Women’s pro volleyball: USA setter Poulter injures knee playing for Novara

This is our weekly update on USA women playing professional volleyball around the world. Most of the players are former NCAA standouts:

The biggest news this past week was not good for USA Volleyball when starting Olympic gold-medalist setter Jordyn Poulter went down with a knee injury.

In a news release from her Italian team, Novara (using Google Translate):

“Among the ranks of Novara, there will be no American director Jordyn Poulter, who injured her left knee during the fourth set of the match in Perugia. The instrumental examinations and specialist visits to which she has been subjected in the past few hours have highlighted the injury of the cruciate and collateral ligaments and the meniscus.
“The next steps of the recovery process will be agreed with the athlete, the agent and the staff of the national team. Recovery times, correctly quantifiable only later, in any case exclude the athlete from returning to the field during the season.”

Italy

Novara won its third match in a row by sweeping Perugia 25-20, 25-15, 23-25, 28-26 and Jordyn Poulter had an ace and a block for Novara (8-2) before leaving with a knee injury in the fourth set. Stephany Samedy led Perugia (2-8) with 13 kills and two blocks while Tori Dilfer added two aces.

Bergamo beat lowly Pinerolo 25-21, 24-26, 25-20, 25-23 as Khalia Lanier led Bergamo (5-5) with 18 kills, a block and an ace. Mac May added three kills as a substitute.

Busto Arsizio won its third match in a row with a 25-20, 25-16, 33-31 sweep over Macerata. Setter Carli Lloyd had two blocks and a kill for Busto Arsizio (4-6) as her team hit .325. Symone Abbott was limited to three kills for Macerata (2-9).

Chieri ended its losing streak by sweeping Vallefoglia 25-21, 25-16, 25-20. Brionne Butler had six kills in as many attacks, three blocks, and an ace for Chieri (7-3). Micha Hancock had one kill for Vallefoglia (3-7), while Merete Lutz made a substitute appearance and had a kill.

Casalmaggiore also won its third match in a row, beating Firenze 25-18, 22-25, 25-20, 25-17. Ali Frantti had 17 kills (.389), a block and an ace while Lauren Carlini added a kill as she led Casalmaggiore (5-5) to hit .356. Rhamat Alhassan had two kills for Firenze (4-7) but only played in set one.

Milano swept Cuneo 25-19, 25-19, 25-22 as Jordan Thompson had 10 kills and two blocks for Milano (9-1). Dana Rettke added six kills and a match-high four blocks. Dani Drews and Anna Stevenson-Hall both had three kills…