Women's Indoor Volleyball Preview
The U.S. women’s national indoor volleyball team is ranked No. 1 in the world as it heads into the Olympic Games seeking its first gold medal.
In June, Team USA won the FIVB Volleyball Nations League for the third time in the tournament’s three editions, beating rival Brazil in the final. The VNL is the top annual women’s international volleyball tournament.
The Americans also earned a silver medal at the 2019 FIVB World Cup, one of the sport’s premier competitions, and finished fifth at the world championships one year earlier.
The U.S. women qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in their first opportunity by winning Pool C in the Tokyo Women’s Volleyball Qualification Tournament with victories over Kazakhstan, Bulgaria and Argentina on Aug. 2-4, 2019, in Bossier City, Louisiana. The winners of the six qualification tournaments joined the five continental winners contested in early January 2020 and host Japan to complete the 12-team Olympic field.
The Tokyo roster has a core of four Olympians, including three outside hitters, Jordan Larson, Kim Hill and Kelsey Robinson, and middle Foluke Akinradewo Gunderson. The roster also features experience and depth at nearly every position. Jordyn Poulter and Micha Hancock have won major international tournaments for Team USA. At the opposite position, Annie Drews had a breakout campaign in 2019 as she was named Most Valuable Player of the 2019 VNL, Best Opposite of the 2019 FIVB World Cup and USA Volleyball’s Female Indoor Player of the Year. Outside hitter Michelle Bartsch-Hackley was named MVP at the most recent VNL, repeating the honor she also earned in 2018.
With the professional club season extending well into May 2019, U.S. coach Karch Kiraly and his staff tested out several new players at the 2019 VNL and placed younger players into larger roles than they held in previous years. What resulted was four players making their FIVB-level debuts who went on to make the Olympic team in middles Chiaka Ogbogu and Haleigh Washington, opposite Jordan Thompson and Poulter. Each were members of the U.S. team that won a 2019 VNL gold medal. Ogbogu, Poulter and Washington were all part of the silver-winning World Cup team.
Updated on June 29, 2021. For more information, contact the sport press officer here.