Published for Iowa Volleyume fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 24, 2026
🏐 Iowa Volleyume Fans — Your Volleyume Power Is Waiting!
The newest champions in the VLA — and they did it the loud way. A squad thrown together in the spring, a Cup in Las Vegas, and a Season MVP with a heavyweight résumé. Now the champions step up to Tier 1. Pump up the Volleyume.
The Club
The Iowa Volleyume women are the women’s team of the Volleyume volleyball organization of Bettendorf, Iowa, in the Quad Cities on the Iowa–Illinois border along the Mississippi River. Volleyume is a traveling-tournament club — the VLA plays its weekends on the road, so there is no single home gym to name — and the women’s side is the organization’s newest headline act. The look is unmistakable: a sleeveless jersey in white across the chest and shoulders, fading into a rich gold gradient through the torso to the hem, with “VOLLEYUME” in small gold capitals across the upper chest and a very large black number on the front, worn with black shorts. The libero wears the black contrast kit, gold lettering on black. And the story wrote itself in one spring: a women’s squad still being openly recruited in April 2026 went to Las Vegas and came home with the club’s biggest prize — the women’s team are the 2026 Women’s VLA Cup champions, per the club’s own honours list and 2026 posts. Searching for an Iowa Volleyume jersey, the latest Volleyume schedule or Volleyume tickets? Start with the question the Quad Cities asks all winter: when do the Volleyume women play?
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Last Season (2026): The Cup Run Nobody Saw Coming
The championship squad came together late — on April 22, 2026 the club was still publicly recruiting women for its VLA Cup roster in Las Vegas, with tryout interest taken by DM and email. Weeks later, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in May 2026, the Volleyume women won the 2026 Women’s VLA Cup, the title the club’s own homepage honours list records as “VLA Cup Championship — 2026 • Women’s Champions.” The final’s outstanding player was the back-row anchor: Yanye, the libero, was named the 2026 Women’s VLA Cup MVP, described in the club’s October 2026 recap as a “five foot nothing” libero who “controlled the court, dug every ball, and played with insane heart” in the Cup win. The season’s headline player, meanwhile, was Elissa Alcantara, named the team’s 2026 Season MVP in the club’s October 7, 2026 award graphic. And the heart-and-soul award — the David C. Meade Award for “Heart. Leadership. Competitive Spirit.” — went to Zoe Sostre. A team assembled in weeks, crowned in May: that is the standard the returnees inherit. One honest note for fans: the club has not published a full numbered roster, so this guide names its stars and prints only the two verified numbers — Alcantara’s #12 and Sostre’s #7.
Best Players Right Now (2026 Championship Team)
Elissa Alcantara, Outside Hitter (#12) — The club’s 2026 Season MVP and the best-documented player on the team. A 6’2” outside hitter from Tampa, Florida, with a heavyweight résumé: Colorado (2019–20), NC State (2021) and Cincinnati (2022–23) in NCAA Division I, a pro contract with Valencianas de Juncos in Puerto Rico’s Liga de Voleibol Superior Femenino in January 2024, and time with the Puerto Rican Women’s National Team. An Under Armour Third Team All-American out of Tampa Catholic — the white-and-gold #12 is the face of the champions.
Zoe Sostre (#7) — The winner of the club’s 2026 David C. Meade Award, for heart, leadership and competitive spirit. Her official award graphic shows her in the white-and-gold jersey with the #7, black shorts, visible tattoos on her arms and left thigh. No position is published for Sostre — but the award says everything about what she means to this locker room.
Yanye, Libero — The 2026 Women’s VLA Cup MVP and the back-row anchor of the championship run. The club’s recap of the Cup win centers on her: five foot nothing, digging every ball, playing with insane heart. She wears the black libero contrast kit — gold lettering on black — and this guide prints no number for her, because the club has never published one legibly.
Star Spotlight: Stories You Should Know
The team built in weeks. Most champions are built over years. The Volleyume women were still recruiting for their Las Vegas roster on April 22, 2026 — and they won the VLA Cup in May. That is not a rebuild story or a dynasty story. It is a lightning-strike story: the right players, the right weekend, and a libero who would not let a ball touch the floor.
The Season MVP with the passport. Elissa Alcantara’s path runs through three NCAA Division I programs, a Puerto Rican pro contract and the Puerto Rican national team — and it ended, for 2026, in a white-and-gold Volleyume jersey with the #12 and the club’s Season MVP award. When a player like that lands in Bettendorf, the whole league notices.
The five-foot-nothing MVP. Cup MVPs are usually the ones terminating balls at the net. Volleyume’s was the one digging them up. Yanye, the libero, owned the final from the back row — the club’s own recap makes her the hero of the win, and the October award graphic made it official: Yanye, libero, Most Valuable Player.
