USA Volleyball update: Women claim VNL finals spot; men begin third round

We have a lot to catch up on with our USA women’s and men’s Olympic teams after a few-days hiatus to move the VolleyballMag editorial offices from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Swampscott, Massachusetts. 

So … greetings from New England, where this area is all fired up over the possibility of another Boston Celtics NBA championship.

Since our last report on Friday, the USA women have lost to Italy — but get another crack at the Italians later this week — and beat Japan to finish seventh and claim a spot in the Volleyball Nations League finals in Bangkok, Thailand.

And the 12-team women’s Olympic field is set.

USA men back in action

First the USA men, who are in Manila, Philippines, for the third round of the men’s competition. They stand in 12th place at 3-5, the same record as Serbia and Germany, and a game back on Canada, Cuba and Argentina. Only the top eight teams advance to the finals.

The USA men open play on Wednesday against Iran. They’ve been off since losing to Canada on June 8.

Also in Manila on Tuesday there is Netherlands vs. Brazil and Canada vs. Japan. In Ljubljana, Slovenia, Bulgaria play Türkiye and Slovenia plays Argentina.

In subsequent matches, the USA men play Brazil, Germany and Japan, so clearly the opportunity to get into the top eight is there.

USA women advance

The USA women lost to Italy 25-17, 19-25, 25-15, 25-21 on Saturday but then secured their spot in the last round with a 25-15, 25-18, 26-24 victory over Japan.

Brazil was the only team to go unbeaten in the three rounds, finishing 12-0. Italy and Poland were 10-2, and China was fourth at 9-3.

Japan finished fifth at 8-4, just ahead of Türkiye, also 8-4. The USA was one of three teams at 7-5, followed by the Netherlands and Canada. 

The Dominican Republic, Serbia, Germany and Thailand all went 3-9, and France, Korea and Bulgaria finished 2-10.

Against Italy, the USA’s first VNL finals foe on Friday in Bangkok, the Americans couldn’t contain Paola Egonu, who had 21 kills, a block and an ace. 

Annie Drews, one of 10 Americans to see the court, led the USA with 13 kills, Jordan Thompson had 11 and a block, and Kelsey Cook had six kills and an ace. Haleigh Washington added three kills, three blocks and an ace. Chiaka Ogbogu had seven kills, Avery Skinner six, and Jordan Larson five and a block. Dana Rettke added two kills, a block and the team’s other…