Published for Chicago Sweedies fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 24, 2026
🏐 Chicago Sweedies Fans — Your Cup Champions Are Waiting!
Cup champions in year one. The Sweedies debuted in 2025 and boogied straight to the women’s VLA Cup on home ground in Chicago — and in 2027 they step up to the league’s new Tier 1. Wear the lime green and groove with Chicago’s disco team.
The Club
The Chicago Sweedies are the women’s side of Chicago’s Sweed Volleyball organization, playing in the Volleyball League of America (VLA) on the North Division circuit. Through 2026 the women played as a Tier 2 side — and in October 2026 the league named them in its inaugural Women’s Tier 1 field for 2027. No team in the league looks or sounds like them: this is the VLA’s disco team — lime-green floral jerseys, a cartoon disco-ball mascot, retro mint-and-pink graphics and a house style built on one word: groove. The Sweedies debuted in 2025 and won the women’s VLA Cup in Chicago that very first season, a title run the league itself announced to the world. Their match jerseys are made by Zulu Athletic: a long-sleeve lime-green top covered in a floral daisy print, with one huge black number front and back. The club has no single home arena; its recurring stage is the Great Lakes Volleyball Center in Aurora, Illinois. Searching for a Chicago Sweedies jersey, the latest Sweedies roster or the Sweedies schedule? Start with the question Chicago asks all winter: when do the Sweedies play?
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Kristin Baer’s lime-green Sweedies look — the floral long-sleeve with the big black 1 — fan-inspired apparel made for Chicago fans.
Last Season (2026): The Title-Defense Run
The Sweedies opened their defense on January 31, 2026, at the Milwaukee Dive Invitational at the Mosh Performance Center in Franklin, Wisconsin — the club’s official kickoff to the 2026 VLA season. March brought the home swing: the VLA North Cup on March 7–8 at the Great Lakes Volleyball Center in Aurora, where Chicago shared a pool with the Ohio Valley Unicorns, the Madison Embers and SF Olympic Club, then reached the quarterfinal against Huntsville Nova on March 8 — a result neither club ever published, and one this guide will not invent. Two weeks later came the Best of the Midwest tournament, March 21–22, back at the Great Lakes Center. The season closed in Las Vegas: the VLA Cup, May 9–11, 2026, where Chicago arrived as defending champions — “Ready to groove and defend our title in Las Vegas,” the club posted. Whether the defense succeeded has not been published by the club or the league, and no Orlando Championships appearance is documented for the Sweedies. A quiet record book; an unmistakable team.
The standard was set the year before. The Sweedies did not exist before 2025 — and by May of their debut season they were champions, winning the women’s VLA Cup in Chicago, May 9–11, 2025, on home ground. The league’s own channels announced them as the 2025 VLA Cup champions, and the club’s year-end recap told the story in its own words: “made our debut, boogied our way to secure the VLA Cup.” The recap reel says it all: the trophy, an oversized winner’s check, a scoreboard frozen at 14–13 in the title run. The club even closed 2025 by winning an early-December Players tournament. Year one: a debut, a cup, and a city that suddenly had a disco team to call its own.
Best Players Right Now (The Published 2026 Roster)
Kristin Baer, Middle (#1) — The first name on the club’s official roster graphic and the wearer of its #1 jersey. Baer anchors the middle of the net, and she is one of only three Sweedies named on both of the club’s published 2026 rosters — the March North Cup graphic and the May VLA Cup post.
Chris Kotsifas, Outside Hitter / Right Side (#15) — The most versatile attacker on the roster, listed at two positions on the official graphic, and — like Baer — named on both published 2026 rosters.
Alyssa Armada, Libero (#9) — The defensive anchor and the trio’s visual contrast: against the lime-green primary kit, the libero wears the white contrast jersey with its yellow 9 — the shirt that stands out in every Sweedies team photo.
Grace Butler, Setter (#4) — The roster’s only listed setter, the player who runs the Sweedies’ offense. Her #4 matches the front number photographed on a Sweedies jersey in the club’s May 2026 team photo.
Cara Cunningham, Middle (#7) — The second middle on the published roster, giving Chicago a two-blocker spine with Baer. Her #7 likewise matches a photographed front number from the May 2026 team photo.
Kali Terrell, Outside Hitter / Defensive Specialist (#8) — A two-way contributor who swings on the pin and digs in the back row. Her #8 matches the front number in the club’s January 31, 2026 match-day photo.
Ruby Kelley, Outside Hitter / Middle (#11) — The swing player on the roster, listed at two positions. Her #11 is the photographed Sweedies back in both the January and May 2026 team photos — the huge black number with “ZULU” printed beneath it.
Parker Jones, Outside Hitter (#14) — Another pin option on the published nine, part of the outside-hitter depth Chicago rotated through the long North circuit weekends.
Timber Terrell, Right Side (#16) — The roster’s dedicated right side, completing the official nine the club published for the North Cup. Opposite Kotsifas, she gives the Sweedies a finisher on each pin.
Also named on the club’s May 2026 VLA Cup roster post: Rowan Ennis, Taylor Oberpriller, Hay Bush, Caitlin Laurence, Holly Ellwanger and Tatyana Hardwick. The club has not published jersey numbers for that May group in a graphic this guide could verify, so they are listed here by name only — the numbered roster above is the club’s official March 2026 set.
