Breaking down the Volleyball Nations League women’s field team-by-team

The 2023 Volleyball Nations League begins Tuesday with four matches in Nagoya, Japan (click here for the schedule). The USA women are in Türkiye for their first round of the 16-team tournament and they play Serbia at 10 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday in Antalya. We will have a USA roster breakdown later Monday.

This is the first time that the USA does not enter the event as the defending champion since the inaugural edition in 2018. The Americans also won in 2019, there was no tournament in 2020, and the USA won in 2021. Italy won last year after the USA got eliminated in the quarterfinals by Serbia. They later finished fourth in the FIVB World Championship.

Here is the USA schedule:

at Antalya, Türkiye

May 31 vs. Serbia
June 2 vs. Italy
June 3 vs. Korea
June 4 vs. Türkiye

at Brasila, Brazil
June 13 vs. Croatia
June 15 vs. Thailand
June 17 vs. Japan
June 18 vs. Brazil

at Suwon, Korea
June 28 vs. Poland
June 29 vs. Bulgaria
July 1 vs. Germany
July 2 vs. China

The VNL finals are in Arlington, Texas, and as the host, the USA is guaranteed an automatic spot in the quarterfinal round. A total of fifteen other teams will compete for the remaining seven spots. 

Additionally, the five challengers teams — Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Dominican Republic, and Poland — will try to avoid relegation from the VNL. The VNL will not only serve as crucial preparation for the Olympic qualification tournament this fall, but will also provide teams with an invaluable opportunity to develop and expand their rosters in high-level competition. Teams will compose their rosters with both experienced veterans and promising, yet inexperienced players. Each week, teams will field a roster of 14 players, with the flexibility to make changes each week. The USA 30-player overall roster and Türkiye team are listed at the end of the story.

Here’s a look at the teams in the field in the order in which the USA plays them, followed by the three they don’t.

Serbia

Top-ranked Serbia, which took VNL bronze in 2022, knocking the Americans out in the quarterfinals But Serbia has a new coach in Giovanni Guidetti, who takes charge after serving as the head coach of Türkiye for more than five years. 

The return of Serbia’s star player, Tijana Boskovic, is uncertain, especially after she didn’t play in last year’s tournament. If Boskovic, who is on the 30-player roster, is absent, Ana Bjelica, the opposite player, who ranked fifth in scoring during the previous…