Red-hot USA women beat Poland in five to take sole possession of VNL lead

What a victory.

The USA women took over sole possession of first place in the Volleyball Nations League on Wednesday with a a 17-25, 25-15, 27-25, 28-30, 16-14 victory over Poland in Suwon, Korea.

It left the USA a game up in the standings at 8-1, while Poland dropped to 7-2, tied with Germany. There were some surprising results over the first two days of the second round that has seven teams trailing the USA within a game of each other.

The veteran outside hitter Kelsey Robinson Cook, the Olympian making her 2023 VNL debut, had 17 kills and three blocks to go with 10 digs. She hit .370.

Opposite Annie Drews had 18 kills, a block and an ace and had seven digs. The other opposite, Jordan Thompson, had five kills. Middle Dana Rettke had 10 kills — three in the fifth set — three blocks and five digs. 

Outside Ali Frantti had 12 kills and 10 digs and middle Haleigh Washington had five kills, five blocks, four digs and an ace.

Setter Micha Hancock had four kills, a block and two aces to go with five digs.

Libero Justine Wong-Orantes had 23 digs.

“We took it point by point and we were really patient,” Cook told VolleyballMag.com’s Emily Ehman, the Volleyball World TV analyst. “There were a lot of great ball touches. Our blockers did an amazing job and allowed our defense to play. And when we had the swing we took it.”

The stats were as close as the scores. The USA had 73 kills and Poland 72, Poland had a 14-13 blocks advantage, each team had four aces and the Americans had 98 digs and Poland 96.

Ehman said it was a “great” match. The Americans were down 7-3 in the fifth set, tied it at 10, and took their first lead, 15-14, on a kill by Rettke of an overpass. The won it on a kill by Cook after a dig by Hancock and an out-of-system set by Frantti.

“After a shaky start for the USA that Poland dominated both defensively and from the service line, the USA started to settle in to their rhythm and knock Poland out of theirs.” Ehman told us.

“Ali Frantti and Annie Drews also provided a great spark that the team seemed to lack during set one. Robinson looked like she hadn’t skipped a beat and absolutely took control in the fifth, racking up five points in just that set alone.”

The Americans continue to live on the edge.

In the first…