Star Spotlight: Stories You Should Know
The number one in the middle. Every roster graphic tells you who a club is built around, and the Sweedies’ official North Cup graphic starts with Kristin Baer — middle blocker, #1 jersey. She was there for the March cup run, she was named again for the Las Vegas title defense in May, and no Sweedies player is better documented across the whole 2026 season. A champion in year one, a constant in year two: Baer is the standard the rest of the roster is measured against.
Champions in year one. Expansion teams are supposed to take their lumps. The Sweedies took a trophy instead. A program that debuted in 2025 won the women’s VLA Cup that May, in Chicago, in front of its own people — then watched the league itself announce the title. The club’s recap keeps it simple: they made their debut, and they boogied their way to the Cup. Behind the groove sits a real scoreboard moment — 14–13 in the title run — and a winner’s check with the team’s name on it.
The libero in white. Scan any Sweedies team photo and one shirt breaks the pattern: white among the lime green, a yellow 9 on the front. That is Alyssa Armada, the libero — the defensive specialist whose entire job is keeping rallies, and seasons, alive. On a team built to be seen, the player in the different shirt is the one holding the floor together.
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Armada’s white libero look — the yellow-9 contrast kit.
This Season (2027): The Tier 1 Step-Up
The encore is a promotion. When the VLA’s 2027 season opens on January 9, 2027, the women’s game debuts its new Tier 1 — a twelve-team top flight with promotion and relegation — and the Sweedies are in it: the club’s name was legible on the league’s October 2026 Tier 1 announcement graphic. The debut-season Cup champions step up to the top tier in year three. The build starts from a settled core: Baer, Kotsifas and Armada — the three players named on both published 2026 rosters — headline the most recent published squad, the club’s official March 2026 numbered roster. No 2027 roster or fixture list had been published as this guide was written, so the March 2026 numbering is the latest on record and will be re-checked the moment the club posts its Tier 1 roster. Now the groove goes up a level: the league’s best, every weekend.
Mark Your Calendar: The Road Ahead
Circle the date ahead, Sweedies fans — the Tier 1 era is coming — then relive the weekends that turned a brand-new team into champions:
- January 9, 2027 — The 2027 VLA season opens: The women’s Tier 1 debuts league-wide and the Sweedies begin life in the top flight. The club’s own fixtures will be confirmed when the VLA publishes its schedule.
- Relive it — May 9–11, 2025, the Cup comes home: The debut-season title run in Chicago, where the Sweedies won the women’s VLA Cup in their very first year.
- Relive it — January 31, 2026, the kickoff: The Milwaukee Dive Invitational in Franklin, Wisconsin — the first stop of the title-defense season.
- Relive it — March 7–8, 2026, the North Cup: Pool play in Aurora against the Unicorns, Embers and SF Olympic Club, then a quarterfinal date with Huntsville Nova.
- Relive it — May 9–11, 2026, the Las Vegas defense: Chicago carried the cup to the Las Vegas Convention Center as defending champions — the weekend the whole 2026 season pointed at.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Huntsville Nova — the knockout date. The Sweedies’ one documented knockout fixture: Nova’s own post billed the March 8, 2026 North Cup quarterfinal in Aurora — winner advances to the semi-final — with Chicago standing in the way. The result was never published, which only sharpens it: an unbeaten argument between the 2025 Cup champions and Alabama’s upstarts, waiting for its next chapter.
2. Ohio Valley Unicorns & Madison Embers — the pool rivals. Chicago shared its March 2026 North Cup pool with the Unicorns, the Embers and SF Olympic Club. The Unicorns were the division’s form team all season — the measuring stick in the pool — and the Embers have shared Central and North fields with the Sweedies across the same winter circuit.
3. Milwaukee Mayhem — the I-94 rivalry. Chicago vs Milwaukee, two hours up the interstate. The clubs crossed paths at the January 31, 2026 Milwaukee Dive Invitational in Franklin, the Sweedies’ first stop of the season, inside the same North-circuit churn both teams live in all winter. Close enough to travel, proud enough to matter.
4. Chicago Frost & Chicago Southside XP — the city rivals. Three VLA women’s teams, one city, one recruiting ground. No fixture between the Sweedies and either Chicago rival is published yet, so this one is civic rather than results-based — and with Frost joining the Sweedies in the 2027 Tier 1 field, the fight for Chicago now carries league stakes.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When do the Chicago Sweedies play next?
The VLA’s 2027 season opens on January 9, 2027, and the Sweedies step up to the league’s new Women’s Tier 1. The club’s own fixture list has not been published yet; the March 2026 North Cup roster is the most recent the club has released.
Who are the Chicago Sweedies’ star players?
Middle Kristin Baer (#1), outside hitter and right side Chris Kotsifas (#15), and libero Alyssa Armada (#9) — the only three players named on both of the club’s published 2026 rosters, the March North Cup graphic and the May VLA Cup post.
Did the Chicago Sweedies win the VLA Cup?
Yes — in their debut season. The Sweedies won the women’s VLA Cup in Chicago on May 9–11, 2025. They defended the title in Las Vegas in May 2026; the result of that defense has not been published by the club or the league.
Where can I buy Chicago Sweedies fan gear?
Toxlay Sports offers fan-inspired apparel for Sweedies supporters — fan-designed gear made for real fans. Note that fan-inspired apparel is not official VLA licensed merchandise.
Sources: Volleyball League of America (usavla.com), the Chicago Sweedies’ official club channels and announcements — schedules and rosters checked October 2026.
Ready to groove — the Sweedies are just getting started.
