The USA ladies’s quest to repeat as Olympic champions begins with the primary leg of Volleyball Nations League.
After a quick time collectively within the health club in Anaheim, the American contingent headed to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for 4 matches. The primary is Wednesday towards Thailand.
VNL rosters can embody as much as 14 gamers. For the Olympics in Paris, groups can have 12 gamers plus one official alternate. The USA groups will differ for every of the primary three legs.
The setters are Jordyn Poulter and Lauren Carlini; the liberos are Justine Wong-Orantes and Zoe Fleck; the outsides are Jordan Larson, Sarah Parsons, sisters Avery and Madi Skinner, and Ali Frantti; the middles are Kayla Haneline, Brionne Butler, Anna Corridor and Chiaka Ogbogu; and the one reverse is Danielle Cuttino.
Poulter, Wong-Orantes, Larson and Ogbogu have been on the group that received gold in Tokyo in 2021. Different Olympians within the USA health club however not on this roster embody setter Micha Hancock, center Haleigh Washington, exterior Kelsey Cook dinner and opposites Annie Drews and Jordan Thompson.
Of word: Poulter will compete for the primary time since full knee reconstruction; Larson, most excellent participant in Tokyo, didn’t play this season and alternated between her position as an assistant coach at Nebraska and coaching in Anaheim; Fleck and Madi Skinner have been teammates on the Texas group that received the 2022 NCAA title; and the Skinners signify the primary sisters on a USA group at this degree in fairly some time.
The event begins Tuesday with 4 matches, Bulgaria vs. Netherlands and Italy vs. Poland in Antalya, Türkiye, and China vs. Korea and Brazil vs. Canada in Rio. Right here is the USA VNL schedule with all time Japanese. All matches could be see on Volleyball World TV:
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Wednesday, Could 15: vs. Thailand, 4:30 p.m.
Thursday, Could 16: vs. China, 4:30 p.m.
Friday, Could 17: vs. Brazil, 8 p.m.
Sunday, Could 19: vs. Dominican Republic, 1 p.m.
Arlington, Texas
Wednesday, Could 28: vs. Canada, 8:30 p.m.
Friday, Could 31: vs. Bulgaria, 9 p.m.
Saturday, June 1: vs. Poland, 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 2: vs. Türkiye, 4 p.m.
Fukuoka, Japan
Monday, June 10: vs. France, 2:30 a.m. Tuesday
Wednesday, June 12: vs. Netherlands, 11 p.m.
Friday, June 14: vs. Italy, 2:30 a.m. Wednesday
Sunday, June 16: vs. Japan, 5:45 a.m.
The ultimate spherical is June 20-23 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Here’s a take a look at the USA first-round opponents with extra evaluation on the remainder of the sphere.
Thailand
Thailand enters 2024 after a lackluster 2023 through which it completed fifth in its Olympicqualification pool and 14th within the VNL. Because the host for the finals, Thailand hopes to rediscover the magic it had in 2022 when it got here near defeating the USA within the World Championships.
Chatchu-on Moksri and Pimpichaya Kokram, Thailand’s predominant offensive weapons, spent the previous 12 months in Japan. LOVB signee Piyanut Pannoy ought to be the beginning libero.
China
China will probably be boosted by some key returnees, together with exterior hitters Zhu Ting and Zhang Changning, Tokyo Olympians and Rio gold medalists. Li Yingying, top-of-the-line exterior hitters on this planet, who has carried the Chinese language offense up to now two seasons.
China made the VNL remaining final 12 months for the primary time, falling to Türkiye.
China’s offense will almost certainly be directed by setter Diao Linyu, however Rio gold medalist Ding Xia will even be within the dialog. Yuan Xinyue and Wang Yuanyuan are formidable middles. China has overwhelmed the USA in three of their final 5 matches, together with in 5 units final 12 months in VNL.
Brazil
Brazil and the USA have fashioned the premier rivalry in volleyball, one which has determined three of the previous 4 Olympic champions.
Brazil is led by top-of-the-line outsides on this planet, Gabi. Ana Cristina will look to make her mark on the nationwide group degree after lacking final season with an harm. Ana Cristina has helped her membership group, Fenerbahce, win the previous two Turkish league titles. Julia Bergmann, the previous Georgia Tech nice, will even battle for a spot. Brazil’s deepest place is at center blocker, the place the legendary Thaisa returned to the nationwide group final summer time and is poised for one final Olympic run. She will probably be paired with Carol, top-of-the-line blockers on this planet, or maybe children Julia Kudiess or Diana. There will probably be competitors for the other and libero positions.
