Published for Steel City Surge fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 24, 2026
⚡ Steel City Surge Fans — Your Black and Gold Is Waiting!
Pittsburgh’s own VLA women are the reigning standard-bearers of the women’s game — 2024 VLA Women’s Champions, built on black and gold and a lightning bolt. The captains who led the Surge into the 2025 VLA Cup are the spine of this side. Wear the black and gold and ride with the Surge.
The Club
The Steel City Surge women are Pittsburgh’s adult semi-professional side in the Volleyball League of America — the “⚡urgers”, to everyone who follows the club’s own posts, signing off every announcement with “GO ⚡URGE!!!” The men’s team came first, debuting in the VLA in 2023, and the women’s side followed fast: the club announced on September 10, 2023 that the Surge was joining the women’s division of the VLA, held its first women’s tryouts on October 21–22, 2023 in Pittsburgh, and has carried the city’s black and gold ever since — the same black and gold the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates wear, and the colors the club itself challenged players to rep. The look is pure Pittsburgh: a sleeveless dark charcoal jersey carrying “STEEL CITY SURGE” in white-to-gold script across the chest, the club’s lioness-head logo, a small VLA mark, gold compression arm sleeves and black bottoms, with a gold long-sleeve alternate worn by the libero. One honest note, stated plainly: the club has never published jersey numbers for its women’s players, so this guide names its stars without numbers rather than inventing any — every name below is real, every roster is published, and no number is guessed. Searching for a Steel City Surge jersey, the latest Surge schedule or Surge tickets? Start with the question Pittsburgh asks all winter: when do the Surge play?
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Zoe Rivet — Steel City Surge Style Jersey
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Zoe Rivet’s dark charcoal Surge home jersey look — fan-inspired apparel made for Pittsburgh fans.
Last Season: Champions, Then a Coast-to-Coast 2025
The Surge women’s story has a summit most VLA clubs never reach. On June 9, 2024, the league itself crowned them: Steel City Surge, winners of the VLA Women’s Championship, taking the final 3–1. That title is the foundation everything since is measured against — a Pittsburgh women’s team standing on top of the entire women’s division. The 2025 season then took the Surge coast to coast. The club’s published lineups trace the year: a West Division Cup trip to Phoenix in January 2025, a home-town Steel City Invitational in March 2025, and the VLA Cup in Aurora, Illinois, in May 2025, where the Surge opened against Phoenix Valor. Three published rosters across those three events show a core that held together all year — setter Zoe Rivet, outside hitter Lexie Bennett and libero Hope Bidelman wearing the captain’s mantle at the VLA Cup, with Abby Oesterling, Amanda Burkhardt, Hailey Murray, Jayce Fleming and Jillian Glover among the names appearing across the season’s squads. No Surge women’s results, roster or standings entry for the 2026 season has been published anywhere the club or league can be checked — the last documented sign of life is a February 2026 profile noting that Jillian Glover still competes for the Surge — so this guide is honest about the gap: the championship is documented, the 2025 road is documented, and the next chapter is unwritten.
Best Players Right Now
Zoe Rivet, Setter and Captain — The on-court general and the first name on every 2025 lineup. Rivet captained the Surge into the May 2025 VLA Cup and ran the offense through the West Cup and the Invitational as well — the setter every Surge rotation is built around.
Lexie Bennett, Outside Hitter / Middle Blocker and Captain — The versatile pin-and-middle threat who captained alongside Rivet at the VLA Cup. Bennett appears on all three published 2025 rosters — West Cup, Invitational and Cup — the definition of a player a coach never takes off the floor.
Hope Bidelman, Libero and Captain — The back-row captain in the gold libero kit. Bidelman anchored the defense at the West Cup and again at the VLA Cup, the third captain of a leadership group that covers every zone of the court.
Abby Oesterling, Setter — The second setter on the VLA Cup roster and a name on the Invitational squad too — depth at the most important position on the floor, and a player who kept the offense humming whenever she rotated in.
Amanda Burkhardt, Outside Hitter / Opposite — A two-way attacker who appears on the West Cup lineup and the VLA Cup roster, swinging from both pins for the Surge across the whole 2025 road.
Jillian Glover, Outside Hitter / Opposite — The longest-serving Surge woman in the record: a 2023-24 original who played for the club in its first women’s season, still competing for the Surge in early 2026, and now also one of only a handful of women head-coaching NCAA Division III men’s volleyball, at Mount Aloysius College.
Hailey Murray, Middle Blocker / Opposite — A middle presence on all three 2025 rosters, blocking and attacking from the middle and the right side through every event of the year.
Jayce Fleming, Middle Blocker / Opposite — Another ever-present of the 2025 squads, named on the West Cup lineup, the Invitational roster and the VLA Cup roster alike.
Cory McGowan, Libero — and Kate Biery, Libero — The libero depth behind Bidelman at the VLA Cup, keeping the back row two-deep for a long tournament weekend in Aurora.
Star Spotlight: Stories You Should Know
The championship. Plenty of clubs talk about building something. The Surge actually finished the job. The June 2024 title — a 3–1 final win, announced by the league itself — made Pittsburgh the home of the VLA women’s champions, and it remains the single biggest result in the club’s history. Every Surge season since is measured against that weekend.
