ORLANDO, Florida, March 5, 2026.–Following a four-set loss to the Grand Rapids Rise on Sunday, the Orlando Valkyries defeated the Columbus Fury in four sets Thursday night, with set scores of 19-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-14.
After falling short against Grand Rapids Sunday night, Orlando responded with a complete team performance, hitting .265 while holding Columbus to a .173 clip. The Valkyries were led by outside hitter Charitie Luper, who recorded a match-high 23 kills while hitting .311.
Not only did Luper provide heavy lifting, but Orlando also dominated behind the service line, racking up eight aces to Columbus’ zero. Middle blocker Natalie Foster led the charge with five aces, including two separate runs of back-to-back aces. Foster, who entered tonight’s match as a substitute, was inserted into the starting lineup in set three and made an immediate impact with three kills and three blocks.
Head coach Amy Pauly credited Foster’s experience as a key factor when her number was called.
“We’ve been implementing different lineups over the past few matches, and we’ve learned that we have quite a few players that have the experience to come in off the bench and provide an immediate impact. Natalie gave us a really good boost of momentum there in the second set, and it gave us the confidence that we fed off of. Anytime you can apply pressure from the service line as much as we did tonight, it’s hard for a team to beat you.”
One of the Valkyries main points of emphasis was slowing down Raina Terry, who leads the league in points per set. Orlando was able to hold her to just 12 kills, hitting .083.
“Raina’s a heck of a player,” head coach Amy Pauly stated postgame. “ She had her way in the first set, but a huge shoutout goes to Lindsey Vander Weide, who came off the bench and provided really great block touches at the net for us. We were able to slow them down enough and kept them out of system that made it difficult for Raina to find her rhythm.”
Tonight marked the first home win for the Valkyries since opening night on January 9. They will have to quickly move on and do it all over again within a span of 48 hours, as Orlando turns their attention to face the Dallas Pulse on Saturday, March 7 at 7:00 p.m. ET at the Addition Financial Arena.
The Fury will return home to Nationwide Arena on Tuesday, March 10 to host the Omaha Supernovas at 7 p.m.
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