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ended final summer time as one of many higher groups on this planet, beating the USA to assert the NORCECA championship after which went into Olympic qualifying and defeated each Serbia and China to earn their Olympic bid. At their greatest, the ‘Queens of the Caribbean’ can compete with any group on this planet.
Exterior hitter Brayelin Martinez, center blocker Jineiry Martinez and libero Brenda Castillo are a few of the greatest gamers on this planet at their positions. Reverse Gaila Gonzalez and center blocker Geraldine Gonzales have been glorious. Niverka Marte has led the Dominican offense for years. Setter Ariana Rodriguez (who performed at Miami), will look to make her mark after redshirting this previous NCAA season to take part in Olympic qualifying.
VNL title contenders
Türkiye received its first VNL crown final summer time and is the favourite. It’s solely VNL loss in 2023 was to the USA.
Cuban-born naturalized reverse Melissa Vargas is a famous person, however Türkiye has query marks at setter with Cansu Özbay and Elif Şahin coming off poor membership seasons. Middles Zehra Güneş and Eda Erdem have been injured throughout their membership seasons.
Italy will probably be again after a 12 months of turmoil. Paola Egonu and Monica De Gennaro have been left off the VNL group. Coach Davide Mazzanti was sacked because of this and changed by Julio Velasco. Egonu and De Gennaro are again as Italy hopes to qualify for the Olympics. Ekaterina Antropova was the primary antagonist within the Italian league finals to De Gennaro’s Conegliano and can look to make her mark and even exchange Egonu within the beginning lineup.
Poland earned its first VNL medal final summer time after defeating the USA within the bronze-medal match. Joanna Wolosz is without doubt one of the greatest setters on this planet. Reverse Magdalena Stysiak and center Agnieszka Korneluk are among the many greatest.Outsides Olivia Różański, Martyna Łukasik and Martyna Czyrniańska had up-and-down membership seasons.
Nonetheless hoping to get in
Japan ought to qualify for the Olympics in VNL. Exterior Sarina Koga has been Japan’s greatest participant since lacking a lot of the Tokyo Olympics with an harm. She will probably be complemented on the surface by Mayu Ishikawa, who spent the previous membership season in Italy particularly to regulate her sport towards greater blocks. LOVB signee Manami Kojima will look to make her mark at libero after not being coach Manabe’s most well-liked choice beforehand. Minnesota alum Airi Miyabe has shifted to center. Setter Nanami Seki will probably be examined for the spot by LOVB signee Tamaki Matsui.
The Netherlands, Canada and Germany are all intently ranked within the FIVB rankings and can vie for the remaining Olympics spot. The Netherlands has essentially the most factors however has not skilled a lot success within the VNL. Middles type the strongest group, led by Eline Timmerman, Indy Baijens and Juliet Lohuis. LOVB signee Laura Dijkema will compete with Sarah Van Aalen and Britt Bongaerts for a setting spot.
Canada is trying to qualify for the Olympics for the primary time since 1996 and can seemingly want an upset win or two alongside the best way to make it. Canada narrowly missed each Olympic qualification and a bid to the VNL finals final summer time. Exterior Alexa Grey (who performed at BYU) and reverse Kiera Van Ryk will probably be Canada’s predominant offensive weapons. Hawaii’s Emily Maglio and Michigan State’s Jaz White are the middles. Brie O’Reilly will probably be Canada’s setter. Andrea Mitrovic (Arizona State) will compete with Hilary Howe-Johnson for the second exterior hitter place, which has seen essentially the most inconsistency for Canada. Shannon Winzer returns as head coach, remaining the one girl head coach within the VNL.
Germany will want some upsets and discover stabilization after shedding their head coach, Important Heynen, this previous spring. Longtime German league coach Alexander Waibl has stuffed in. Germany will probably be with out its greatest participant, Hanna Orthmann, nonetheless recovering from an harm. The skin hitter duo of Lina Alsmeier and Lena Stigrot might want to step up. LOVB signee Anna Pogany would be the beginning libero, supported by fellow LOVB signee Annie Cesar.
