive year, following her 2025 LOVB Setter of the Year campaign — proof that even in a last-place season, Madison’s engine was the best in the league at what she does.
Best Players Right Now (2026 Roster)
Lauren Carlini, Setter (#7) — The founding athlete and face of the franchise. The 2025 LOVB Setter of the Year led the league in assists in both 2025 and 2026, and her 64 assists at Nebraska on February 22, 2026 stand as the league’s single-match record.
Claire Chaussee, Outside Hitter (#9) — The Sun Prairie hometown hero of Madison’s first two seasons. The 2022 ACC Player of the Year at Louisville tallied 130 kills in the inaugural 2025 campaign, and in the 2026 home finale she added 8 kills, 8 digs and an ace. She has signed with LOVB Austin for 2026-27 — but her two seasons in Madison navy made her a fan favorite for good.
Temi Thomas-Ailara, Opposite Hitter (#12) — Madison’s 2026 scoring punch on the right side: a career-high 24 kills in the signature win at Nebraska and a co-team-high 14 kills in the home finale. The former Wisconsin Badger returns for 2026-27.
Xiangyu Gong, Opposite Hitter (#6) — One of the most decorated players in the league: captain of the Chinese national team, a Rio 2016 Olympic gold medalist and three-time Olympian, and a six-time Best Opposite in the Chinese Super League.
Ana Beatriz “Bia” Corrêa, Middle Blocker (#27) — The Brazilian national-team middle brought international steel to the Madison net throughout the 2026 season.
Rebekah Allick, Middle Blocker (#5) — The Nebraska All-American (AVCA Second Team) who joined Madison for 2026 and came up with a key block in the April 2 home finale.
Anna Haak, Outside Hitter (#17) — The Swedish national teamer who won the inaugural 2025 LOVB title with Austin before bringing that championship pedigree to Madison.
Callie Schwarzenbach, Middle Blocker (#25) — Finished the 2026 season tied for third in the entire league in blocks.
Head coach: Matt Fuerbringer — The first head coach in team history (2025–2026), a former U.S. men’s Olympic assistant coach who built the program from scratch before departing after the 2026 season to head the U.S. Men’s Beach National Team program.
Star Spotlight: Stories You Should Know
The homecoming. When LOVB announced Madison as its third team location on April 27, 2023, it did not unveil a logo first — it unveiled Lauren Carlini. The Wisconsin Badgers legend was named the founding athlete that same day, a hometown superstar choosing to build pro volleyball in the city where she became a college icon. Madison was never just a market on a map; from day one, it was Carlini’s team.
The record night in Omaha. Eight straight losses. A road crowd. Jordan Larson’s Nebraska across the net. Madison’s season was begging for a spark on February 22, 2026, and Carlini lit it: 64 assists — a new league record — with 5 kills, an ace and 17 digs in a five-set win that snapped the skid. The league later featured it in its “Top Moments 2026,” and Madison fans simply call it the night No. 7 took over.
The standard-setter. Setter of the Year in 2025. League assists leader in 2025. League assists leader again in 2026. However the roster churns around her — and it churned plenty this summer — Madison’s offense still runs through Carlini, the club’s only announced setter for 2026-27 and the most decorated player ever to wear the deep navy.
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This Season (2026-27): The Morales Era Begins
Year three starts over — in the best way. LOVB Pro grows to 10 teams for 2026-27, split into two conferences, with Madison in the Eastern Conference alongside Atlanta, Miami, Minnesota and Nebraska. The league opens with its First Serve on December 16, 2026 — two-time defending champion Austin vs Nebraska at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio — while Madison’s own opening fixture arrives with the full schedule release. The big change is on the bench: Fernando Morales, a Nebraska assistant in 2026 and the former head coach of the Puerto Rico and South Korea women’s national teams, takes over as head coach, with assistants Annemarie Hickey and Jesús Echevarría. And the roster reload is serious: Mimi Colyer, the 2026 MLV Outside Hitter of the Year who led Dallas Pulse to the MLV title and starred at Wisconsin, headlines the additions, joined by two-time Olympian Meliha Diken — the first Turkish player in LOVB — plus Raina Terry, Malaya Jones, Atlanta’s 2026 points leader Ivonee Montaño, and Madison homecoming story Caroline Crawford. Carlini and Thomas-Ailara are back; Claire Chaussee (Austin), Rebekah Allick (Nebraska) and Argentina Ung (Miami) have moved on. Last place is the floor now — this group was built to climb.