The gold fade and the river city. The Volleyume look tells the club’s story in one glance: white across the chest and shoulders fading into rich gold toward the hem, like sunlight on the Mississippi, with black shorts grounding the whole thing and the libero in black-and-gold contrast. It is a Bettendorf kit through and through — a Quad Cities club, run by Malcolm Ford, that also fields Volleyume Juniors and sister squads named Frequency and Static, and hosts the “Play Loud” podcast that has become the organization’s loudspeaker. The tagline says it all: “Pump Up the Volleyume.” This is not a team that arrived quietly, and Tier 1 will not quiet it down.
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Yanye’s black libero look — gold lettering, no number print.
This Season (2027): Tier 1 Just Got Louder
The champions are stepping up. An official club graphic on October 6, 2026 announced “VOLLEYUME WOMEN JOIN VLA TIER 1 2027” under the headline “Tier 1 Just Got Louder” — the women join the league’s new 12-team top flight for 2027, confirmed first-hand in the league’s Tier 1 graphic read. The club podcast’s framing for the season is “Put Up or Shut Up: Volleyume’s 2027 Season” — and that is exactly the question. A first-year squad that won the Cup now has to do it against the league’s top division, with the title defense waiting in Las Vegas in May. Whether Alcantara, Sostre or Yanye return for the Tier 1 season is unconfirmed — no 2027 women’s roster has been published yet — but the champions’ story is the one the whole league will be watching. The 2027 calendar on the club site is published at organization level — the women’s draw for each stop gets confirmed as the league releases its fixtures — so Bettendorf fans should watch the West Cup in January for the first real read on where this team stands among the twelve. Pump up the Volleyume.
Mark Your Calendar: The Road Ahead
Circle the dates ahead, Volleyume fans — the 2027 organization calendar is published, with the women’s draw to be confirmed per event:
- January 9–10, 2027 — VLA West Cup, Surprise, AZ: First stop on the published 2027 organization calendar, and the first Tier 1-season weekend.
- February 6–7, 2027 — VLA North Cup, Aurora, IL: The closest 2027 event to the Quad Cities.
- March 20–21, 2027 — VLA Central Division Cup, Louisville, KY: The spring’s middle weekend on the org calendar.
- April 3–4, 2027 — VLA East Cup, Atlantic City, NJ: The last divisional stop before the Cup.
- May 8–10, 2027 — VLA Cup, Las Vegas, NV: The title defense — the champions return to Las Vegas in their first Tier 1 season.
- May 28–30, 2027 — VLA Championships & USAV Open Nationals, Chicago, IL: The season finale weekend on the org calendar.
- Relive it — May 2026, the Las Vegas Cup win: The weekend the Volleyume women, recruited weeks earlier, became VLA Cup champions — with Yanye named Cup MVP.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Gila Monsters — the 2027 rematch everyone wants. The Arizona rookie team won the 2026 VLA West Division Cup and the 2026 USAV Open Women’s title in their first season — and the two clubs’ stories are now braided together through Volleyume’s own podcast, where Gila’s co-founders dissect their VLA Cup experience against the champions. Two first-year powers, one league, and a Tier 1 season ahead: this is the rivalry the 2027 calendar was made for. (This guide makes no claim about any final meeting between the two — Iowa’s title is stated here only as the club’s own 2026 championship claim.)
2. Phoenix Ascension — the Melcher thread. Emma Melcher played for Phoenix Ascension before co-founding the Gila Monsters — the Ascension link belongs to her history, not to a Volleyume–Ascension feud. No Volleyume-versus-Ascension women’s result is published, so this stays background, never a claimed result.
3. Michigan Tempo — the organization rivalry. The club podcast bills Michigan Tempo as Volleyume’s rival on the men’s side, and Tempo were planning a women’s team. No women’s Volleyume–Tempo fixture is documented — org color only, and a 2027 Tier 1 storyline to watch.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When do the Iowa Volleyume women play next?
The 2027 organization calendar opens with the VLA West Cup on January 9-10, 2027 in Surprise, Arizona, followed by the North Cup on February 6-7, 2027 in Aurora, Illinois. The women’s draw for each event is confirmed when the league publishes its fixtures, and the title defense comes at the VLA Cup on May 8-10, 2027 in Las Vegas.
Where do the Iowa Volleyume women play?
The women’s team is based in Bettendorf, Iowa, in the Quad Cities on the Iowa-Illinois border. The VLA is a traveling tournament league, so the women play their weekends on the road — no single home gym is published for the women’s team.
Who are the Iowa Volleyume women’s star players?
Outside hitter Elissa Alcantara (#12), the club’s 2026 Season MVP; Zoe Sostre (#7), winner of the club’s 2026 David C. Meade Award; and Yanye, the libero named 2026 Women’s VLA Cup MVP. The club has not published a full numbered roster, so this guide prints only the two verified numbers — Alcantara’s #12 and Sostre’s #7 — and no number for Yanye.
Where can I buy Iowa Volleyume fan gear?
Toxlay Sports offers fan-inspired apparel for Volleyume 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 Iowa Volleyume club’s official channels and award graphics, and Volleyume’s Play Loud podcast — schedules and rosters checked October 2026.
Pump up the Volleyume — the champions are just getting started.
