It’s easy for Natalia Valentin-Anderson to recall the memories.
Growing up in Puerto Rico, Valentin-Anderson played club volleyball in Caguas beside the facility where the city’s professional team played. The setter suffered through grueling, and what seemed like endless practices, before Valentin-Anderson could do what she craved: watch the Criollas de Caguas.
The team mystified Valentin-Anderson, allowing her to imagine a world where she played on a pro court. Now, the 36-year-old, 11-year pro has competed professionally in Puerto Rico, Azerbaijan, France, Poland and Italy. She’s also won best setter of the world four times in the Puerto Rican league.
Valentin-Anderson is hoping to inspire young girls like herself on the Dallas Pulse, the newest of eight teams within Major League Volleyball, a league working to elevate professional women’s volleyball in the United States. After two seasons of the Pro Volleyball Federation, the PVF combined with the MLV, creating a single, unified league. The Pulse will play a 28-game schedule, beginning with a home-opener against Indy Ignite in Comerica Center in Frisco on Jan. 10.
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“It’s super fun and exciting to come into a new franchise,” Valentin-Anderson said. “And be able to be the very first people to be in this gym with Dallas Pulse across our chest.”
The league is attempting to do what’s failed before in the United States, starting with the original Major League Volleyball in the 1980s that folded in its third season in 1989. There have been several other attempts – including new ones like League One Volleyball and Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball – but they are both less than 5 years old.
The new MLV is latching onto increasing youth participation and college viewership. In 2023, Nebraska set the world record for women’s sport attendance, hosting 92,003 fans in Memorial Stadium during a match against Omaha. College volleyball is bringing in ratings and high school volleyball participation is at an all-time high.
But is that enough?
“Very few people get to do what we do and what we’re going to do,” president and CEO Grady Raskin said. “It’s something that I hold near and dear to my heart.”
Creating the Pulse
The Pulse’s origin can be traced to a poker game.
In 2023, Raskin ran into the initial group working to create the MLV. Raskin, who helped in the early stages of the United Football League’s Dallas Renegades, liked the work and decided he wanted to contribute to a new, upcoming league.
“I realized I like the emerging sports,” Raskin said. “I liked using my knowledge and using my experience to build something.”
He was tasked with finding some ownership groups. As a Dallasite, he knew just the place.
Two weeks later, he was playing poker with his friend, investment salesman Evan Stone, and pitched the idea. Stone’ s daughters played volleyball on club teams and at Greenhill before continuing the sport in college.
Months later, Stone bought the franchising rights for Dallas and Fort Worth, helping put together what would become the Pulse.
Raskin said he believes Dallas is deep in the heart of Texas, hence the name.
“I feel that a pulse is personal. Everybody has a pulse,” he said. “And if you can make things personal to somebody, and they can feel like they’re part of something, then they’re going to support it.”
By August 2025, the program had signed 14 players in free agency. In September, the Pulse announced Shannon Winzer, the former Canada Women’s National Team coach, would lead the program. By November, the Pulse drafted Wisconsin graduate Mimi Colyer No. 1 overall in the 2026 MLV draft.
While the team will play in Comerica Center, the Pulse practiced in McKinney throughout December, preparing for its season opener. The front office staff has been marketing Dallas’ newest pro team, selling season and single-game tickets.
The Pulse is targeting specific markets, including Frisco, families and young couples. The staff is primarily focused on getting people to the season opener, then building loyalty and customer retention once individuals experience the Pulse’s environment.
“It’s been a long, long road, if you will, but lots of great experience,” Raskin said. “We were well prepared for this upcoming season, so I’m ready to go, and I’m anxious to see it in January.”
Player’s hopes
After joining Romanian Club CSM Volei Alba Blaj in 2023, Kaitlyn Hord knew it wasn’t for her.
Away from the people she loved, the middle blocker wished for a closer alternative. Two years later and during her second year in the league, the Kentucky native is only around 870 miles from home compared to almost 6,000.
“Now that it’s in America, a lot of younger girls can see that this is the stage that you can be on one day,” Hord said. “So, I think that it’s just giving a lot of people hope and goals to be in the volleyball world, and it’s growing every day.”
Once their college careers are complete, volleyball players have limited opportunities beyond the NCAA, especially in the United States.
Although the Association of Volleyball Professionals — which only features beach volleyball — has endured, there aren’t many indoor options unless players go to South America, Europe or Asia. It’s a commitment that’s challenging for many.
“You have to play pro volleyball overseas,” said Wintzer, the coach. “You’re away from family, you’re away from friends, you have to sacrifice a lot, and I think we lose a lot of players too early in their careers because they have to make those decisions.”
Opposite hitter Keslie Payne has played in Brazil, Turkey and South Korea, but has lived in Dallas the last two years.
“If I could tell 10-year-old me, one day you’re gonna play here, she would just not believe it,” Payne said. “Going overseas was kind of the only option we had. And thanks to the MLV and so many other leagues, we have the opportunity to stay here and that’s just huge. And I’m really excited for it and the girls in the sport.”
The team also includes setter Celia Cullen, who played volleyball at SMU last year and was a Mustangs assistant this season.
And while women’s indoor volleyball arguably has more attention than ever and player support, is that enough to promote the MLV?
Only time will tell.
The team was formed over poker, and its success will be a gamble.
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