ARLINGTON, Texas — The kids were all right.
And now the USA women are on to the Volleyball Nations League semifinals.
The second-seeded Americans beat seventh-seeded Japan on Wednesday 25-23, 25-21, 18-25, 25-18 in a match that went way deeper than the scoreline shows.
Now they’ll play the winner of Thursday’s 2 p.m. Central match between Türkiye and Italy. In the 10:30 a.m. match, Brazil plays China for the right to play Poland, which earlier Wednesday beat Germany.
While veterans Annie Drews had 11 kills and the team’s only two aces for the USA and Kelsey Robinson Cook had 10 kills and a block, the young reserves, led by Avery Skinner and Dana Rettke, took over the latter half of the match.
They entered in the third set and Skinner finished with nine kills and two blocks and Rettke had three kills in four errorless attacks and two blocks.
“I just wanted to come in and make an impact in whatever way I could,” Skinner said. “We needed someone to put the ball away.”
Even Ali Frantti, who also came in late, had three kills, including a big back-row attack the first time she touched the ball.
“All those kids coming in and taking big rips, it’s fun to be a part of,” said Robinson Cook, who left the game in the third set when she chased down a ball and bumped her knee into the stands. She said she’s fine and could have continued.
Setter Micha Hancock, who had three kills, said “big chests.”
“We like to say that, come out with ‘big-chest’ energy and they did a great job today,” Hancock said.
The outcome was significant in two big ways. In the 2022 VNL quarterfinals, the USA was ousted in five by Serbia. And earlier this VNL, it took one of its two losses when it fell in five to Japan.
“I don’t think anything really felt comfortable, and that’s OK,” USA coach Karch Kiraly said. “Sometimes we have to figure out ways to win the next point when the other team just seems to be getting a hand on everything. Very few kills were clean, that is straight to the floor, but that was a great team effort.
“We love playing that team. They were relentless and it was really difficult to end the rally. We made some adjustments and like I said, it was a total team effort. Lots of people came in to help out.”
Skinner, who is from the Dallas area, was beaming after she got to visit with plenty of family and friends “and lots of old teammates” after the match.
“I think for me, knowing I was not…
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