U.S. Women Looking for 4th Straight VNL Title in Ankara

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 12, 2022) – A little more than six weeks after the U.S. Women’s National Team began its 2022 FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL) journey, it is in Ankara, Türkiye searching for its fourth-straight VNL title.

In fact, the U.S. Women are the only champions that VNL has had since it was introduced in 2018 to replace the FIVB Grand Prix.

The U.S. finished the 2022 VNL preliminary round in first place at 11-1. The team’s only loss came to Japan to close out the first week of matches in Shreveport, La.

Because the host country gets the top seed in the Final Round, Türkiye, which finished seventh, will play No. 8 Thailand in its first match. The U.S. Women go in at No. 2 and will face defending world champion Serbia (8-4) in the quarterfinals at 8:30 a.m. PT on Wednesday. The U.S. Women beat Serbia 3-0 (25-17, 33-31, 25-16) in a preliminary round match on June 30 in Canada.

If the U.S. beats Serbia, it will advance to the semifinals on Saturday (July 16). The medal matches will be Sunday (July 17). All matches are being shown live and on demand on VolleyballWorld.tv.

U.S. Head Coach Karch Kiraly has used a different roster of 14 players for each week of the tournament and has not used the same starting seven players in any two matches.

For the Final Round, the roster includes seven Tokyo Olympic gold medalists, five VNL veterans and two players who made their VNL debuts in 2022.

The seven Olympic medalists on the roster are setter Jordyn Poulter, middle blockers Haleigh Washington and Chiaka Ogbogu, outside hitter Kelsey Robinson, opposites Annie Drews and Jordan Thompson and libero Justin Wong-Orantes.

The five VNL veterans on the roster are setter Lauren Carlini, outside hitters Kathryn Plummer and Sarah Wilhite Parsons and middle blockers Dana Rettke and Hannah Tapp.

Rounding out the roster are outside hitter Ali Frantti and libero Morgan Hentz, who both made their VNL debuts this year.

U.S. Women’s Roster for 2022 VNL Final Round
No. Name (Pos., Ht, Hometown, College, USAV Region)

2 Jordyn Poulter (S, 6-2, Aurora, Colo., Univ. of Illinois, Great Lakes)
3 Kathryn Plummer (OH, 6-6, Aliso Viejo, Calif., Stanford Univ., Southern California)
4 Justine Wong-Orantes (L, 5-6, Cypress, Calif., Univ. of Nebraska, Southern California)
5 Morgan Hentz (L, 5-9, Lakeside Park, Ky., Stanford Univ., Pioneer)
7 Lauren Carlini (S, 6-2, Aurora, Ill., Univ. of Wisconsin, Great Lakes)
8 Hannah Tapp (MB, 6-3, Stewartville, Minn., Univ. of Minnesota, North Country)
11 Annie Drews (Opp, 6-4, Elkhart, Ind., Purdue Univ., Hoosier)
12 Jordan Thompson (Opp, 6-4, Edina, Minn., Univ. of Cincinnati, North Country)
13 Sarah Wilhite Parsons (OH, 6-2, Eden Prairie, Minn., Univ. of Minnesota, North Country)
15 Haleigh Washington (MB, 6-3, Colorado Springs, Colo., Penn State Univ., Rocky Mountain)
16 Dana Rettke (MB, 6-8, Riverside, Ill., Univ. of Wisconsin, Great Lakes)
23 Kelsey Robinson (OH, 6-2, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Univ. of Nebraska, Southern California)
24 Chiaka Ogbogu (MB, 6-2, Coppell, Texas, Univ. of Texas, North Texas)
30 Ali Frantti (OH, 6-1, Spring Grove, Ill., Penn State, Great Lakes)

Head Coach: Karch Kiraly
Assistant Coaches: Erin Virtue, Tama Miyashiro, Alfee Reft
Performance Analyst: Brian Hurler
Physical Therapist/Athletic Trainer: Kara Kessans
Consultant Coach: Sue Enquist
Team Manager: Coley Pawlikowski
Sports Dietitian: Shawn Hueglin
Strength & Conditioning Coach: Brandon Siakel

2022 U.S. Women’s VNL Schedule (All times PDT)

Week 1 – Shreveport-Bossier City, La.
May 31-June 5
USA def. Dominican Republic, 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-18)
USA def Canada, 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-19)
USA def Brazil, 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-18)
Japan def USA, 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-20)

Week 2 – Quezon City, Philippines
June 15-19
USA def Bulgaria, 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-20)
USA def Poland, 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-16)
USA def China, 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-21)
USA def Thailand, 3-1 (17-25, 25-13, 25-23, 25-18)

Week 3 – Calgary, Canada
June 29-July 4
USA def Belgium, 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-19)
USA def Serbia, 3-0 (25-17, 33-31, 25-16)
USA def. Türkiye, 3-2 (25-22, 18-25, 27-25, 23-25, 18-16)
USA def. Germany, 3-1 (25-17, 25-13, 13-25, 25-22)

Final Round: Ankara, Türkiye
Quarterfinals
July 13
Brazil vs Japan at 5 a.m.
USA vs Serbia at 8:30 a.m.

July 14
Italy vs China at 5 a.m.
Türkiye vs Thailand at 8:30 a.m.

July 16: Semifinals
July 17: Finals