Mark Your Calendar: The Road Ahead
Circle the dates ahead, Madison fans — and relive the 2026 nights that defined this team before the new season lands in December:
- December 16, 2026 — LOVB First Serve / 2026-27 season opener: The league tips off its third season in San Antonio (Austin vs Nebraska). Madison’s own opening fixture is still to be confirmed with the full schedule release.
- Relive it — February 22, 2026, at Nebraska: The five-set classic. Carlini’s league-record 64 assists snapped an eight-match losing streak in Omaha. Circle the Nebraska rematches — Morales and Allick have since swapped sides in this rivalry.
- Relive it — March 15, 2026, vs Austin: A 3-1 home win over the eventual two-time champions — and a first look at Chaussee in Austin colors is coming in 2026-27.
- Relive it — April 2, 2026, vs Atlanta: The five-set home finale at Alliant Energy Center, with Carlini’s 50 assists and 14 kills each from Thomas-Ailara and Gong.
- Relive it — April 2025, the first LOVB Finals: Third-seeded Madison was upset 1-3 by sixth-seeded Omaha in the Louisville quarterfinal — the loss that lit the league’s best rivalry.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. LOVB Nebraska — the Carlini–Larson rivalry. The defining matchup of Madison’s first two years. Omaha upset third-seeded Madison in the 2025 Finals quarterfinal; Madison answered with the five-set Omaha classic on February 22, 2026, when Carlini’s league-record 64 assists outdueled Jordan Larson’s team. Both clubs sit in the Eastern Conference for 2026-27 — and the coaching and roster swaps (Morales arriving from Nebraska’s bench, Allick crossing over) only add fuel.
2. LOVB Austin — the champions. The league’s two-time defending champions are the measuring stick for everyone, and Madison’s 3-1 home win on March 15, 2026 was one of the season’s signature results. Now the rivalry has a defection edge: Sun Prairie’s own Claire Chaussee joins Austin for 2026-27, while Anna Haak previously came the other way, from Austin’s 2025 title team to Madison.
3. LOVB Salt Lake — the first opponents. Salt Lake was across the net for the first match in Madison history, on January 17, 2025 at the Wisconsin Field House, and the clubs met again in the LOVB Classic’s fifth-place match on February 16, 2025 in Kansas City. Every Madison era, good or bad, seems to start with Salt Lake on the other side.
4. LOVB Atlanta — the five-set feud. Madison’s 2026 closed with a home-and-home Atlanta split: a 3-1 Madison win in Atlanta on March 7, then Atlanta’s five-set win in the April 2 home finale in Madison. Both are Eastern Conference teams in 2026-27 — and Atlanta’s 2026 points leader, Ivonee Montaño, has switched to Madison, so expect the next chapter to be personal.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When do LOVB Madison play next?
The 2026-27 LOVB Pro season opens with the league’s First Serve on December 16, 2026. Madison’s own opening fixture has not been announced yet — the full schedule is still to be released — but the new season brings a new head coach, Fernando Morales, and a reloaded roster to Alliant Energy Center.
Where do LOVB Madison play their home games?
At Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin — the club’s listed home venue, which hosted the 2026 home finale on April 2, 2026. Madison’s inaugural 2025 season was played at the Wisconsin Field House.
Who is LOVB Madison’s star player?
Setter Lauren Carlini — the club’s founding athlete and hometown star. She was the 2025 LOVB Setter of the Year, led the league in assists in both 2025 and 2026, and set the league’s single-match record with 64 assists at Nebraska on February 22, 2026.
Where can I buy LOVB Madison fan gear?
Toxlay Sports offers fan-inspired apparel for Madison supporters — fan-designed gear made for real fans. Note that fan-inspired apparel is not official LOVB licensed merchandise.
Sources: LOVB, lovb.com, team announcements — schedules, rosters and records checked October 2026.
Mad Town Proud — the Badgers’ hometown pro team is just getting started.