Three captains, every zone covered. Most teams name one captain. The Surge’s May 2025 VLA Cup roster named three: Rivet running the offense, Bennett swinging from the pins and the middle, Bidelman holding the back row. Setter, attacker, libero — the leadership group is a map of the whole court, and it is the same trio this guide builds its shop around.
The lightning identity. The Surge do not do quiet. The club’s own posts cheer on the “⚡urgers” and sign off “GO ⚡URGE!!!” — the lightning bolt standing in for the S in Surge, black and gold doing the rest. In a league full of animal mascots and city wordmarks, Pittsburgh’s bolt is the loudest brand in the room.
The player-coach bridge. Jillian Glover’s story runs both ways across the net: a five-year Edinboro University player and three-time All-State selection at West Shamokin High School, a Surge original from the 2023-24 season, and since August 2024 the head coach of the Mount Aloysius men’s program — leading them to their first-ever conference tournament appearance while still competing for the Surge herself.
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Bidelman’s gold libero look — the alternate kit.
This Season (2026-27): The Next Chapter Is Unwritten
Here is where this guide refuses to guess. The VLA’s 2027 season opens in January 2027, and the league has already announced a new Women’s Tier 1, a 12-team top flight, debuting league-wide at the same time. But no Surge-specific 2027 information has been published — no roster, no tryout announcement, no fixture, and no tier assignment. The club’s public channels go quiet after early 2026, and the league’s own pages carry no Surge women’s entry for the new season yet. What is certain is the standard the next squad inherits: a championship banner, a captain trio that carried the club through three events in 2025, and a city identity — black and gold, lightning bolt — that no other VLA club can copy. When the Surge announce their 2027 roster, this guide updates. Until then, the 2024 champions wait for their encore.
Mark Your Calendar: The Road Ahead
Circle the dates ahead, Surge fans — the future first, then the weekends that made this club:
- January 2027 — The VLA 2027 season opens: League play resumes and the Women’s Tier 1 debuts league-wide. The Surge’s exact fixtures and tier assignment will be confirmed when the club and league publish them.
- Relive it — June 9, 2024, the championship: The day the league crowned Steel City Surge as VLA Women’s Champions, a 3–1 final win — the biggest result in club history.
- Relive it — January 2025, the West Division Cup in Phoenix: The Surge’s ladies headed to Phoenix for the West Cup, the first of three published 2025 squads.
- Relive it — March 2025, the Steel City Invitational: The home-town roster weekend, with the Surge naming a full squad for their own invitational event.
- Relive it — May 2025, the VLA Cup in Aurora, Illinois: The season’s showpiece, opening against Phoenix Valor, with Rivet, Bennett and Bidelman captaining the side.
- Relive it — October 21–22, 2023, the first tryouts: Where it all started — the Surge women’s first-ever squad selection in Pittsburgh.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Phoenix Valor — the desert double-header. No opponent is woven through the Surge’s documented story like Valor. The Surge traveled to Phoenix for the January 2025 West Cup, then opened their May 2025 VLA Cup campaign against Valor in Aurora — two meetings in one season, both with the desert club. A rivalry written in road trips.
2. DC Dynasty — the named home opponent. The only opponent named in a Surge home fixture from the women’s era: the February 18, 2024 double-header in Emsworth, Pennsylvania, streamed on the VLA’s YouTube channel. The club’s post does not say whether the women’s team, the men’s team or both played that day, so this is framed honestly as the club’s named home opponent of that period — but Dynasty, themselves a VLA women’s club, are the natural eastern rival whenever the Surge return to home court.
3. The rest of the women’s division — the title defense that never got its date. The Surge won the whole division in 2024 and then, on the published record, never got a documented title defense in 2025 or 2026. Whoever stands across the net when Pittsburgh returns — Valor again, Dynasty, or the next champion — inherits the game every VLA women’s club wants: a shot at the last team to lift the trophy.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When do the Steel City Surge women play next?
The VLA 2027 season opens in January 2027, with the new Women’s Tier 1 debuting league-wide. No Surge-specific fixtures have been published yet — the club’s exact schedule will be confirmed when the club and league announce it.
Where do the Steel City Surge women play?
The Surge are a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania club. The women’s team was launched in fall 2023 with tryouts in Pittsburgh, and the club has hosted home fixtures in the Pittsburgh area, including a double-header in Emsworth, Pennsylvania.
Who are the Steel City Surge women’s star players?
Setter and captain Zoe Rivet, outside hitter and middle blocker and captain Lexie Bennett, and libero and captain Hope Bidelman — the trio who captained the Surge at the May 2025 VLA Cup. Jillian Glover, a Surge original from the 2023-24 season, is another key name in the club’s story.
Where can I buy Steel City Surge fan gear?
Toxlay Sports offers fan-inspired apparel for Surge 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 Steel City Surge’s official club channels and announcements, and the league’s championship announcement — schedules and rosters checked October 2026.
GO ⚡URGE — Pittsburgh’s black and gold are just getting started.
