Girls U19 Athletes Stepping up for 2023 Women's U21 Worlds

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 2, 2023) – USA Volleyball has selected 12 athletes to train for and compete at the 2023 FIVB Women’s U21 World Championship on Aug. 17-26 in Aguascalientes and Lèon, Mexico.

If the names sound familiar, it’s because most of the athletes recently trained as part of the 2023 Girls U19 National Team, and several are competing at the Girls U19 World Championship.

Because the Women’s U21 World Championship takes place during the NCAA women’s volleyball season, USA Volleyball is calling on its accomplished 2023 U19 National Team athletes.

The setters are Campbell Flynn and Izzy Starck. The libero is Ava Falduto. The outside hitters are Kaci Demaria, Kelly Kinney, Skyler Pierce, Emerson Sellman and Abby Vander Wal. The middle blockers are Ayden Ames, Favor Anyanwu and Jaela Auguste. The opposite is Abigail Mullen.

Ames, Anyanwu, Auguste, Flynn, Mullen, Sellman, Falduto and Vander Wal are competing at the FIVB Girls U19 World Championship.

Demaria and Starck competed at the 2023 U19 Pan American Cup. Kinney and Pierce will make their international debuts in Mexico.

Tom Hogan, the LOVB Director of Sport and a former assistant with the U.S. Women’s National Team, will serve as the team’s head coach.

He will be assisted by Olympic medalist Stacy Sykora and Lauren Plum, an assistant coach at Vanderbilt.

“This young group of U.S. players will have the opportunity to accelerate the growth of their game by competing against professional athletes and national team members from around the world,” Hogan said. “We will embrace and lean into this challenge.”

There are 16 teams entered in the World Championship. The U.S. Women’s U21 Team will have pool play matches against Cuba, Türkiye and Netherlands.

The United States is looking for its first medal at the Women’s U21 World Championship. It has finished fourth twice (2007 and 2011) when the event was the U20 World Championship. In 2021, the U.S. team finished fifth.

U.S. Women’s U21 Roster for the 2023 FIVB World Championship

No. Name (Position, Height, Birth Year, Hometown, School, USAV Region)
2 Jaela Auguste (MB, 6-2, 2006, Spring, Texas, Grand Oaks HS, Lone Star)
4 Ayden Ames (MB, 6-4, 2006, Prosper, Texas, Prosper HS, North Texas)
5 Favor Anyanwu (MB, 6-2, 2006, Rowlett, Texas, Sachse HS, North Texas)
6 Campbell Flynn (S, 6-3, 2006, Rochester Hills, Mich., Mercy HS, Lakeshore)
8 Kaci Demaria (OH, 6-4, 2007, San Pedro, Calif., Palos Verdes HS, Southern California)
9 Ava Falduto (L, 5-7, 2006, Elmhurst, Ill., IC Catholic Prep, Great Lakes)
11 Kelly Kinney (OH, 6-2, 2007, West Palm Beach, Fla., The King’s Academy, Florida)
13 Emerson Sellman (OH, 6-4, 2005, Burtonsville, Md., The Academy of the Holy Cross, Chesapeake)
14 Skyler Pierce (OH, 6-2, 2005, Lenexa, Kan., Olathe Northwest HS, Heart of America)
15 Abigail Mullen (OPP, 6-3, 2006, Kansas City, Mo., Liberty HS, Heart of America)
18 Izzy Starck (S, 6-1, 2006, Melbourne, Fla., Viera HS, Rocky Mountain)
19 Abby Vander Wal (OH, 6-3, 2006, Elmhurst, Ill., Timothy Christian HS, Great Lakes)

Head Coach: Tom Hogan
Assistant Coach: Stacy Sykora
Second Assistant: Lauren Plum
Team Manager: Courtney Smith
Performance Analyst: Evan Metzger
Athletic Trainer: Cherryl-Marie Bueno

U.S. Schedule for the 2023 FIVB Women’s U21 World Championship
Matches will be livestreamed on the Volleyball World YouTube channel
All times PDT
Aug. 17 at 4 p.m. USA vs Cuba
Aug. 18 at 4 p.m. USA vs Türkiye
Aug. 19 at 4 p.m. USA vs Netherlands
Aug. 21-24 Second round of pool play
Aug. 25 Semifinals and classification playoffs
Aug. 26 Finals