U.S. Women Balancing Vets and Rookies for First Round of VNL

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 26, 2023) – USA Volleyball has revealed the 14-player roster for the U.S. Women’s National Team that  will travel to Antalya, Türkiye, for the first week of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) preliminary round.

Volleyball Nations League is the world’s premier annual international indoor volleyball tournament. The top 16 teams in the world play four matches a week for three weeks of preliminary competition. The top eight teams at the end of the preliminaries will go to the Final Round.

The United States will host the 2023 Women’s VNL Final Round on July 12-16 at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, which means the U.S. automatically qualifies.

Get tickets for the final round at tickets.volleyballworld.com/arlington.

The U.S. Women’s roster offers a balance of veterans and players brand new to VNL.

The roster includes three gold medalists from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games: opposite Annie Drews, setter Micha Hancock and libero Justine Wong-Orantes.

Players on the roster with previous VNL experience are libero Morgan Hentz, middle blockers Brionne Butler and Dana Rettke, and opposite Danielle Cuttino.

VNL rookies on the roster are outside hitters Roni Jones-Perry, Khalia Lanier, Brooke Nuneviller and Avery Skinner, middles Madeleine Gates and Asjia O’Neal, and setter Ashley Evans.

The team is led by Head Coach Karch Kiraly, a three-time Olympian and three-time gold medalist as a player who took over as head coach of the U.S. Women in 2013.

Kiraly’s first assistant is Tama Miyashiro, who won a silver medal as a libero with the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team. The second assistants will be Alfee Reft and Erin Virtue.

The U.S. Women are the reigning Olympic champions and ranked No. 4 in the world. They have won the VNL three times (2018, ’19, ’21) since its inception in 2018.

The U.S. Women will face world No. 1 and defending world champion Serbia in their first match. They will play world No. 2 and defending VNL champion Italy in their second match.

VNL matches will be livestreamed in the United States on VolleyballWorld.tv.

U.S. Women’s Roster for 2023 VNL Preliminary Round 1
No. Name (Pos., Ht., Hometown, College, USAV Region)

1C Micha Hancock (S, 5-11, Edmond, Okla., Penn State Univ., Oklahoma)
4 Justine Wong-Orantes (L, 5-6, Cypress, Calif., Univ. of Nebraska, Southern California)
6 Morgan Hentz (L, 5-9, Lakeside Park, Ky., Stanford Univ., Pioneer)
8  Brionne Butler (MB, 6-4, Kendleton, Texas, Univ. of Texas, Lone Star)
11 Annie Drews (Opp, 6-4, Elkhart, Ind., Purdue Univ., Hoosier)
16 Dana Rettke (MB, 6-8, Riverside, Ill., Univ. of Wisconsin, Great Lakes)
20 Danielle Cuttino (Opp, 6-4, Indianapolis, Ind., Purdue, Hoosier)
25 Brooke Nuneviller (OH, 5-11, Chandler, Ariz., Univ. of Oregon, Arizona)
26 Asjia O’Neal (MB, 6-3, Southlake, Texas, Univ. of Texas, North Texas)
27 Avery Skinner (OH, 6-1, Katy, Texas, Baylor, Lone Star)
28 Ashley Evans (S, 6-1, Liberty Township, Ohio, Purdue, Ohio Valley)
29 Khalia Lanier (OH, 6-2, Scottsdale, Ariz., Univ. of Southern California, Arizona)
31 Roni Jones-Perry (OH, 6-0, West Jordan, Utah, BYU, Intermountain)
36 Madeleine Gates (MB, 6-3, San Diego, Calif., Stanford, Southern California)

Head Coach: Karch Kiraly
Assistant Coach: Tama Miyashiro
Second Assistant Coaches: Alfee Reft, Erin Virtue
Performance Analyst: Rianne Verhoek
Physical Therapist/Athletic Trainer: Kara Kessans
Team Doctor: James Suchy
Team Manager: Coley Pawlikowski

U.S. Women’s Schedule for the 2023 VNL
All matches will be broadcast on volleyballworld.tv

Week 1 (all times PT) at Antalya, Türkiye
May 31 at 7 a.m. USA vs Serbia
June 2 at 10 a.m. USA vs Italy
June 3 at 7 a.m. USA vs Korea
June 4 at 10 a.m. USA vs Türkiye

Week 2 at Brasilia, Brazil
June 13 at 1:30 p.m. USA vs Croatia
June 15 at 10 a.m. USA vs Thailand
June 17 at 1:30 p.m. USA vs Japan
June 18 at 6 a.m. USA vs Brazil

Week 3 at Suwon, Korea
June 27 at 11:30 p.m. USA vs Poland
June 28 at 11:30 p.m. USA vs Bulgaria
July 1 at 1:30 a.m. USA vs Germany
July 2 at 1:30 a.m. USA vs China

Final Round on July 12-16 at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas