The USA women opened Volleyball Nations League 4-0, had a week off, and now are in Brasilia, Brazil, for the second round. They play Croatia on Tuesday and then face Thailand, Japan and Brazil. We caught up with three USA veterans — two who were in Türkiye — last week.
By J. Anthony for VolleyballMag.com
For a team that only spent about a week training together before heading to Türkiye to compete in the first round of the Volleyball Nation’s League, the USA women did surprisingly well, some of the veteran members said.
“I feel like we did a really good job,” libero Justine Wong-Orantes said. The Nebraska product was playing in her second VNL.
“We went four and zero, and some of us were a little surprised, but we fought hard, and I’m really super proud of us.”
Wong-Orantes, who was the libero when the USA won the Tokyo Olympics, finished her pro season in France and joined the team in mid-May.
“We realistically had maybe one week to spend with each other to go into that and not being super familiar with each other, I really commend everyone for digging deep and trusting each other and trusting the process,” Wong-Orantes said.
We caught up with Wong-Orantes, setter Micha Hancock and outside Kelsey Robinson Cook at a League One Volleyball (LOVB) event in Seal Beach, California, about a 25-minute drive from American Sports Centers in Anaheim, where the USA national volleyball teams train.
Several members of the USA squad who have signed with LOVB coached more than 150 young girls over three days at the AIM Sports Complex.
Not only are the Americans playing VNL, which culminates with the finals in Arlington, Texas, next month, they are also eyeing the Olympic-qualifying process for the 2024 Games in Paris.
“Who do we want to be? How do we want to show up? So there’s a lot of work that goes into it, and it starts in the very beginning,” two-time Olympian Robinson Cook said.
Robinson Cook did not play in Türkiye, giving her body a break after finishing an eight-month club season in Italy, and won’t be with the team in Brazil next week. She expects to play in the third round in Korea. The USA has a 30-person roster and brings 14 to each VNL round.
The group of 30 includes 10 VNL newcomers, including Avery Skinner, Asjia O’Neal and Tori Dilfer-Stringer.
“I love watching young players get their first opportunity wearing red, white, and blue, and you can’t help but feel excited for them and can’t…
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