Three Texans, Seven Olympians on VNL Roster

ARLINGTON, Texas, May 27, 2024.- Three players from Texas and seven Olympic gold medalists are on the roster for the U.S. Women’s National Team at the second round of the Volleyball Nations League, May 28-June 2 in Arlington, Texas.

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 U.S. Women went 2-2 in their first week of play in Rio de Janeiro. In Arlington, they will face Canada (3-1), Bulgaria (0-4), Poland (4-0) and Türkiye (2-2).

Volleyball Nations League 2024: schedule and results

Middle blockers Chiaka Ogbogu and Asjia O’Neal and outside hitter Avery Skinner, who all grew up in Texas, will be on the roster for Arlington.

Ogbogu is a 2020 Olympic gold medalist who grew up in Coppell, Texas, and played for the University of Texas.

O’Neal grew up in Southlake, Texas, and has won two NCAA National Championships with the University of Texas.

Skinner grew up in Katy, Texas, and played at the University of Kentucky, where she won an NCAA National Championship, and later at Baylor.

Olympic gold medalists who are joining Ogbogu on the roster are setters Micha Hancock and Jordyn Poulter, libero Justine Wong-Orantes, outside hitter Jordan Larson, opposite Jordan Thompson and middle Haleigh Washington.

VNL veterans on the roster are libero Morgan Hentz, outside hitters Ali Frantti, Khalia Lanier and Kathryn Plummer, and middle Dana Rettke.

Head Coach Karch Kiraly is a three-time Olympian and three-time gold medalist as a player who took over as head coach in 2013. He has led the U.S. Women to a World Championship in 2014 and an Olympic gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

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 Marv Dunphy, Alfee Reft and Erin Virtue.

The U.S. Women are the reigning Olympic champions and were ranked No. 2 in the world going into VNL. They have won the VNL three times (2018, ’19, ’21) since its inception in 2018. In 2023, they finished fourth overall.